Continuous Improvement and its Barriers in Electrical and Electronic Industry

Md Fauzi Ahmad,Raja Zuraidah Raja Mohd Rasi,Chan Shiau Wei,Nik Hisyamudin Muhd Nor,Fatan Adibah Hashim,Toh Li Yan,Nor Aida Abdul Rahman,Mohd Fahrul Hassan,Ahmad Nur Aizat Ahmad,M.N Nik Hisyamudin,I Al Emran,I Mohd Rasidi,M.B Mohd Faizal,T.A Ahmad Mubarak,K Amir,M Sofian,Md J Mohd Azlis Sani,Z Izzuddin

doi:10.1051/matecconf/201713500045

Abstract

Continuous improvement is one of the core strategies for manufacturing excellent and it is considered vital in today’s business environment. Continuous improvement is an important factor in TQM implementation. However, manufacturers in Electrical and Electronic Industry is facing variety of challenges such as, time constraint, quality issue, headcount issue, human issue and competition in domestic as well as the global market. This paper presents total quality management practices in Electrical and Electronic (EE) Industry. These manufacturers have to keep improving in key activities and processes to cope the challenges. Therefore, EE industry realize the importance of continuous improvement in helping the industries by setting clear goals and priorities for the area of improvement. The aims of this study are to determine the main factor in implementing continuous improvement practices, identify tools of continuous improvement that have been used and their obstacle in implementing continuous improvement practices. 200 questionnaires had been distributed to the employees in Electrical and Electronic Industry located at Bayan Lepas, Penang, Malaysia. A total of 41 questionnaires were answered which represented about 20.5% response rates. Survey result shows that teamwork and training and learning are respectively the importance factor and the most practices factor in Electrical and Electronic Industry. Most of the Electrical and Electronic Industry emphasis is on using Lean Manufacturing as the tool of continuous improvement practices. Besides that, Electrical and Electronic Industry faced the problems of lack of budget and lack of worker commitment.

Highlights

Continuous improvement is planned, organized and systematic process of ongoing, incremental and company-wide change of existing practices to improve company performance
A well-known concept related to continuous improvement is Kaizen, which has its origin in Japan and means continuous change for the better by involving all employees [1]
Cronbach's alpha is a measure of internal consistency, which able to determine how closely related a set of items are as a group

Summary

Introduction

Continuous improvement is planned, organized and systematic process of ongoing, incremental and company-wide change of existing practices to improve company performance. Continuous improvement is one of the core strategies for manufacturing excellent and is considered vital in today’s business environment [1]. Continuous improvement has proved to be a useful way of business approach in centering low cost investment and high return improvements in both large, medium and small companies. Continuous Improvement method has become widely adopted as providing an important component for increasing company competitiveness. Continuous Improvement enables a company to be more successful in the pursuit of a specific strategy or set of objectives [2]. Among the major potential benefits of continuous improvement are increased business performances and increased people performance [3][4]

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