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Preface
Since the early 1980s, everyone has talked about continual improvement (CI).
However, to talk about it is not enough. It must be engrained in an organiza-
tion with a three-prong approach. That approach is based on the following:
(1) a consistent philosophy of improvement by management, (2) a receptive
organizational culture, and (3) the entire culture of the organization must be
willing to make decisions based on measurement and data.
These three basic approaches are necessary for the organization to develop
an attitude for doing things right the rst time, whether it will be for a product
or a service. This attitude must be incor