Purpose-To provide an overview of the history, evolution, and existing research on continuous improvement. Design/methodology/approach-Extensive review of the literature. Findings-This paper provides an overview of continuous improvement, its inception, how it evolved into sophisticated methodologies used in organizations today, and existing research in this field in the literature. Research limitations/implications-It does not provide an exhaustive review of the existing literature, or an exhaustive list of all continuous improvement programs, only the most well known. Originality/value-This paper traces how organizations have used various tools and techniques to address the need for improvement on various levels. The paper also presents research conducted in this field. It should be of value to practitioners of continuous improvement programs and to academics who are interested in how continuous improvement has evolved, and where it is today. To the authors' knowledge, no recent papers have provided an historical perspective of continuous improvement. Furthermore, our paper also discusses the existing research in this field.

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to present a continuous improvement methodology developed in an aerospace company that is successfully being used by other companies in various industries. Design/methodology/approach -A case study was undertaken at a medium-sized aerospace company for over a span of one year. Data was collected through in-depth interviews, attendance at formal and informal meetings, observation, and company documentation. Findings -The paper provides an overview of a continuous improvement methodology known as Achieving Competitive Excellence (ACEe), which aims to achieve world-class quality in products and processes. The paper describes in detail the tools and techniques needed to implement and maintain the methodology. It was found that the company is very successful in addressing a wide range of aspects in the organization, always with the viewpoint that the customer is number one. This methodology is successful to the point that it is being used by other companies in various industries. Practical implications -The approach of the ACEe methodology can be applied to a variety of companies. Originality/value -This paper presents for the first time the comprehensive Continuous Improvement methodology ACEe. The paper should be of value to practitioners of continuous improvement programs who are interested in a comprehensive approach to achieving excellence.

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Abstract:Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to propose a framework of critical success factors, metrics, and tools and techniques for implementing metrics for each stage of the new product development (NPD) process.Design/methodology/approach: To achieve this objective, a literature review was undertaken to investigate decades of studies on NPD success and how it can be achieved. These studies were scanned for common factors for firms that enjoyed success of new products on the market. Findings:The paper summarizes NPD success factors, suggests metrics that should be used to measure these factors, and proposes tools and techniques to make use of these metrics. This was done for each stage of the NPD process, and brought together in a framework that the authors propose should be followed for complex NPD projects. Research limitations/implications: Several different research directions couldprovide additional useful information both to firms finding critical success factors (CSF) and measuring product development success as well as to academics performing research in this area. The main research opportunity exists in implementing or testing the proposed framework.Practical implications: The framework can be followed by managers of complex NPD projects to ensure success.Journal of Industrial Engineering and Management -http://dx.doi.org/10.3926/jiem.334 -747 -Originality/value: While many studies have been conducted on critical success factors for NPD, these studies tend to be fragmented and focus on one or a few phases of the NPD process. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first time a framework that synthesizes these studies into a single framework.

This paper explores the linkages between key features of the new product development (NPD) process and NPD performance and suggests ways of designing the process to improve performance. Using a stochastic computer model, we examine, under varying uncertainty conditions, how the key features of overlapping and functional interaction affect the performance measures of development time and effort (total person-days for a project). Findings indicate that, first and foremost, whether or not overlapping occurs, increasing functional interaction eventually leads to a trade-off between development time and effort. Second, an Üearly-start-in-the-darkÝ approach of increasing overlapping with no functional interaction is inferior even to an Üover-the-wallÝ approach. Third, increasing overlapping when some functional interaction exists is beneficial in low uncertainty and harmful in high uncertainty. Fourth, concurrent engineering (CE) is appropriate under low uncertainty, while a type of sequential engineering (SE), different than the Üover-the-wallÝ approach, should be used under high uncertainty, and last, dedicated teams are suitable under high, and not low, uncertainty. We developed the model with the aid of a company and validated it against a published account of five case studies.new product development, concurrent engineering, sequential engineering, stochastic simulation, overlapping, cross-functional teams