JANUARY 2021 I SMT007 MAGAZINE 29
also more convenient for customers. Netflix
improved continuously into a market leader-
ship position, toppling an industry giant in the
process. Ironically, in the early days of Netf-
lix, Blockbuster had a chance to buy the com-
pany for $50 million, and passed. Today, Netf-
lix's reported annual income is more than $20
billion.
But there is another lesson in the Block-
buster/Netflix story. Netflix not only adapted
business operations to be more competitive
and nimbler, but they also adopted innova-
tions in electronic distribution. Netflix went
digital; that changed everything. Netflix was
able to grow as it did because the company
had already improved upon its business prac-
tices continuously, so that when they went dig-
ital, the efficiencies scaled.
The electronics manufacturing industry is
embarking on a transition to Industry 4.0, a
transition for us that is not unlike the Netflix
transition. To fully utilize their investment in
smart factory equipment, real-time data for
process control, and the benefits of the digital
twin, manufacturers must first ensure they are
automating optimized processes, then continu-
ously improve them.
With the tagline "X=X
c
– 1," we're represent-
ing the idea that incremental improvements
can happen at any level and need not be large.
I-Connect007 will devote regular attention in
2021 to the ideas of continuous improvement—
both incremental and large-scale. SMT007
References
1, 5, 9. "How continuous improvement can build a
competitive edge" by Carolyn Dewar, Reed Doucette and
Blair Epstein, McKinsey & Company.
2, 7, 8, 10. "6 Principles of the Continuous Improvement
Model," Maggie Millard, KaiNexus.
3. "What is Continuous Improvement?," by Jon Terry,
Planview Inc.
4. "Continuous Improvement—Your Complete Guide to
Continual Improvement Process" by Rever Team, Rever
Inc.
6. "What Is Continuous Improvement? A Must-Read
Guide to Understanding Kaizen", Daedalus Howell, Bee-
Keeper.
1. Customer focus: Organizations can establish
this focus by trying to understand and meet
their customers' current and future require-
ments and expectations.
2. Leadership: Organizations succeed when
leaders establish and maintain the internal
environment in which employees can become
fully involved in achieving the organization's
unified objectives.
3. Involvement of people: Organizations suc-
ceed by retaining competent employees,
encouraging continuous enhancement of
their knowledge and skills, and empowering
them, encouraging engagement, and recog-
nizing achievements.
4. Process approach: Organizations enhance
their performance when leaders manage and
control their processes, as well as the inputs
and outputs that tie these processes together.
5. Systematic approach to management: Orga-
nizations sustain success when processes
are managed as one coherent quality manage-
ment system.
6. Continuous improvement: Organizations
will maintain current levels of performance,
respond to changing conditions, and iden-
tify, create and exploit new opportunities
when they establish and sustain an ongoing
focus on improvement.
7. Factual approach to decision making: Organi-
zations succeed when they have established
an evidence-based decision-making process
that entails gathering input from multiple
sources, identifying facts, objectively analyz-
ing data, examining cause/effect, and con-
sidering potential consequences.
8. Mutually beneficial supplier relationships:
Organizations that carefully manage their
relationships with suppliers and partners can
nurture positive and productive involvement,
support, and feedback from those entities.
The Eight Principles
of ISO9001:
