Search results

Previous research has identified factors that enable lean change to be sustained. What remains unknown is how the interaction effects amongst these factors vary as lean change programmes mature. When are particular factors at their most influential?

Using a data and investigator triangulated qualitative research strategy, this paper tests an a priori model of change sustainability factors. In phase one, the research reveals the influence and significance of the model's change sustainability factors within 13 manufacturers. In phase two, four factors (Leadership, Political, Individual and Managerial) were selected for in-depth case study analyses in three manufacturers.

These point to when in the lean change, certain factors have the most influence on its sustainability. The Leadership factor and political factor are essential at the beginning and remain influential throughout. Employees' individual commitment (Individual factor) is significant in sustaining the change but it is at its most influential in the later stages. The Managerial factor (management approach) is influential in the mature stages of the programme.

Recognising where to put maximum focus during a lean change programme as it matures is crucial for management.

Sustaining lean change has not been studied from the perspective of what factors need to be emphasised at different stages in the programme for successful maturity to occur. Through empirical validation, this study helps address this knowledge gap.

Interesting because – Researchers have found that the majority of lean implementations fail – changes to structures and working practices are made only to see the gains dissipate. Previous research has suggested that multiple factors including leadership, culture and politics influence the change towards a lean organisation. While studies have shown that such factors play a role, what has not been studied is the time, that is, when the factors influence the change process. This study investigated when 11 factors have the most influence on lean implementation. Theoretical value – The study extends the state-of-the-art understanding of implementation of lean in organisations by adding a time element. It is found that in order to have a change that is sustainable, that is, lasting at least 18 months, factors that indicate the importance to the organisation are influential during the entire implementation process. This includes how central the change is to the organisation, the influence of leadership that sets vision and goals, and the implementation methods. Factors that can set things in motion such as the influence of important stakeholders are important at the beginning of the implementation process but then decline in influence over time. While factors that seem to have to do more with how companies operate have less influence at the start but become more influential over time. These include employees' commitment, the managerial style and approach, the organisational policies and structure, and the organisational culture. Practical value – Introducing lean into an organisation and gaining its sustained benefits is often not successful. While factors have previously been identified that influence the success of lean implementation, this study provides additional practical insight. It helps manufacturers be more effective by pinpointing which factors should be focused on during the various stages of the implementation process.

To provide a selective bibliography on reported empirical evidence regarding the compatibility/trade‐offs relationships between delivery reliability and other manufacturing capabilities, and also identify specific areas for future research.

The paper conceptually examines published studies which have reported a trade‐off/compatibility situation between delivery reliability and other manufacturing capabilities such as internal quality, external quality, manufacturing costs, inventory costs, etc. Some different aspects of delivery reliability are also discussed.

Principally, the paper identifies a need to study in more detail the different variables (manufacturing capabilities, contextual variables and manufacturing practices) that could be potentially associated with the achievement of high manufacturing efficiency (high levels of outputs/low levels of inputs) in terms of delivery reliability, materials inventory and safety resources.

The literature review in the paper is intended to be exhaustive. Nevertheless, it is probable that scientific papers that report related/relevant material are involuntarily omitted.

By means of a detailed review of the literature, the paper identifies specific themes for future research. The paper also should be of help to practitioners as it gathers the empirical evidence regarding the compatibility/trade‐off situation between delivery reliability and other areas of manufacturing.

Some papers have dealt with literature reviews on manufacturing strategy as a whole. Nevertheless, to the best of our knowledge, this is the first paper that offers a literature review on delivery reliability. This paper also suggests a novel model of manufacturing efficiency and also proposes a methodology (data envelopment analysis) with which this approach can be examined in more detail.

Although widely used, the concept of business competence is not well defined. Proposes a hierarchical model which integrates the different types of competence which have appeared in the operations and general management literature in recent years. Proposes two new types of competence to complete the model, with illustrative examples from the Management Today/ Cranfield Best Factory Awards database.

This paper aims to review state‐of‐the‐art literature on typologies and taxonomies of operations strategy in order to propose generic operations strategies in industrial companies from a theoretical viewpoint.

Typologies and taxonomies are defined and characterised; both concepts delimit the generic configurations model. Then examine the state of the research on configuration analysis relating to operations strategy is examined. For this purpose articles published in 17 important journals in the field of production and operations management from the 1980s to the year 2006 are analysed.

This review allows one to identify three generic operations strategies commonly accepted in the literature.

This research deserves much more attention, both theoretical and empirical, in order to analyse the existing classifications and develop new classifications of operations strategy.

Knowledge of generic operations strategies may help managers to design and implement a strategy that allows their firm to exploit the full potential of its manufacturing resources, and to achieve better results. The literature review contributes to theory development and provides a means of understanding the strategic position of operations.

Despite considerable interest in research on configurations in the study of organisation and business strategy there has not been much effort to examine the current state or even the future development of generic configurations in the operations strategy field. This paper fills this gap.

The purpose of this paper is to replicate the taxonomic study of Miller and Roth and to validate its applicability in a small newly industrialised country.

An empirical survey of manufacturing companies in Ireland was conducted using a research instrument that replicated the questions asked in the original 1994 study. Data was collected using mail questionnaires posted to 874 manufacturers. A total of 199 respondents were used for this study. The study tested two central hypotheses using advanced statistical data analysis techniques, such as canonical discriminant analysis.

The results of the research identified three clustered strategic groups (Best Value, Budget and Multi Focus) which were different from those of Miller and Roth: caretakers, marketeers and innovators. The study supported the dynamic nature of manufacturing strategy, and shows how new manufacturing strategies evolve over time and differ between regions.

Further research should replicate this study in other small newly industrialised countries. Given the recently changed nature of the economy within Ireland, a longitudinal study would provide useful insights into the dynamics of manufacturing capabilities.

The study provides important insights into manufacturing strategy within a small newly industrialised country. The results suggest that manufacturing strategies appear to change depending on the country of plant location. The manufacturing strategies may be attributed to the unique business environment, challenges and constraints of the country.

There is a scarcity of taxonomy studies in general, and there is a dearth of such studies in small newly industrialised countries such as Ireland. Through identifying a new taxonomy the study contributes to the existing literature on manufacturing strategy, and challenges the global applicability of taxonomies developed in the USA.

This paper presents the results of a major survey and case study of UK manufacturing plants in six major industrial sectors: electronics, process, engineering (capital), engineering (consumer), household goods and food. The paper explores the conditions under which volume flexibility is required by manufacturing plants. The major driver of volume flexibility requirements in manufacturing plants was found to be demand variability regardless of differences in sector, product and other plant characteristics. Other major drivers of volume flexibility were demand uncertainty, short product life‐cycle, short product shelf life, supply chain complexity and action of competitors. The applicability of most of these drivers is independent of the industrial sector. Drivers may be generic or may be dependent on the contextual or sectoral characteristics specific to a plant. The requirement for volume flexibility is, therefore, dictated by the specific conditions which a plant is faced with, and the degree of volume flexibility required varies widely.

The purpose of this study is to develop a framework of strategies to achieving customer order flexibility in and related to the order-to-delivery (OTD) process. The purpose is also to investigate how companies prioritize various strategies to achieve customer order flexibility.

Based on a literature review, pre-tests and conceptual reasoning, a conceptual framework of strategies related to the order-to-delivery process was developed. The strategies were linked to the order quantity and delivery lead-time flexibility dimensions. This structure resulted in six groups covering enabling as well as remedial strategies. An empirical interview study of ten customer–supplier relationships was conducted.

The interviews identified additional strategies, thereby expanding the framework. The enabling strategies with the highest median values were “have continuous contact with the customer's purchaser” and “use safety stock of raw materials/semi-finished products”. The remedial strategy with the highest median was “re-plan/re-prioritize the order backlog”. In the delivery sub-process, it was more common to apply remedial strategies for delivery lead-time than for order quantities.

The developed framework is a contribution to the literature on operational flexibility in and related to the OTD process. It complements existing knowledge by taking a supplier perspective.

Suppliers can use the framework as a tool to understand and systematically achieve better customer order flexibility in and related to the OTD process. Customers can use the framework as a checklist for supplier evaluation and supplier development.

Few identified studies include empirical data on customer order flexibility.

The number of studies relating to best practice in manufacturing has been increasing at a rapid rate over the last few years. As companies strive to attain world‐class manufacturing status the search for best practice has intensified. Focus has evolved from benchmarking as a means to improve company performance through the identification of best practice, to the need to identify, manage and transfer best practices. This paper discusses this evolution of focus and identifies key issues for consideration in best practice investigations. In particular, it addresses issues of methodology which can improve the quality of findings from studies of best practice and maximise company performance through the transfer of appropriate best practices.

The ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) initiative poses both significant opportunities and difficult challenges to the Malaysian SME communities. This study aims to investigate the preparedness of the local SMEs to compete and exploit opportunities in a post-AEC era. The aim is to contribute to existing literature and knowledge base on SMEs’ practices in the ASEAN region. The manufacturing sector has been selected for study, and the research efforts focus on procurement competencies. SME procurement practices in the two largest manufacturing sub-sectors in Malaysia – resource-based (RB) and electrical and electronics (E&E) – are explored.

Preparedness for AEC is gauged from four key performance areas summarized from literature review. Six key research activities are also identified for each performance area from the findings of previous works. Data were collected using a survey instrument and face-to-face interviews. Research methodology is primarily qualitative with quantitative data for robustness check.

The findings reveal peculiar procurement practices in Malaysian SME manufacturers that have significant implications on their preparedness to compete effectively post-AEC. The findings also highlighted the key influences that have contributed to variations in Malaysian SMEs’ attitude toward trade liberalization challenges and business process improvements in comparison with practices in foreign firms and more advanced economies.

Theoretical models have been adopted across business settings and environments by managers. This study reveals managerial practices in Malaysian SME manufacturers run counter to developed theories. The peculiarities and business attitudes of this resilient economic sector can be an important input to managerial decision-making when analyzing business activities in the region.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the nature and the evolution of manufacturer–supplier relationships in Thailand's automobile industry and to identify the factors that influence the evolution of these relationships.

The study is based on case research method involving in‐depth interviews with 120 local and expatriates of 7 companies and their 14 suppliers.

In Thailand, the manufacturer–supplier relationship starts out as a market‐exchange‐type relationship, and then gradually moves to a partnering type. The stages in evolution involve constant efforts on the part of foreign manufacturers to develop the suppliers by offering resources, training, feedback and solutions. The supplier capability building programs, bridging of cultural differences and formation of trust provides the basis for enduring partnerships. These partnerships are symbiotic relationships in which manufacturers benefit from suppliers' knowledge of local production and market factors and suppliers benefit from manufacturer's technical and managerial support. Additionally, closer collaboration with suppliers helps to prevent the leakage of business intelligence and theft of intellectual property and to prevent suppliers from working with competitors, thus allowing manufacturers to devote undivided attention to smooth supply of parts without any shortage.

In emerging markets, the local suppliers play key role in the success of foreign automobile companies. However, the local suppliers need technical and managerial support from manufacturers. The process of building a network of competent local suppliers consumes time and resources, therefore manufacturers should take a long‐term view of the market. The undeniable importance of overcoming cultural differences and building trust is the hallmark of successful partnerships.

The paper highlights the importance and process of developing local suppliers in emerging markets using Thai automobile industry as an example.