The lean approach is an idealizing improvement approach that has an enormous impact in the field of operations management. It started in the automotive industry and has since been widely applied in discrete manufacturing. However, extensions to the (semi-) process industry have been much slower....

From an extensive review of the literature in the field of total quality management (TQM), 11 constructs of TQM implementation were identified. An instrument measuring these constructs was developed. The reliability and validity of the instrument were tested and validated using data from 212...

Purpose – This paper seeks to explore the question of how to investigate the contribution of the operational network (comprising sales service, logistics, planning, production, etc.) to operational performance. In doing so, the paper aims to link concepts from organisational and social...

In many situations suppliers and customers are looking for ways to improve the co‐ordination of goods flow in both quantitative and qualitative ways. This is often called co‐makership. This article describes a case study of two companies setting up a co‐makership relationship. The...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper was to investigate the effects of postponement in the context of environmentally sound management. Design/methodology/approach – The paper examined the environmental issues for a postponement strategy, with transport as a mediating factor. It also...