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Maike Scherrer
Former Member
Title
PD Dr.
Last Name
Scherrer
First name
Maike
Phone
+41 71 224 7300
3 results
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Item type:Publication, Learning to be lean: The influence of external information sources in lean improvementsPurpose - The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of management exposure to external information sources, such as training sessions, plant visits, and conferences, in helping manufacturing organizations achieve lean goals. Design/methodology/approach - A model is proposed highlighting the relationship between various key drivers of lean, external information sources, management commitment to lean, and lean thinking. To empirically test the model, 1,000 surveys were mailed to Canadian manufacturers with 109 usable surveys returned. Analyzing the data using partial least squares, the common sources of management information on lean and their effectiveness for lean improvements are discussed. Findings - The final model confirms that management exposure to external information sources and commitment to lean both influence lean thinking within organizations. However, the direct relationship between external information sources and lean thinking is not supported. Instead, an indirect relationship exists, where increased exposure to sources of lean information, increases management commitment to lean, and ultimately the extent of lean thinking in the organization. Practical implications - The practical implications of this research are that it will help manufacturing managers identify both organizational and environmental factors that may facilitate or inhibit the extensive use of lean in their organization, and the impact that their own understanding of lean and commitment to lean improvements will have on the overall success of a lean program. Originality/value - The paper should help improve understanding of the differences in the extent of lean thinking between plants in the same company, organizations in the same industry, and organizations across industries.Type:journal articleJournal:Journal of Manufacturing Technology ManagementVolume:22Issue:5Scopus© Citations 90 - Some of the metrics are blocked by yourconsent settings
Item type:Publication, An Empirical Examination of the Best Practices to Ensure Manufacturing Flexibility - Lean AlignmentPurpose - The purpose of this paper is to identify the best practices managers use to improve manufacturing flexibility and ensure the tools and techniques selected for flexibility improvement are in line with broader organizational and manufacturing goals, such as lean production. Design/methodology/approach - A number of best practices are identified based on a review and synthesis of the conceptual frameworks for improving manufacturing flexibility and are presented to North American manufacturing managers. Results of analyzing the data from 168 managers indicate the best practices, techniques, and major groups involved in improving flexibility. Findings - Results support these best practices, with the most important practices being: incorporating the role of manufacturing flexibility into the manufacturing strategy; identifying the major potential sources of uncertainty faced by the manufacturing department; and identifying the general capability of the manufacturing department to address these potential sources of uncertainty. The results also indicate a growing preference to reducing sources of uncertainty, in addition to responding to it, as demonstrated by the use of lean tools and practices. Originality/value - This research empirically develops a framework linking manufacturing flexibility and lean decisions; and subsequently addressing an area under examined by the extant literature. In addition, this study empirically tests many of the best flexibility practices identified in the literature and in doing so provides some empirical support for the frameworks developed in previous studies. This research also highlights the practices, which managers should consider when attempting to improve flexibility in their manufacturing facility, while keeping in mind broader organizational strategies such as lean.Type:journal articleJournal:Journal of Manufacturing Technology ManagementVolume:20Issue:3Scopus© Citations 66 - Some of the metrics are blocked by yourconsent settings
Item type:Publication, A Path Dependent Perspective of the Transformation to Lean ProductionThe transformation into a lean production company has mostly been approached from a mass producer perspective. However, mass production is not the only precondition a company can have. Many European companies concentrate on craft production to produce customer specific requirements in small quantities. If they decide to implement lean, the different precondition has to be taken into consideration. To understand the precondition of a craft producer, we studied the transformation process from craft to lean of a machine producer in Switzerland. We show that path dependency has to be taken into consideration when discussing the implementation of lean production.Type:conference paper