Purpose: The present paper aims at developing an effective framework including all the components necessary for implementing lean production properly in Small and Medium-sized Enterprises. Design/methodology/approach: The paper begins with the review of the main existing framework of lean...

Purpose: This paper describes the perceived effects of implementing lean production in a Swedish SME contract manufacturer. Especially focused are the effects on, and possible trade-offs between, cost-efficiency and flexibility. Design/methodology/approach: SME suppliers need basic capabilities...

Purpose: The main objective of this research is to design a decision-making network, based on the Analytic Network Process (ANP) technique (Saaty, 1996), which will include the main elements to take into account when stating the effect that the application of LP techniques has got on the...

Purpose: Information & Communication Technologies (ICT) can be a fundamental aid for the design of new teaching methods that better adapt to the framework of the European Higher Education Area. In this context, this study aims to develop and assess a complex and truly interactive ICT-based...

Purpose: Employment plays an important part in many people’s lives beyond merely providing income, since continued participation in work can have many therapeutic benefits for workers defined as disabled. However, disabled workers face a range of barriers to employment, despite legislation...

Purpose: The most popular alternative systems to mass production at an academic level (lean manufacturing, agile manufacturing, flexible customization, mass customization...) share many characteristics. Our article identifies an extensive set of alternative practices to mass production; analyzes...

This study explores why a sustainable cycle is induced when manufacturers implement auditing in combination with lean production. Furthermore, it verifies whether this sustainable cycle enhances process integration and risk resilience, thereby allowing the manufacturer to build strong...

Industry 4.0, started in Germany in 2011, was fervently promoted by various advanced countries and followed by the introduction of "smart manufacturing". As an innovative strategy of the manufacturing industry "smart manufacturing" has attracted considerable attention in the field of academics...