Improving work processes by making the invisible visible

There is a growing movement for industrial companies to modify their production practices according to methodologies collectively known as process improvement. After World War II, Japanese companies such as Toyota developed new manufacturing paradigms (e.g., lean manufacturing) under the guidance of American experts, particularly W.E. Deming. Since the 1980s, the Japanese methodologies have been spreading to the West in a major way, in the form of programmes such as Total Quality Management (TQM) and Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) (Deming, 1986; Nakajima, 1988).