Part III in this series explores principles 10-14 of Deming’s 14 Principles for quality and CI leadership. Each principle is relevant today and transformative in preparing for and upgrading current continuous improvement leadership.

Leadership of Continuous Improvement (CI) must be a constantly evolving field to meet the cumulative challenges of Leadership 4.0, the retirement of the last of the baby boomer generation, the rise of hybrid working, the difficulties of recruitment into manufacturing, industries where facilities still rely on breakdown maintenance, increasingly competitive market sectors, reducing margins, etc. Though new leadership models are constantly coming in and out of fashion, when it comes to leadership of continuous improvement it is important to look behind the latest book or trend, deeply reflect on the true roots of CI Leadership and ask yourself “Am I prepared for the challenges of CI leadership in 2024 and beyond?” 

In today’s fast-paced business world, ensuring smooth and efficient operations and maintenance (O&M) is crucial for sustained success. At WorkTrek CMMS, we understand the importance of O&M and are here to provide you with a comprehensive guide on how to optimize your operations and maintenance processes for peak performance.

William Santos is the International Sales Manager at ABI Electronics – Manufacturer of Test, Repair & Reverse Engineering Equipment. He had the opportunity to share the mission of “Repair, Don’t Waste” with Interesting Engineering. “Repair, Don’t Waste” is a movement fighting to reduce e-waste and encourage the repair of industrial electronics. Santos explains why time is up for the break-and-replace mentality, and how the world needs to change to usher in a new era of sustainability in industry.

The modern world runs on electronic systems that are designed to last many years. The problem is that, over time, the components that make up these circuit boards get tired and die. A technician or engineer armed with the right diagnostic tools and training could diagnose the issue, replace the broken down and generally inexpensive components and save other components in the device from being dumped along with the circuit board. So, why do so many circuit cards, and sometimes entire pieces of equipment, continue to be thrown away?

Never has there been a greater responsibility for every business to maximise its efforts to drive to net zero. Correct machine maintenance coupled with Lean processes (once just the domain of operations) is now proving to be a force multiplier across maintenance and engineering in the drive to net zero. 

As a part of a reliability improvement programme, many process industries assign the losses resulting from each downtime or lost production event to the department “responsible” – usually operations, mechanical or electrical (and perhaps others). Frequently this allocation is based on someone’s perception of who is to blame, which can have significant negative effects.