Citing the cost-saving and performance benefits of Lean and Six Sigma, many organizations have tasked the C-suite to develop a Continuous Improvement (CI) strategy.
A recent survey by IndustryWeek and TBM Consulting found companies with mature CI programs outperform companies without CI or Kaizen in three financial categories: projected revenue growth, operating income growth and annual cash flow.
General Cable CEO Greg Kenny has enjoyed particularly strong operational performance through implementation of Lean and Six Sigma. Kenny tells IndustryWeek that these efforts were behind the company's global expansion from 18 factories in three countries to 47 factories in 25 countries.
“In order to have control of our destiny, we needed to have a best cost position,” Kenny said. “We've got an army of change agents who think about Lean as a natural instinct as opposed to, 'Oh it's time to think about lean.' Making the company better continually has allowed us to really get through some tough times.”
The benefits of Continuous Improvement continue to show themselves in the bottom line. Furthermore, formal research and precise financial analysis have shown these efforts to be increasingly important in today’s global business landscape.