3 Basic Principles of Continuous Improvement ① Challenge ② Kaizen ③ Go and See   Mediocrity competes with others. Greatness competes with itself. ~ Vadim Kotelnikov   If you stop learning, you stop creating history and become history. If you are not getting better, you are getting worse. Strive to be better than what you were yesterday, not someone else.     ① Challenge Have a long term vision of the challenges you need to face to realize your ambition – what you need to learn rather than what you want to do and then have the spirit to face that challenge. To do so, you and your team have to challenge yourselves every day to see if you are achieving your goals. You must also know how to address challenges and stretch yourself.   Continuous Improvement Firm CIF vs. MPF PDSA Cycle Efficiency Improvement Examples      ② Kaizen Establishing the Kaizen Mindset is the starting point of the continuous improvement journey. Everything can and should be improved.   Continuous improvement mindset is a deep-seated, often unconscious, desire or inner need that drives relentless search for improvement opportunities and related actions. Everything can and should be improved ‒ look for improvement opportunities constantly and pursue them proactively. Vadim Kotelnikov Inventor Author Founder   Good enough never is. Good-enoughs are cemeteries of the bests and the continuous improvement mindset. No process can ever be thought perfect, so operations must be improved continuously, striving for evolution and innovation. Once you've made a radical improvement (Kaikaku), follow it up with a series of incremental improvements (Kaizen) because radically-improved objects tend to return to their original state if a radical improvement is not followed with small continuous improvements... More   Kaizen 6Ws of Kaizen Mini-Kaizen Suggestion System Kaizen Implementation 7 Conditions Kaizen Practices     ③ Go and See (Genchi Genbutsu) This is a key principle of the Toyota Production System (TPS). The only way to truly understand what happens on the shop floor ( 'gemba') is to go there. It is here that value is added and here that waste could be observed. 'Go and See' is therefore a key approach in problem solving.     If the problem exists on the shopfloor then it needs to be understood and solved at the shop floor. Since real value is created at the shop floor in manufacturing, this is where management need to spend their time. Go to the source to see the facts for oneself and make the right decisions, create consensus, and make sure goals are attained at the best possible speed. This attitude of "Go and See" is also called Gemba attitude.   Problem Solving 6 Steps 4 Levels Work Backwards 5-Why Process Creative PS       Making the Kaizen Mindset Work       Respect For People Respect For People at Toyota essentially involves two defining principles: 1. Respect: Taking every stakeholders' problems seriously, and making every effort to build mutual trust. Taking responsibility for other people reaching their objectives.   Toyota Production System (TPS) 7 Principles of TPS Lean Manufacturing Kaizen and Lean Production     2. Teamwork: Develop individuals through teams-based problem-solving. Engage people and develop them through their contribution to team performance. The are three team levels: shop floor teams, the whole site as team, and the whole company as a team.   The main purpose of production is to improve the life for everyone and it is this goal that I am dedicated. Konosuke Matsushita After materials are carried into the factory, nothing but products should be carried out from it. Soichiro Honda The job can't be finished only improved to please the customer. Edward Deming The competitor to be feared is one who never bothers about you at all, but goes on making his own business better all the time. Henry Ford Whenever I go on a ride, I'm always thinking of what's wrong with the thing and how it can be improved. Walt Disney We're focused on providing innovations in software, driving the continuous improvement for a much better experience. Bill Gates Microsoft We see our customers as invited guests to a party, and we are the hosts. It's our job every day to make every important aspect of the customer experience a little bit better. Jeff Bezos Amazon