This paper describes an investigation into alternative management models applied to public call centres operations with the aim of delivering significant added value to the overall public firm. Call centres offer significant potential for value creation. However, in practice they are often created as mechanistic organisations and managed in such a way is to inhibit value creation. An investigat...

A white paper on utilizing the QAD Lean Manufacturing solution as a comprehensive system to implement and manage lean manufacturing practices within the enterprise and across the extended value chain

In this paper we analyse the existing interrelationships between information technology (IT) and the adoption of lean production. More specifically, the level of adoption of lean production is studied in accordance with the degree of use and the kind of IT used (internal and external IT). The results of the study show how companies need to augment the degree of use of internal or intra-organisa...

Successes in lean manufacture have led researchers and practitioners to consider extending ‘lean’ to different parts of the engineering enterprise, including product and process development (PPD). Lean product development (PD) has been understood to mean lean manufacture applied to PD, while the roots of lean PD – just like lean manufacture go back to Toyota. This paper presents the methodology...

Lean is today becoming increasingly popular in Swedish manufacturing industry, and the concept has also started to spread to other sectors, such as administration, healthcare and the municipal sector. However, previous studies have suggested that Lean can become “mean”, creating working conditions that are bad for the employees. Conversely, other studies instead suggest that this has less to do...

lean manufacturing is a systematic approach to identifying and eliminating wastes (non-value added activities) through continuous improvement by conveying the product at the pull of the customer in pursuit of production. in a more basic term, more value with less work. since lean manufacturing eliminates many of the problems associated with poor production scheduling and line balancing, lean ma...

What is efficiency? And is it sustainable? Animal production and consumption reconsidered.

BACKGROUND Incidents and quality problems are a prime cause why health care leaders are calling to redesign health care delivery. One of the concepts used is lean thinking. Yet, lean often leads to resistance. Also, there is a lack of high quality evidence supporting lean premises. In this paper, we present an overview of lean thinking and its application to health care. DEVELOPMENT, THEORY A...