Browse by author
Lookup NU author(s): Colin Herron, Professor Paul Braiden
Full text for this publication is not currently held within this repository. Alternative links are provided below where available.
This paper describes a model which has been developed to direct and generate productivity improvement in a group of manufacturing companies. The companies are of all sizes including Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and form a cross-section of industries and abilities with regard to manufacturing. There is a wide range of manufacturing efficiency improvement methods available to the companies, such as Just in Time (JIT), or a range of lean manufacturing tools. The selection of appropriate tools for manufacturing improvement, together with their applicability, incorporation and acceptance within operations is a major problem for many companies. A methodology has therefore been developed which consists of three clearly defined steps, starting with a Productivity Needs Analysis (PNA), which gives an overview of the current manufacturing condition of the company, identifies the key productivity measures for the plant and forms the basis for a detailed study of production efficiency. The plant processes and problems are defined and are associated with the appropriate tools and metrics in a Manufacturing Needs Analysis (MNA), which generates an initial 1-year improvement plan for a particular manufacturing unit. The output from the procedure is obtained as a numerical ranking. In order to ensure that the tools which are found to be efficacious are fully embedded within the company, the PNA and MNA are combined with a Training Needs Analysis (TNA). The paper describes the approach and the results obtained from 15 companies plus an identified exemplar, Nissan Motor Manufacturing UK Ltd. (NMUK). © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Author(s): Herron C, Braiden PM
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: International Journal of Production Economics
Year: 2006
Volume: 104
Issue: 1
Pages: 143-153
ISSN (print): 0925-5273
ISSN (electronic):
Publisher: Elsevier BV
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpe.2005.10.004
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpe.2005.10.004
Altmetrics provided by Altmetric
