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Describes an expert system which goes some way towards providing detailed advice for implementing Just‐in‐Time (JIT) concepts in a manufacturing environment. Advises managers as to which techniques should be realized in order to begin implementation of JIT, or to achieve further improvement if a commitment has already been made to JIT implementation. Specifically, focuses on small‐to‐medium manufacturing companies producing high volume discrete components. The advice is based on an expanded two‐stage process for JIT implementation.

The implementation of Just‐in‐Time (JIT) techniques is an important issue for management. The wide range of activities making up JIT has posed real problems for its implementation. This fact motivated the development of a PC‐based software package which simulates JIT manufacturing. The package serves as an important educational training aid which may be used to illustrate various JIT principles, and as a valuable pedagogic tool for management. The simulation (or game) is interactive so that the user may make a sequence of decisions and then view the effect of these on a simulated production line. Extensive use is made of the colour graphics facilities of the PC for visual displays. The software is based on an existing manual version of the game.

Many traditional cost accounting methods can result in distorted cost information as they allocate overheads in proportion to labour. This can result in a low technology product being overcosted and a high technology product being undercosted. Activity‐based costing (ABC) allocates costs more accurately and pinpoints areas of waste. Describes software which provides a tutorial introduction to ABC and highlights the difference between ABC and conventional cost accounting by means of simulating a production environment for the user to explore. The simulator should foster improved understanding of the opportunities of ABC.

Central Scotland has been successful in replacing many of its traditional industries with a network of over 300 electronics manufacturers and suppliers creating the area popularly known as “Silicon Glen”. Silicon Glen appears to be a very suitable site for the implementation of just‐in‐time (JIT) production systems with both electronics manufacturers and suppliers concentrated in the same geographical area. Contrasts the theory and practice of JIT implementation in “Silicon Glen” and assesses its success in six companies currently operating JIT production systems. The main conclusion is that JIT has been implemented in a variety of forms, with companies selecting the aspects of JIT that are most suitable for their manufacturing process and competitive strategy. JIT is proving highly successful and is bringing substantial gains in quality and efficiency.

The assessment of the success of Performance Management Systems (PMS) is difficult because there are many success factors, they are mutually dependent on each other, and located at different hierarchical levels of an organization. Therefore, there is a need to describe the complete logical chain, which makes PMS successful for an organization and to find out a comprehensive list of key factors (KF) affecting the success of PMS. The objective of this research paper is to develop a method to assess success of a PMS based on a logical chain of 14 KF.

The research first develops a logical chain based on the 14 KFs on the basis of prior studies and then carries out a survey about these KFs (15 check points) of PMS and their connection to organizational performance for a small sample of firms from two EU countries.

There are next findings of this study which indicate following: KFs of PMS affect organizational performance; successful PMS improves organizational performance; PMS is successful for the organization when the completeness of the logical chain in PMS is high.

The practical contribution of this study is that findings show that firms can assess their own PMSs and compare their check point values against the values of successful PMS group. This kind of analysis indicates directly improvement potential for the different check points in PMS.

Real world supply chains differ not only in their current standard of performance, but also in the most effective actions required to move each towards world class supply. A generic approach for the identification of the appropriate re‐engineering programmes based on the uncertainty circle principle is presented. A total of 20 European automotive supply chains have been analysed via a “quick scan” audit procedure. The output is a clear portrayal of the present “health status” of those supply chains. Some 10 per cent of these are performing at the present day level of “best practice”, with a further 20 per cent within sight of this goal. Specific re‐engineering requirements are identified for the remaining 70 per cent dependent on present maturity levels.

Introduces a supply chain “health check” procedure successfully applied in the European automotive sector and presents the results for the analysis of 20 trans‐European value streams covering a wide range of first and second tier suppliers. The health check procedure is activated via a quick scan methodology (QSM) requiring execution by a multi‐disciplinary team working on‐site. The degree of integration within the value chain is estimated by the QS team, using the uncertainty circle concept which apportions observed uncertainties in the product delivery process (PDP) according to source. In our experience the four major contributors are: the demand side; supply side; value added process side; and systems controls. The results clearly demonstrate a well‐trodden and hence proven route for value stream performance improvement. They also identify value chain exemplars and many areas of best practice, but most importantly they provide a list of actions focused on improving the performance of individual value streams. Properly applied, re‐engineering programmes based on these trigger points will speed up the progress curve towards effective supply chain management.

This case study shows how methods of lean philosophy can be successfully taught to undergraduate students and applied to improving a real-world loan process. Students were instructed to use newly acquired classroom skills to analyse and improve a bank loan process in Kuwait.

This study involved an initial gemba walk through the bank. A case study format with direct observation and semi-structured interviews was adopted by 27 undergraduate students to identify waste, analyse the loan process and develop an efficiency plan.

The results revealed that undergraduate students could quickly learn basic lean principles and techniques and utilize them in a real-world situation to significantly improve a bank loan process. Areas of waste included over-production, over-processing, defects in procedure, under-utilized skills, wasted motions and poor time management. Suggested corrective measures were expected to reduce loan processing time by 30%.

Increasing costs and competition in the business environment make efficiency improvements imperative, and it was shown that students can play a major role in applying lean principles to a bank loan process while gaining knowledge and skills highly valued in industry. Universities have the opportunity to create a valuable learning experience for undergraduate students in applying classroom skills to solving a real-life problem.

This is the first study of a novel classroom technique for teaching undergraduate students to apply lean techniques in a Kuwaiti bank.

The purpose of this paper is to act as a meticulous conceptual paper probing the contemporary view towards lean and illustrate that, despite its discernible benefits, the implementation record suffers as the prevailing opinion fails to encapsulate that an aspiring lean enterprise shall only succeed if it views lean as a philosophy rather than another strategy.

The paper is based on a thorough literature search concerning the success and failure of lean implementations and acts as a precursor for one of the authors utilising a combination of methodologies; namely, interviewing, survey questionnaire and participant observation in attempting to prove his PhD hypothesis.

Evidently, a cocktail of factors are needed for lean success; not only is it necessary to implement most of the technical tools but an organisation's culture needs transforming too. Furthermore, the alterations need to be implemented throughout an organisation's value chain. Lean has a major strategic significance, though its implementation procedure, HRM implications, general approach to the supplier base coupled with the overall universal conviction of viewing lean as a set of tactics rather than embracing it as a philosophy advocates that this contributes to the relatively low number of successful lean initiatives.

The paper would prove invaluable to lean practitioners through its summation of the intricacies towards lean enterprise success and academic researchers by focusing their attention towards the necessary cultural implications.

Although empirical tests of effective lean-team leadership are scarce, leaders are often blamed when lean work-floor initiatives fail. In the present study, a lean-team leader’s work values are assumed to affect his or her team members’ behaviors and, through them, to attain team effectiveness. Specifically, two of Schwartz et al.’s (2012) values clusters (i.e. self-transcendence and conservation) are hypothesized to be linked to team members’ degree of information and idea sharing and, in turn, to lean-team effectiveness. The paper aims to report the examination of these hypotheses.

Survey responses (n=429) of both leaders and members of 25 lean-teams in services and manufacturing organizations were aggregated, thereby curbing common-source bias. To test the six hypotheses, structural equation modeling was performed, with bootstrapping, linear regression analyses, and Sobel tests.

The positive relationship between lean-team effectiveness and leaders’ self-transcendence values, and the negative relationship between lean-team effectiveness and leaders’ conservation values were partly mediated by information sharing behavior within the team.

Future research must compare the content of effective lean-team values and behaviors to similar non-lean teams.

Appoint lean-team leaders with predominantly self-transcendence rather than conservation values: to promote work-floor sharing of information and lean-team effectiveness.

Human factors associated with effective lean-teams were examined, thereby importing organization-behavioral insights into the operations management literature: with HRM-type implications.