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The ability of small businesses to make and adjust to the paradigm shift needed to benefit from the Japanese production theory has been questioned in the literature. Zangwill (1992) questioned the limits of the Japanese Production Theory (JPT) and in a subsequent paper (Zangwill, 1994) held on to his argument about the limits of the Japanese Production Theory. In this paper, the Japanese Production Theory is first discussed, followed by a discussion of the consistency between the traditional EOQ theory and the Japanese production theory, critique of the Zangwill’s argument, and issues related to the relevance of the Japanese production theory to small businesses.

Enterprise resource planning systems, if implemented successfully, can bestow impressive strategic, operational and information‐related benefits to adopting firms. A failed implementation can often spell financial doom. Currently, most of the information about the failures and successes are based on reports on implementations in large manufacturing and service organizations. But enterprise resource planning vendors are now steadily turning their marketing sights on small and medium‐sized manufacturers. The time is ripe for researchers to gather, analyze and disseminate information that will help these firms to implement their projects successfully. This research adopts a multiple case study approach to investigate the implementation process in small and midsize manufacturing firms in the US. The research focuses on implementation activities that foster successful installations and are developed using information gleaned from our field studies of four projects. Avenues for future research are also suggested.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the management of public-sector projects in Portugal paying particular attention to the extent to which total quality management (TQM) principles are being utilized in such projects.

Based on an extensive review of the literature, nine propositions are advanced about the interrelationships among seven factors that were identified, in a previous study, as having some influence on the management process in the planning and implementation of public-sector projects in Portugal. Structural equation modeling was used to investigate these propositions using data obtained from 211 respondents to a survey of project managers from municipalities across Portugal.

The results of the structural equation model indicate that the TQM components working in tandem with project-management-specific variables provide a systematic means of managing the planning and implementation stages of projects, with technical items being critical in the planning stage and softer management items becoming important in the implementation stage.

Readers should be careful not to generalize the findings in a global context or for private sector projects. However, researchers are encouraged to extend this study by including other planning and implementation variables with a view to discerning what particular characteristics of a project make it more amenable to TQM solutions.

The findings are presented to show how the key components of TQM, customer focus, employee involvement and continuous involvement, can be applied during the planning and implementation stages of projects.

The sample size of 211 is representative of the underlying population of project managers in municipalities across Portugal and is comparatively large in relation to other empirical project management studies from Portugal, lending credence to the generalizability of these finding to public-sector projects in Portugal.

A firm may be considered to be technologically consistent if its manufacturing technology is appropriate for its segment of its industry. The purpose of this research is to examine the relationship between technology consistency and both the rate of adoption and performance of six specific process management initiatives.

A mail survey was administered to CEO's at a total of 400 food processing, pharmaceutical/biotechnology, apparel and semiconductor firms in the USA. In total, 80 usable responses were returned, resulting in a response rate of 20 percent; 64 of these responses form the basis for the results presented in this paper.

The results indicate that there was a relationship between technology consistency and the adoption of only one of the six process management initiatives covered in this study. However, most of the respondents indicated that the initiatives that they had chosen were effective in meeting their needs.

This study concerns the adoption of six process management initiatives at firms in four industries. The results indicate that these initiatives appear to be just as relevant and beneficial to manufacturers regardless of the level of technology existent in their industry. However, examination of this phenomenon for a greater number of initiatives at a wider cross section of manufacturing industries is desirable.

This research is innovative in that it considers the impact of the implementation of various process management initiatives in the context of the technological consistency of the adopting firm. The reported results are relevant for small, moderate and large manufacturing concerns.

This study uses information obtained from the advanced manufacturing technology (AMT) literature to develop a conceptual framework that seeks to illustrate the impact of the management information systems (MIS) department on the different facets of AMT adoption. A detailed survey instrument was administered to a cross‐section of manufacturing firms in the USA to collect the data required to test five hypotheses relating to the efficacy of this framework. The results of this study indicate that the proposed framework is particularly useful in explaining the role of MIS departments in firms that are attempting to integrate advanced process and information technologies. This finding and other results of this study and their implications are discussed.

The purpose of this paper is to present the results of an investigation of advanced manufacturing technology (AMT) implementation practices and performance at 82 discrete‐parts durable goods manufacturing plants in the USA.

A mail survey was used to gather information about: the types of AMT that the plants were using; the planning, justification and installation activities that were used to support the adoption of these technologies; and changes in plant performance that could be attributed to the AMT adoptions. Several propositions that were derived from the AMT literature are tested.

Our results indicate that firms that are desirous of adopting integrated technologies should be prepared to exert considerable effort on: fostering a supportive planning environment; integrating investment justification; engendering human and technology resource consistency; and promoting team‐based project planning and installation. Additionally, our analysis indicates that effort on three of these components contribute to explaining improvements in firm performance.

Although this research unveiled some significant findings, there is a need for testing of the propositions on a larger scale.

The managerial framework that is developed in this paper will be particularly useful to firms that are in the pre‐planning stages of AMT adoption or that are considering adding new AMT to their existing technology portfolio.

While most AMT research studies simply report, discuss and explain their findings, this paper goes further by harnessing the findings into a simple managerial framework for the adoption of AMT that is easy to understand and implement.

While some reports on successes of advanced manufacturing technologies (AMT) have been glowing, many companies have tossed millions of dollars worth of fancy equipment into their factories and wound up with little to show for it. It is becoming clear that many of the AMT failures today can be attributed to an inadequate planning process. Proposes a four‐stage research framework that addresses issues in: planning the manufacturing system; planning for an appropriate infrastructure; planning for new relationships with the external environment; and justifying investment in AMT. Assesses the strengths and weaknesses of selected contributions in each stage, and identifies gaps in knowledge where research is needed. The framework devised should help tomorrow’s research build on the past and increase the research’s acceptance by industry, since it draws on both research‐ and practitioner‐based literature along with findings of the field study.

This paper seeks to present the results of an investigation on the justification of investments in advanced manufacturing technology (AMT) at manufacturing plants in the USA. Unlike previous research that explored the adoption and use of a specific AMT or groups of similar AMT, this study focuses on a plant's combination of technologies or its technology portfolio.

Mail survey responses from a sample of 82 plants are used to examine the relationships between the type of technology portfolio being used and the justification approaches and evaluation techniques that were utilized to justify these investments. The study also investigates the level of functional integration and the level of effort applied to several activities during the justification stage of the AMT projects.

The majority of plants that had adopted the more complex technology portfolios were using hybrid (economic and strategic) justification approaches supported by ratio and discounted cash flow justification techniques. Plants that were using the less complex portfolio also used hybrid approaches, but tended to concentrate on the use of ratio techniques. Findings on the level of functional integration at various stages of the AMT project are also reported.

This research concentrated on discrete‐parts durable goods producers in the USA. Further studies are needed to determine whether the findings can be generalized across other industries or in other countries.

This research uses an innovative portfolio analysis approach to investigate the important topic of justification of AMT. Managerial implications arising from the results of this study and a number of new research avenues are advanced.

Presents the results of an exploratory investigation of the level of importance that firms place on several business and technical objectives when they are considering AMT adoption. Mail survey data obtained from 125 manufacturing firms in the USA that had adopted a wide variety of AMT are used in this analysis. On average, these firms had placed the highest levels of importance on improving product quality, reducing manufacturing leadtimes, reducing per unit production costs and improving responsiveness to changing customer needs. Lower levels of importance were reported for the market‐based objectives of increasing market share and gaining earlier entrance to market. In addition, although firms had also ascribed lower levels of importance to the organizational adaptation benefits of developing an integrated organization and developing management expertise, they were satisfied that implementation of the technologies had a positive influence on achieving these benefits. Exploratory factor analysis revealed that the 15 benefits that were investigated in this study can be viewed as representing three interdependent dimensions: technical/operational objectives, total quality management‐based objectives, and business or marketing‐based objectives.

Some researchers have found that unionized firms are less likely to pursue automation because high wage demands deprive them of the necessary capital required to invest in advanced manufacturing technology (AMT). It has also been suggested that stringent work rules and technology agreements can make the substitution of new technology for union labor too expensive. Others have found, however, that the pursuit of high wage policies and the resultant requirement for improved worker and machine productivity can create a positive environment for technological change. This exploratory study examines the relationships between firm‐level union status and the adoption and performance of AMT in the discrete parts durable‐goods manufacturing industry. Analyses of our sample, which included Chi‐square tests, t‐tests, correlation analyses and multiple linear regression analyses, revealed a union effect on the adoption of just‐in‐time technology and a moderately positive union effect on performance. Results of analyses of the impact of union status, firm size and several human factor variables on firm performance are also presented and discussed.