This book is dedicated to all those who belong to the “Homo Faber” group, the makers, who realised that just making is not enough. They made repetitive efforts to do better what they were doing, making mistakes, sometimes badly failing, but getting back up again and finally reaping results.
It starts from the foundations of Logistics, Purchasing, Production and Quality set in my book Operations Management - Homo Faber at Work. It shows “how to do it better” by applying continuous improvement mindset and methods to processes, in search of Excellence. Which is integral part of the activity of an Industrial engineer.
The focus is on running and improving Operations, but many concepts and tools are applicable to other functions within an industrial company, as well as to Service companies. Because the search for Excellence is a must for all. It is a survival issue.
Strangely, even after more than fifty years that systematic improvement methods were introduced in the business world, many companies never used them, or used them half-heartedly or without the needed consistency, or forgot them. But without continuous effort to improve and transform, a company is doomed to die. “Doing it better” should be the task of everyone in a company, on top of their daily business.
This book is not a summary of academic publications or other books: it explains pragmatically concepts and tools known since decades, adding the author’s direct experience in applying them at several projects in the industrial world.
“Transformation is everyone’s job” (E. Deming)
