Continuous improvement in its current form has been widely used for decades, and other companies must adapt if they want to remain competitive in the market. In the past, it was thought there were only two options: to use existing processes and equipment as they were when delivered or invest in new equipment. Models allowing continuous improvement introduced a third option: making more efficient us…

End-to-end supply chain management is a balancing act involving security of supply, inventory control and cost efficiency. Any deviation from the right balance can cause a chain reaction where the situation gets out of control and puts customer satisfaction at risk. Chains are only as strong as their weakest links, and if a chain fails, it does not matter to the customer which link failed. The supp…

Combining quality and continuous improvement is especially necessary when a company’s goal is to certify its implementation of the ISO 9001 management system. Achieving that combination requires that the company has a structure and processes in place to improve quality. However, a company just having processes in place does not necessarily mean that it proactively promotes quality or that quality i…

Productivity can mean many different things depending on, for example, the industry or process. In a production plant, productivity often refers to the ratio of the amount produced to the number of employees, the number of pieces of equipment or some other typically fairly constant unit for measuring inputs. For example, a production line’s one-day productivity can be its daily production volume di…

From the customer’s point of view, suppliers’ production work creates most of the value for them; customers determine whether the supplier’s product meets their needs, especially in terms of functionality and quality. However, to succeed, a product must be designed to meet those needs before it is put into production.

People are the most important resource a company has at its disposal, and developing people is as important as process development. However, when talking about people, “resource” always sounds like an unnecessarily cold word.

My previous articles have progressed from strategy implementation to action. Implementing continuous improvement models comes with a large amount of work, including managing and monitoring different improvement teams to ensure that the measures achieve the desired results and minimizes losses. When finally putting planned measures into practice, we must ensure that the measures are effective and…

Five years ago, Matti Päivärinne came to Aurelia to work on his thesis. ‘I studied mechanical and energy engineering in Tampere. I also took a course on gas turbines and was inspired to do my thesis somewhere other than a traditional company. I applied to Aurelia, and it worked out’. ‘Together, we looked at what the topic and the work should be and what the result should be. But then you were g…

A comprehensive, well-thought-out strategy is useless if the plan is never implemented. Organisations often develop a great strategy but fail to transform it into action.

Continuous operational improvement should be at the top of every company’s list of priorities, whether that company is a start-up or a multinational giant. In Finland, a veil of mystery hangs around continuous improvement, and its essence is often misunderstood. People often think of continuous improvement as just a list of different “tools”, such as the Plan Do Check Act cycle, the Twelve-Step Kai…