In this research, a review of the continuous improvement program concepts and applications, as employed in the automotive manufacturing ecosystem, is analysed based on published articles. The objective of this study is to develop a systematic factory-in-factory (FiF) framework of the production system by minimising wastes according to the unresolved issues of the current continuous improvement program. The outcomes obtained from the evaluation of the current trend in the continuous improvement programs show that even though the establishment of continuous improvement has been a key to a successful business model, there are significant unresolved issues with regards to the vendors. To solve the problem, the future trend of a business model in the automotive tier system has been introduced which is tier-0 and a new production system known as factory-in-factory (FiF). The objectives of the new production system are to minimise costs and shorten the lead time through wastes elimination. Copyright © 2019 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.