Large public companies restructure themselves on a regular basis with the primary goals of achieving better financial performance and demonstrating responsiveness to shareholder interests. However, it is well know that such discontinuities typically result in great stress and confusion amongst...

Despite years of research and application, integrated supply chains remain dynamic, multifaceted, and often misunderstood entities. However, in many environments the potential for process improvement remains. This paper categorizes four historical phases of supply chain development and...

Purpose – Lean construction looks into the possibility of bringing successful lean production theories into the construction industry. It was believed that lean production principles could also be influenced by the essence of military strategies, specifically that of Sun Tzu's Art of War (ST)...

Purpose – To evaluate the current state of manufacturing in some selected plants in electronics, telecommunication/wireless, and computer industries in the Republic of China. Design/methodology/approach – A spreadsheet‐based assessment tool is used to evaluate nine key areas of...

Purpose – To provide an overview of the history, evolution, and existing research on continuous improvement. Design/methodology/approach – Extensive review of the literature. Findings – This paper provides an overview of continuous improvement, its inception, how it evolved into...

Purpose – The purpose of this research is to investigate the role of management support in a lean implementation. The impact the lean implementation made on communication within the organization is also examined. Design/methodology/approach – Qualitative methods were used to study the...

Purpose – This paper proposes a relationship between decision making and key qualities of business systems. Design/methodology/approach – The authors explore the relationship between decision making and systems by contrasting the decision making in two well‐known systems: MRP and JIT. The...

Purpose – British empirical research suggests culture and change have contributed to every lean failure. While prevailing research implies that successful lean implementations lead to a profitable organisation it focuses on the low numbers of successful lean conversions. This paper aims to...

Purpose – This paper aims to identify the success factors linked to human resources management during the lean production (LP) adoption process. A model of these factors and their interrelationships is also to be built to understand the sequence that leads to the cultural change required in...

Seeks to extend the traditional understanding of productivity by more closely coupling task and behavioral elements of work within the bounds of 1890s mass production principles and 1990s lean production principles. Comparisons are made between common batch and queue manufacturing methods and...