Next Generation Strategy

Continuous Improvement

Continuous Improvement is an ongoing effort to improve products, services, or processes. Through lean and quality activities, companies strive for perfection by continually removing successive layers of waste providing reduced lead times and costs, improved efficiency, productivity and quality.  Continuous and incremental improvements remove unnecessary activities and variations providing increased capability allowing you to transform your organization into a highly efficient and profitable business. A complete transformation process from mass production to Lean Manufacturing takes time and provides the opportunity for profitable manufacturing growth. 

Why Do You Need Continuous Improvement? 

A culture of continuous improvement is necessary to enhance productivity and free up the capacity that will provide manufacturers a stable foundation to pursue innovation and growth. MEP centers have a strong record and solid reputation for providing superior lean and quality services as well as other programs that target plant efficiencies. MEP will continue to provide a unique approach to implementing the concepts of lean manufacturing across all aspects of the enterprise, scaled for smaller companies to readily adopt, and serving as a starting point to leverage the operational improvements into company transforming strategies.

LEAN                                                   
5S System                                           
Cellular Flow                                        
Kaizen                                                 
Lean Certification                                 
Lean Office                                          
Plan, Do, Check, Act (PDCA)                 
Pull Systems                                        
Quick Changeover                                
Setup Reduction
Total Productive Maintenance (TPM)
Value Stream Mapping (VSM)

QUALITY/LEADERSHIP
ISO Certification
Lean Leadership
Root Cause Analysis (RCA)
Six Sigma
Statistical Process Control (SPC)
Succession Planning
Total Quality Management (TQM)
Training within Industry (TWI)

For more information about Continuous Improvement services, contact your local MEP center or NIST MEP:

Brian Lagas
brian.lagas@nist.gov
(301) 975-5043