World Class Manufacturing Research Articles

The deployment of corporate production systems in auto industry companies: an approach to drive process improvements towards operational excellence

Compelled to accomplish Operational Excellence (OE), the manufacturers in the auto industry have strived to nurture the company-wide implementation of world-class manufacturing practices. This implies the revamp of the production processes in organisational units where traditional paradigms are still firmly embedded, what is specially challenging for larger companies that suffer from adversities such as the lack of agility, cultural diversity and higher complexity to coordinate multiple sites. This paper brings to light how leading companies have coped with these issues by building a proper Corporate Production System (CPS) and embarked on its systematised deployment throughout their production operations. The contents, structure and implementation pattern of exemplary CPSs are analysed.

The Implementation of Best Practices: Process and Performance Effects

Much has been written about best practices and world class manufacturing in recent years. Various practices and improvement programmes have been suggested as best practices, assuming that their adoption would to lead to higher performance. The implementation process of these practices is, however, often neglected in the literature and, hence, relatively poorly understood. The purpose of this article is to provide insight into that process and how different implementation approaches influence performance. An analysis of the implementation of a range of manufacturing action programmes in two companies showed that a broad and incremental implementation approach initially leads to reduced performance followed by a gradual improvement as larger parts of the programmes are institutionalized. A ‘big bang’ implementation approach does not seem to lead to deterioration in performance.

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On the interaction between measurement strategy and control performance in semiconductor manufacturing

Manufacturing in the high revenue semiconductor industry involves a highly capital intensive process consisting of more than 300 steps. To ensure stable process operation and ultimately meet the exacting requirements on final product quality, the typical advanced IC fabrication process requires many on-line sensors and off-line metrology tools for acquiring process and product information necessary for effective monitoring and control. However, the high cost associated with these measurement devices has made the economics of metrology a major factor in the industry’s quest for world-class manufacturing. In this paper, we first introduce various measurement data types and describe how they feature within an ideal fab-wide control architecture; subsequently, and from a process control point of view, we derive various run-to-run controllers, carry out stability analyses, and analyze control system performance. These results are then applied to the problem of rational metrology strategy selection where the effects of various metrology strategies on control system performance are systematically analyzed. In particular, if control performance takes priority over economics, we present results for determining maximum tolerable sampling intervals, maximum tolerable delay, and measurement priority.

DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION OF PERFORMANCE MEASURES FOR WORLD CLASS MANUFACTURING PRACTICES IN INDIA

This paper aims to develop and validate performance measures for world class manufacturing (WCM) in Indian context that could be used by managers/ practitioners in assessing and improving their manufacturing performance. Using a thorough synthesis of the world class manufacturing literature, sixteen performance measures — top management commitment, knowledge management, employee training, innovation and technology, employee empowerment, environmental health and safety, supplier management, production planning and control, quality, flexibility, speed, cost, customer involvement, customer satisfaction, customer services and company growth — of world class manufacturing and their 89 variables have been developed. Using the data obtained from a survey of manufacturing industries in India, the identified performance measures were subjected to appropriate statistical tests to establish reliability and validity. Statistical computing package SPSS 11.5 for Windows was used for reliability and validity analysis. The validated instrument of world class manufacturing measures developed here may be used by manufacturing organizations to prioritise their management efforts to assess and implement WCM. The validated results are in Indian context, however, the instrument developed can be used in global context.

The implementation of world class manufacturing techniques in Egyptian manufacturing firms

PurposeThe purposes of this paper are to illustrate how the world class manufacturing (WCM) techniques which could be described as outperforming the industry's global best practices have been implemented in the Egyptian manufacturing firms, to identify the critical driving and resisting forces toward WCM techniques implementation in Egyptian manufacturing firms, and to provide guidelines for the successful implementation of WCM by Egyptian manufacturers.Design/methodology/approachThe data analyzed in this study are collected from a mail questionnaire sent to 200 manufacturing firms in Egypt.FindingsThe findings of this study indicate that the Egyptian manufacturers are still in the 1970s and 1980s, when compared with world‐class manufacturers. The most important variables that promote the implementation of WCM techniques are “reduced operating costs (marketing and production)” and “global issues (environment‐market).” More importantly, the results of this study indicate that poor planning and lack of knowledge are the most significant barriers to WCM implementation in the Egyptian manufacturing sector.Research limitations/implicationsThere is a need to empirically explore the benefits of WCM implementation by the Egyptian manufacturing companies. Furthermore, more research is needed to study how the perceived importance of these drivers and barriers may differ across each industry such as manufacturing equipment, chemical and plastics, telecommunications, hardware equipment, textile industry, home equipment, scientific and medical equipment, management consulting, and software development.Practical implicationsThis study hopes to create more awareness among management and employees about the strategic importance of WCM techniques to operations processes in the Egyptian manufacturing firms.Originality/valueAlthough the last few years have witnessed phenomenal growth in WCM techniques, the underlying factors driving and inhibiting its diffusion are not well understood specially in the context of less developed countries in general and Egypt in particular. Therefore, this paper presents an empirical research that investigated the factors driving and inhibiting WCM implementation in Egypt and it provides insight into the strategies currently being adopted by Egyptian manufacturers in an effort to meet the challenge of obtaining WCM status.

Developing a BPI framework and PAM for SMEs

PurposeThe last decade has seen much interest in small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) from successive UK Governments highlighting the importance of this sector to the wealth‐creating process of the UK economy. World‐class manufacturing (WCM) is a set of methodologies that are used by organisations to compete globally and continuously improve their competitiveness. Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) are now competing at a global level and many are world‐class. The majority of the companies that make up the OEM's supply chains are SMEs. It is, therefore, imperative that SMEs also improve their competitiveness to a world‐class level. This paper aims to address these issues.Design/methodology/approachThe paper uses a triangulation methodology consisting of a literature review, analysis of a 150‐company survey and semi‐structured interviews in the development of the business process improvement (BPI) framework and performance assessment methodology (PAM) tool.FindingsThis study advocates a planned and integrated approach for the gradual achievement of WCM in SMEs by a strategy of BPI through continuous improvement and structured training.Practical implicationsThe work is of value to SMEs since the study encapsulates the requirements of SME management into the BPI framework and considers their critique of present frameworks; hence a practical framework that is honed for SME application.Originality/valueThis paper fulfils an identified need for SMEs to achieve WCM status and offers a novel/practical framework and PAM tool which are timely because the DTI is promulgating the need for SMEs to become world‐class.

The role of manufacturing practices in mediating the impact of activity-based costing on plant performance

We study the impact of activity-based costing (ABC) on adoption of world-class manufacturing (WCM) practices and plant performance. In contrast to earlier research that estimates the direct impact of ABC on plant performance, we develop an alternative research model to study the role of world-class manufacturing practices as a mediator of the impact of ABC. Analysis of data from a large cross-sectional sample of US manufacturing plants indicates that ABC has no significant direct impact on plant performance, as measured by improvements in unit manufacturing costs, cycle time, and product quality. We find, however, that WCM practices completely mediate the positive impact of ABC on plant performance, and thus advanced manufacturing capabilities represent a critical missing link in understanding the overall impact of ABC. Our results provide a different conceptual lens to evaluate the relationship between ABC adoption and plant performance, and suggest that ABC adoption by itself does not improve plant performance.

Identifying the need for world class manufacturing and best practice for SMEs in the UK

There has been much written in literature by both academics and industrialists alike about the importance of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) to the economic prosperity of the UK and the urgent need for these businesses to improve their competitiveness. UK small firms are still underperforming in comparison to those companies in France and Germany. In order that UK organisations achieve world class levels of competitiveness the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI)'s UK Manufacturing Strategy identified an urgent need for the systematic implementation of 'best practices' such as Lean Practices and other World Class Manufacturing (WCM) methodologies. The paper uses an SME company survey to determine the level and breadth of best practice/WCM methodologies implementation. To further the analysis of the survey, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 companies for further clarification and analysis of the survey results. This paper fulfils an identified need for SMEs to achieve WCM status and implement best practice in their facilities. Moreover, by providing a sector by sector analysis it is possible to compare and contrast deficiencies in these SMEs across key sectors.

Application of stochastic analytic hierarchy process within a domestic appliance manufacturer

The stochastic analytic hierarchy process (SAHP) provides a mechanism for achieving more effective selection of alternatives in the form of considering multi and conflicting criteria using quantitative and qualitative information under uncertainty. In contrast to the traditional analytic hierarchy process, the SAHP uses probabilistic distributions to incorporate uncertainty that people have in converging their judgements of preferences into a Likert scale. The vector of priorities is calculated using Monte Carlo simulation, the final rankings are analysed for rank reversal using statistical analysis, and managerial aspects are introduced systematically. The present paper demonstrates an application of the SAHP in a world-class domestic appliance manufacturer. The case study was carried out by strictly following a disciplined and organized methodology for applying the SAHP developed by the authors. The results of this study were encouraging to key personnel within the company, establishing a greater opportunity to explore the applications of the SAHP in other core business processes.

Agile Innovative Total Quality Function Deployment and its financial accountability in an Indian company

In the last few decades, the world has witnessed the emergence of three strategies, namely, quality, innovation and Agile Manufacturing (AM). This paper reports research work, which was carried out to tap the synergic powers of these strategies. To begin with, a model by the name agile Innovative Total Quality Function Deployment (agile ITQFD) was designed. A financial accounting system was also designed in order to depict the performance of agile ITQFD using financial values. As an experiment, the working of agile ITQFD and its financial accounting system were studied in an Indian electronics switches manufacturing company. This company has successfully applied many world class manufacturing strategies. Hence, the inferences drawn from this experimentation could be viewed from a global perspective, which indicated that it is possible to apply agile ITQFD and its financial accounting system successfully in real-time situations.

Formation of a generic technique for manufacturing systems monitoring

To enhance resources utilisations, dispersed manufacturing systems are getting popular presently. With such systems, the connections among worldwide-dispersed activities are often made by telephones, emails and facsimiles, etc. to overcome some geographical barriers. It is very clear that knowledge of fabrication status is very important to a world-class manufacturer because fluctuations in fabrication processes can directly affect other operations, as most operations are interknitted in someway. Traditionally, computer integrated manufacturing (CIM) techniques have been applied; however, the complicated hardware/software integrations and signal conditioning requirements digest a significant amount of resources. The objective of this research is to develop a new methodology, which needs little configurations, by making use of simple counting devices attached at transition points along a fabrication line to count the number of entities that have passed. With the help of the formulated mathematical model, both the quantitative and the qualitative matters in a manufacturing system can be monitored. A problematic location can then be identified accordingly.

Justification of World-Class Manufacturing Systems using the Analytic Hierarchy Process

In recent years, quite a few industries claim that they are "world-class" and many other industries have embarked on their journey to attain the "world-class" status. But there is a general challenge offered by World-Class Manufacturing Systems (WCMS) to the field of engineering economics, when it becomes necessary to justify its adoption or implementation. The traditional justification approaches do not account for the significant intangible benefits offered by WCMS. Hence, this paper attempts to demonstrate the application of the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to overcome the above-mentioned problem. From an extensive analysis of the results, it is evident that implementation of WCMS would result in overall improvement in the performance of an organisation in comparison with the alternatives.

Innovation in Management Accounting: The Needs of World-Class Firms

In this article, the main characteristics of world-class manufacturing will be considered. The world-class companies should use the newest and modern techniques in manufacturing. Flexibility in manufacturing, advanced information technology, programming and control, sketching and product innovation, organization structure, financial controls, bench marking, long range strategic plans, comprehensive quality management, and personnel active partnership in business operation and business process are considered as the main characteristics of world-class companies. In continuation, a model will be presented, on the basis of which, management accounting system can help these companies. In order to establish this model, activity based costing techniques, target costing, theory of constraint, balanced scorecard, and manufacturing on time by use of AHP process will used. It will conclude that companies managers, can increase their organization success in competitive conditions by combining modern methods.

DEVELOPMENT OF A FRAMEWORK FOR WORLD-CLASS MAINTENANCE SYSTEMS

A world-class maintenance system (WMS) refers to the best practices in maintenance that are followed and adopted by various organizations to transform themselves to be a 'world-class manufacturer'. One of the important factors in developing a 'world-class' maintenance system within an organization is the adoption of a sound framework that provides the necessary conceptual and theoretical details of best practices to be followed, to reach the world-class status. Several authors, consultants and large organizations have proposed different frameworks representing the best practices in maintenance, which seem to have been developed and derived primarily from the context and experience of such large organizations and consultants respectively. A comparative study revealed that most of the frameworks are unique and proposes several unique best practices in maintenance. Hence, in this paper, an attempt has been made to identify such best practices from the existing frameworks and integrate these practices to develop and propose a new framework for world-class maintenance systems.

The Political Economy of Industrial Policy in China: The Case of Aircraft Manufacturing

This paper focuses on China's efforts to build a world-class aircraft manufacturing industry. In the first half of the 1990s, the potential of the Chinese industry to mount a competitive challenge to Western aircraft builders was largely discounted. Nowadays, the threat is taken more seriously. The growth in the Chinese air transport market has reinforced the bargaining power of national aircraft producers and authorities are giving priority to building science and technology capacity in this area. Progress in creating military/civilian synergies has proven much more modest and the overall industry still lacks effective coordination.

Development of a knowledge-based system for justification of world-class manufacturing systems

Since the introduction of the concept ‘world-class manufacturing (WCM)’, world-class manufacturing systems (WCMSs) have attracted the attention of industries all over the world. This is evident from the fact that, in recent years, quite a few industries claim they are of ‘world class’ and many other industries have embarked on their journey to attain ‘world-class’ status. The perceptible impact of WCMSs lies in attaining the far-reaching world-class standards, but there is a general challenge offered by WCM to the field of engineering economics, when it is necessary to justify adopting or implementing such new philosophies or systems. Typically, the traditional approaches do not account for the significant intangible benefits offered by systems such as WCM. The present work describes the development of a knowledge-based system for justification of WCMSs, to overcome the above-mentioned deficiency.

Evaluation of overall line effectiveness (OLE) in a continuous product line manufacturing system

PurposeThe total productive maintenance concept provided a quantitative metric – overall equipment effectiveness (OEE), for measuring the effectiveness of individual equipment in a factory, which is significant but insufficient since world class manufacturing (WCM) system focus on product line involving machines in series. This paper aims to present an approach to measure the overall line effectiveness (OLE) in continuous line‐manufacturing system.Design/methodology/approachSystematic methodology, based on OEE metrics, is developed to model the productivity of a line manufacturing system in terms of OLE. The general and step‐by‐step method of OLE measurement in the line consisting of n number of processes is explained using a flow chart.FindingsComputer simulation has been carried out for the evaluation of OLE in product line manufacturing system with n number of machines. It also identifies the bottle‐neck machines and the effect of specific contributing parameter for improvement.Practical implicationsThe result of this research makes it possible to represent the overall product line effectiveness as a benchmark for WCM to compare the performance of the various continuous product line manufacturing‐based industries.Originality/valueThis paper presents a successful and effective evaluation of OLE which will provide a useful guide to aspects of the production process where inefficiencies can be targeted for doing improvements in the product line.

Capacity design: an application using discrete-event simulation and designed experiments

The use of front-end engineering techniques by a major world-class manufacturing company, to improve decision making on capacity planning, capital equipment selection and control strategies, is discussed. In particular, attention is focused on the modeling and analysis of a sequential plastic parts manufacturing line using discrete-event simulation. The use of simulation allied to designed experiments leads to the design of a semi-automated manufacturing line. The line could be built using standard equipment rather than custom-built equipment resulting in considerable cost savings. Using the model to obtain the control strategy before the actual production equipment was in place enabled the line to be commissioned in a shorter time than normal.

Manufacturing excellence through TPM implementation: a practical analysis

PurposeTo examine the need to develop, practice and implement such maintenance practices, which not only reduce sudden sporadic failures in semi‐automated cells but also reduce both operation and maintenance (O&M) costs.Design/methodology/approachA case‐based approach in conjunction with standard tools, techniques and practices is used to discuss various issues related with TPM implementation in a semi‐automated cell.FindingsThe findings indicate that TPM not only leads to increase in efficiency and effectiveness of manufacturing systems, measured in terms of OEE index, by reducing the wastages but also prepares the plant to meet the challenges put forward by globally competing economies to achieve world class manufacturing (WCM) status.Originality/valueThe paper presents an interesting investigation of TPM implementation issues which may help the managers/practitioners to prepare their plants/units to meet the challenges of competitive manufacturing in twenty‐first century by adopting and implementing TPM.