5. Continuous and sustainable improvement of overall industrial performance

5.1 Continuous improvement

These five processes constitute the "dynamically interacting, goal-oriented elements" of our overall system (figure 7 ). We have seen that this objective is to transform input elements (raw materials, consumables) into output elements (packaged and delivered finished products) in order to generate added value, and with, as avenues for improvement, an increase in throughput, speed and quality. A global diagnosis of our system will then enable us to identify the process and its characteristics (cross-section, length or porosity) with the greatest impact on the company's overall performance: i.e. throughput, speed and quality of added value....