Continuous improvement (CI) is a process used by manufacturing firms to improve quality, reduce lead times, reduce price, and improve delivery reliability. A survey of firms in Australia was conducted to determine the main motives for implementing CI and the focus of CI activities. This article will examine the responses of firms using CI. However, not all firms surveyed were at the same stage of development in their use of CI. While some firms were using CI across all aspects of their business and regarded CI as second nature most firms were in the early stages of development of CI using it primarily in the manufacturing function at the operator level. This article reports on the experiences of mature firms, so providing useful guidance for developing firms seeking to learn from the experience of mature CI.

Australian manufacturers need to develop strategies that will enable them to compete in the Asia‐Pacific region. Australia is regarded as a high wage economy so can rarely compete solely on price. Once they are able to deliver a quality product at an acceptable price to remain competitive they must get the most out of their existing resources, particularly their workforce. CI is a widely recognised low cost strategic process for improving a manufacturing operation. This paper examines five small to medium manufacturers and uses a mapping tool that measures the extent of learning within the firms. If firms using CI are to fully benefit from the learning process then they must have a strategy in place that ensures knowledge is captured and the workforce is willing to transfer knowledge throughout the organisation.