Continuous improvement approach: state‐of‐art review and future implications

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to review the literature and provide an overview of the history, evolution and existing research on continuous improvement (CI). It reviews a large number of research papers in this field and presents the overview of various CI implementation practices demonstrated by manufacturing organizations globally. Design/methodology/approach – The paper systematically categorizes the published literature, analyzes and reviews it methodically. Findings – The paper reveals the important concepts, case studies and surveys in concerned with CI methodology. The contributions of CI programmes towards improving manufacturing performance of the organizations and CI values that underlies continuous improvement have also been highlighted. Practical implications – The literature on classification of CI has so far been very limited. The paper reviews a large number of papers in this field and presents the overview of various CI practices demonstrated by manufacturing organizations globally. Further the future implications have also been discussed for the smooth and effective implementation of CI practices in manufacturing organizations. Originality/value – The paper contains a comprehensive listing of publications on the field in question and their classification. It will be useful to researchers, professionals and others concerned with this subject to understand the significance of CI methodology.