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The purpose of this paper is to understand how a continuous improvement (CI) approach like lean production (LP) integration is affected by dynamic conditions and to propose how LP integration can be adaptable to dynamic conditions.

A longitudinal case study has been conducted in which data were collected through participative observations, observations, documents and an in-depth semi-structured interview.

The adaptability is related to the maturity level of the LP integration, where more mature organisations are better equipped to deal with the challenges occurring due to their learning and experimentation capabilities. The main problem is that the LP integration needs to be adapted, like compromising with just-in-time. This creates challenges to more immature organisations; they do not seem to be able to adapt the LP integration since the skills are lacking.

The research limitations are associated with the research design and therefore might limit generalisation of the context studied.

The management needs to stay focused on the LP integration to continue building CI capability. There is a need to adapt the LP concept, which includes assessing how proposed changes and the LP concept interact in order to make them reinforce each other. This involves creating guidelines concerning adaptation and facilitating a transition from mainly single-loop learning to double-loop learning.

This paper contributes by describing challenges that have an impact on LP integration and related organisational adaptability under dynamic conditions.

Process management principles are challenging owing to the increasing need for sustainable operations. The demand for rapid deliveries implies accelerated changes and increased flexibility. Therefore, this study aims to facilitate process improvements based on change-driven needs.

The research is conducted using holistic multiple case studies of eight Swedish organisations (with employees from Sweden, France and Germany), representing the automotive, energy, medical technology, healthcare, telecom and social services sectors.

A process management model with four change-driven phases is presented. The model fulfils demands for both speed and quality in process changes, providing specific guidance on working methods for (1) control and stability, (2) creativity and stability, (3) creativity and change and (4) control and change.

This research is limited to eight organisations in Sweden, France, and Germany that participate in the automotive, energy, medical technology, healthcare, telecom and social services sectors. Future research should explore broader international contexts.

The proposed model helps decision-makers adapt process management to evolving business and operational needs; thus, leaders can make grounded decisions on when and how to change operations based on changing internal and external requirements.

This study challenges the current process management paradigm with new knowledge of how process management can be adapted to new business opportunities.

The purpose of this paper is to identify factors influencing implementation of control charts on key performance indicators (KPIs).

Factors driving organizational change described in literature are analyzed inspired by the affinity-interrelationship method. A holistic multiple-case design is used to conduct six workshops to affect the usage of control charts on KPIs at a global company in the automotive industry. The theoretical factors are compared with the result from the case study.

The important factors for implementation success differ to some extent between the theoretical and empirical studies. High-level commitment and a clear definition of the goal of change could be most important when creating a motivation for change. Thereafter, having a dedicated change agent, choosing an important KPI and being able to describe the gain in financial terms becomes more important.

By using control charts on KPIs, the organization in the case study has become more proactive, addressing the right issues upstream in the process, in the right way, cross-functionally.

Factors affecting the implementation of already available solutions in the industry are highlighted. This potentially provides a basis for improved decision making, which has a significant value.

Strategic changes in an organization will face challenges not only related to the changes as such but also with regard to how the vision of the future is interpreted and understood by the organization. Visual management is a field of research that could contribute to change management research as a means to facilitate management of the dynamics in a change process and to facilitate the process of communication. The purpose of this paper is to problematize episodic change processes with regard to communication and to contribute with a proposed model on how to facilitate dynamic strategic change management using visual management.

The paper uses an interdisciplinary approach by linking change management literature to visual communication to be used for visual management.

A proposed model presents how a dynamic episodic change process can be managed in terms of visual management, potential pitfalls to avoid, and what ambidextrous capabilities are needed throughout the complete episodic change.

The proposed model is still yet theoretical, based on a literature review of dynamic change management and visual communication. Future research will validate the model in practice to confirm its robustness.

An implementation of visual management in Kotter’s (1995) eight steps on how to strategically manage change in combination with theories on ambidexterity and episodic change is suggested.

The paper contributes to how visual management can support change management by combining visual communication and change management.

The use of quality management (QM) to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs) is a topic of growing interest in academia and industry. The IAQ (International Academy for Quality) established Quality Sustainability Award in 2020, a testament to this growing interest. This study aims to investigate how QM philosophies, methodologies and tools can be used to achieve sustainable development in organizations.

Five large manufacturing organizations – three from India and two from China – who reported their achievements about using QM in achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were studied using multiple sources of data collection. A detailed within-case and cross-case analysis were conducted to unearth this linkage's practical and theoretical aspects.

The study finds that QM methodologies effectively met the five organizations' UNSDGs. These organizations successfully used OPEX (Operational Excellence) methodologies such as Lean, Kaizen and Six Sigma to meet UNSDGs 7, 11, 12 and 13. Moreover, UNSG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production) is the most targeted goal across the case studies. A cross-case analysis revealed that the most frequently used quality tools were Design of Experiments (DoE), Measurement Systems Analysis (MSA), C&E analysis and Inferential statistics, among other essential tools.

The study's sample size was limited to large-scale manufacturing organizations in the two most populous countries in the world. This may limit the study's generalizability to other countries, continents, or micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Additionally, the study's conclusions would be strengthened if tested as hypotheses in a follow-up survey.

This practical paper provides case studies on how to use QM to impact SDGs. It offers both descriptive and prescriptive solutions for practitioners. The study highlights the importance of using essential QM tools in a structured and systematic manner, with effective teams, to meet the SDGs of organizations.

The study shows how QM can be used to impact UNSDGs, and this is very important because the UNSDGs are a set of global objectives that aim to address a wide range of social and environmental issues. This study could motivate organizations to achieve the UNSDGs using essential QM tools and make the world a better place for the present and future generations.

This case study is the first to investigate at a micro-level how QM can impact UNSDGs using live examples. It uses data from the IAQ to demonstrate how QM can be integrated into UNSDGs to ensure sustainable manufacturing.

This qualitative study aims to explore the concept of organisational leadership in the context of Quality Management deployments across a variety of business organisations, particularly focusing on the possible relationships between leadership approaches during the implementation and sustaining phases of Quality Management.

The study is based on one-to-one semi-structured virtual interviews with leaders in the quality field.

Four themes (Customers, Leadership, Quality Culture and Sustainability of Quality) emerged from the post-interview data analysis, illustrating the critical role of Leadership in the successful deployment and sustainment of Quality Management and identifying the leadership traits that are most conducive to successful organisational deployments.

Although some of these leadership traits are described in the wider leadership literature as belonging to one or more different leadership styles, there is no existing style of leadership that comprehends all the characteristics; thus, the need for a new leadership paradigm is this paper's theoretical contribution to the literature.

The purpose of this study is to identify factors affecting an organization’s dynamic capability and, consequently, its ability to manage organizational change.

A single case study was conducted to provide a deeper understanding of the situation that the case company experienced during a specific phase of reconfiguration. Data were collected through nine in-depth, semi-structured interviews and analyzed using the Gioia methodology.

Challenges, barriers and enablers affecting the organization's dynamic capability in the reconfiguration phase were identified.

This study contributes to the theory of dynamic capabilities and to the current investigatory stream regarding microfoundations by presenting practical examples of challenges, barriers and enablers that affect an organization’s ability to succeed during an organizational reconfiguration. These examples are intended to aid in discussions on microfoundations of dynamic capabilities and their impact in practice.

Many organizations report difficulties in integrating lean. A possible cause could be that methods and tools do not support each other. The purpose of this research is, therefore, to explore the nature of the connections within the system. Understanding these provides practitioners with a better way of defining their system and offers researchers a conceptual model with a new way of understanding a company-specific production system (XPS).

The study is designed as a multiple case study with three organizations and, in total, 25 lean experts serving as respondents.

The connections between the elements of an XPS act as a duality based on a problem–solution (P–S) relation. These are categorized according to complexity and can be mapped into a conceptual model, where the connections can be either symmetrical or asymmetrical.

The results provide a method to analyze causes and effects in an XPS and a conceptual model. Given the limitations of a multiple case study, future research should explore connections depending on a broader variety of contextual conditions.

The results present a way to avoid a cherry-picking problem through understanding connections between elements in an XPS. This provides a new way to understand the weaknesses of an XPS.

The research provides a new approach with insights on how to conduct research in lean production by facilitating how to understand and interpret connections between elements in a system.

In today’s increasingly competitive market, it is important both to delight and to avoid disappointing the customers. Thus, it is of value to have a systematic process for obtaining feedback from the customers, not only as a basis for corrective action relating to current products, but also as vital input to the new product development process. How can we meet our present and future customers’ expectations, if we do not have a feedback process that handles available information? This study investigates how this feedback process functions, and it seeks potential improvement. Three organizations are studied, and data are collected through interviews and personal observation. The case studies are conducted as a collaborative project with three Swedish manufacturing companies and the Department of Total Quality Management at Chalmers University of Technology.

The recent shift towards accommodating flexibility in manufacturing companies and the complexity resulting from product variety highlight the significance of flexible assembly systems and designing products for them. The purpose of this paper is to provide insight into the requirements of a flexible assembly system for product design from the assembly system’s standpoint.

To fulfil the purpose of the paper, a literature review and a case study were performed. The case study was conducted with an interactive research approach in a global market leader company within the heavy vehicle manufacturing industry.

The findings indicate that common assembly sequence, similar assembly interfaces, and common parts are the main requirements of a flexible assembly system for product design which reduce complexity and facilitate various flexibility dimensions. Accordingly, a model is proposed to broaden the understanding of these requirements from the assembly system’s standpoint.

This study contributes to the overlapping research area of flexible assembly systems and product design.

The proposed model is largely based on practical data and clarifies the role of product design in facilitating flexibility in an assembly system. It can be used by assembly managers, assembly engineers, and product designers.

The key originality of this paper compared to the previous studies lies in presenting a novel assembly-oriented design model. The model enhances understanding of a flexible assembly system’s requirements for product design with regard to reducing complexity and managing variation in a flexible assembly system. These requirements can be applied to product design across various product families within a company’s product portfolio.