Abstract
Today, to improve productivity in manufacturing, one has a large variety of improvement programmes at one′s disposal. Zero defects, value analysis, just‐in‐time, manufacturing lead time reduction are just a few of a long list of potential action programmes. Their real impact is not always clearly described, and manufacturing managers often have to start implementation on a basis of belief. In this article we use the database of the European Manufacturing Futures Survey to explore some of the medium‐term effects of these improvement programmes on manufacturing performance. The conclusions show that there are no simple cause‐effect relationships between single improvement programmes and manufacturing performance. Tenacity in implementation is required since some programmes have negative effects in the short term, but can have positive effects in the long term.
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