Rl. Chapman et al., CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT IN AUSTRALIAN MANUFACTURING FIRMS - FINDINGS OF A SURVEY IN NEW-SOUTH-WALES, International journal of technology management, 14(1), 1997, pp. 102-115
Citations number
6
Categorie Soggetti
Management,Engineering,"Operatione Research & Management Science
As in many industrialized nations, the manufacturing sector in Austral
ia has been forced into rapid change in recent years due to the twin p
ressures of rapid industry deregulation and increasing business global
ization. These pressures have resulted in dramatic increases in compet
ition in most market segments and industry rationalization in many pre
viously protected industry sectors. Manufacturing companies that wish
to survive and prosper into the new millennium will have to adopt flex
ible strategies, leading-edge technologies and an acceptance of change
across ali levels in the company workforce. One approach to counterac
t these pressures being used successfully in many Japanese and Europea
n companies is continuous improvement (CI), defined here as ''a compan
y wide process of focused and continuous incremental innovation'' (Bes
sant, 1994). As part of an international study examining CI in medium
to large manufacturing firms, survey responses from 203 firms based in
New South Wales, Australia, with turnovers greater than Aus $10 milli
on, have been analysed in order to determine the level of CI implement
ation and the tools and techniques used in such implementation. Genera
l conclusions from the study suggest that while awareness of the impor
tance and value of CI is widespread amongst these firms, implementatio
n is frequently limited to manufacturing and operations areas; employe
es below senior management level have little or no involvement in dire
ction setting; quality improvement and cost reduction are by far the m
ain drivers for CI activities; and adoption of specific tools and tech
niques is generally limited to the basic problem-solving and process-a
nalysis tools.