“It’s adapted from the Japanese Kaizen system,” Holmstead said. “Kaizen is a way of removing waste and standardizing processes and bringing underperforming or slow-growth companies with maybe single-digit margins up to midteen margins.”

The keys are standardization, measurement and innovation — all directed toward the goal of continuous improvement.

“It’s basically a set of tools that allows Danaher to make whatever widget they are manufacturing at a cost less than most of their competitors,” said Morningstar analyst Eric Landry. “Over the past decade they have (also been moving) DBS into the back office and into sales. It produces a culture where you are never satisfied.”