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The paper presents the development of a continuous improvement process for the customer relations department at Severn Trent Water in the UK. In‐company research was carried out to identify the main barriers to continuous improvement in the areas of leadership, training, communication, motivation, teamwork, and change management. The study concluded that the company should develop an organisational culture and management style to support continuous improvement of daily working processes, and that change should be managed against the achievement of appropriate quality targets. A continuous improvement process was developed based on a structured problem‐solving model incorporating the application of established quality tools, to be applied by problem solving teams from the customer relations department. It was recommended that the team members should be trained in the problem solving process, and the related quality tools and techniques. Also, management should lead and support this approach by concentrating on team (rather than individual) performance achievement.

Croda Resins Ltd. Crabtree Manorway, Belvedere, Kent DA17 6BA have been working in the area of water thinnable polymers for paint and ink for some years. The products which have resulted from this continuing work are:—

The purpose of this paper is to validate the applicability of Strategic Quality Management (SQM) methods at a UK based manufacturing Small to Medium Enterprise (SME) for changing the organisational culture and improving the business performance results.

Action research was conducted in the form of a single company case study where an existing SQM methodology (Hoshin Kanri) was adapted and applied at the company.

The paper finds that this application of Hoshin Kanri is particularly innovative, as Western applications of this Japanese approach at SMEs are few as reported in the academic literature. This achievement represents a significant delivery of a cultural transformation to achieve business transformation by adopting a holistic performance measurement methodology.

The paper has limitations due to the single case study approach and possible influence of the researchers during the application. Further applications at other SME companies are required to verify the significant findings.

The discussion and conclusions from this paper are practical and have business relevance to both manufacturing and service sector organisations.

This paper focuses on UK industry, and is of value to both academics and practising managers at an international level.

Charles Tennant & Co. (London) Ltd., 69 Grosvenor Street, London W1X 0BP, are UK agents for Dyno Industries A.S. of Norway and report that Dyno have further developed their Dynotal alkyd emulsion systems to incorporate certain specially developed Dynolex acrylic dispersions and special Dynoadd additives. These are now being used in exterior paints and protective wood stains and also interior paints.

This paper aims to present an investigation of the problems concerned with delivering a variety of differing change programmes in a logically structured, repeatable and measurable manner.

Case studies were conducted on a selection of significantly different manufacturing facility programmes at GKN Aerospace where the output was a generic model more explicit and illustrative than previous approaches taken at the company.

This paper supports the idea that a strategic and tactical planning process with transferable, common key issues, can be managed in an environment of rapid change. Furthermore, discreet tailoring of the model enables differentiation of each programme type to support a standardized, repeatable and synchronous approach to change management.

This was achieved through the compilation of a single change management process termed the “5 × 5 Model” incorporating a multi‐site working document containing quantifiable, value‐added activities.

The new model presented here has been developed from previous literature and tested in practice, but requires further application to validate its applicability in different industry sectors.

Hoshin Kanri has been described as one of the core aspects of Japan’s management system, for integrating the principles of total quality management (TQM) within the organisation’s business strategy. Although most of the published case studies have involved large multinational manufacturers, the authors believe that Hoshin Kanri can be applied in any type or size of organisation. This paper describes how the quality and reliability (Q&R) team of the Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG) at the University of Warwick has applied Hoshin Kanri to create a deeper understanding of customer requirements, a team vision and strategic goals. Deployment has led to achievement of team consensus and commitment to delivering and reviewing the plan, and has demonstrated that the technique works well in a small team within the service sector.

Outlines the key areas which manufacturing organisations should consider in order to improve the effectiveness of training programmes for production operators. The authors carried out a study of UK‐based manufacturing companies to identify current evaluation methods, and identify the predominant barriers to the implementation of effective training programmes. The research concluded that most of the companies believed that their training programmes did not realise the full potential in terms of higher productivity, better on‐the‐job performance, and improved quality. Causal factors were found to be inadequate training objectives and evaluation mechanisms, which stem from a number of barriers. Proposes a training programme measurement model, which has been adapted from existing concepts, and could be applied by manufacturing organisations as a framework for carrying out appropriate evaluation activities. Concludes with some recommendations for future policy, and areas of further research in the implementation of training programmes in manufacturing organisations.

The purpose of this research was to identify the key factors for success of business process reengineering (BPR) applications in the UK‐based companies.

A questionnaire survey was used to gather primary research data from the UK‐based companies that have applied BPR to investigate the triggers for BPR, identify the main barriers, and enable the authors' to propose key factors for success.

The survey found that the main reasons for applying the technique were external competitive pressures, internal cost reduction, and productivity improvements. The main barriers to successful implementation were reported as tactical short‐term solution driven approaches, which inadequately considered the people issues, and an over reliance on IT‐based technology. It is proposed that the factors for success include adopting a strategic approach, which prioritises business processes for BPR projects. This should include the establishment of appropriate company‐wide targets and measures that emphasise continuous improvement for the long term. Finally, management needs to motivate and involve employees as a key enabler by removing their fears that BPR is really a “downsizing” exercise, and emphasising improved co‐ordination of people and technology.

The research has limitations in that the respondent companies are UK‐based and therefore the internationalisation of the findings requires further validity.

The discussion and conclusions from this work are made in a practical manner.

Some useful primary data from the UK industry which makes the work original and of value to both academics and practising managers.

The purpose of this article is to clarify the goals of assertiveness training and to give some advice on how to achieve them.

Rover Group is the UK’s largest automotive manufacturer employing 35,000 people which designs, develops and manufactures vehicles in the small, medium, executive and specialist four‐wheel‐drive sectors. Describes the processes deployed at Rover to ensure that quality and reliability are designed into the product through the new product introduction process, in order to achieve the company quality strategy milestones. The quality and reliability processes have been developed as a project management framework, known internally as “common business environment”. Describes the product programme milestone philosophy and supporting processes such as design methodology, reliability management, cost management and programme timing synthetics. The processes are deployed into all project teams at Rover Group through a learning methodology called focused learning. Measurement of common business environment implementation is carried out at project Q&R reviews, which are based on the European Foundation for Quality Management self‐assessment criteria.