ABSTRACT
Although a number of studies have examined the uptake and effectiveness of single manufacturing practices, only a few have examined a range of practices. We concentrate on the studies of multiple practices, as these enable a more comprehensive picture to be gained. For example, in a survey of 564 UK manufacturing companies stratified by size and sector, Waterson et al. (1999) found moderate use of 12 key manufacturing practices: supply chain partnering (SCP); learning culture (LC); team-based working (TBW); business process reengineering (BPR); outsourcing (OS); total productive maintenance (TPM); concurrent engineering (CE); integrated computer-based technology (ICBT); manufacturing cells (MC); just-in-time (JIT); total quality management (TQM); and empowerment.
