Purpose This paper presents an exploratory investigation of myths on lean production (LP), by identifying, dispelling and assessing their pervasiveness. Design/methodology/approach A list of myths was proposed mostly based on seminal LP texts and our rich experience from researching, teaching and consulting in lean journeys. Complexity thinking was adopted as a lens for dispelling the myths, as it

Purpose This paper reviews research on the intersection between additive manufacturing technologies (AMTs) and business models (BM). The purpose of the review is to synthesize past research for the benefit of researchers, to describe the dominant research themes and aggregated research questions and to identify research gaps in the literature. Design/methodology/approach A systematic literature review

Purpose This research empirically builds a manufacturing firm's power construct that can be used to assess the changes suppliers are willing to make in their operations decision areas, such as quality systems, product management, process management, material management systems and information systems. This approach has not been empirically explored in the operations and supply chain management literature

Purpose The Toyota Production System has been studied for its business success for several decades. Many companies have tried to imitate but have not achieved Toyota-like results. Failure in the ability to replicate Toyota's supportive culture has been suggested as a cause for the lack of success. Studies on lean implementation have been conducted from external views focusing on visible indicators

Purpose This paper aims to investigate if the world top manufacturing corporations' cost structures are moving from tangible to intangible activities and their impact on profitability. Design/methodology/approach The theoretical approach is interdisciplinary, combining global value chains, international manufacturing networks, cost management literatures. The empirical approach has a sample out of

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of operational stickiness on product quality. Particularly, it analyzes the moderating effect of product diversification on the relationship between operational stickiness and product quality of exporting firms from China. Design/methodology/approach Using a sample of 3,567 exporting firms between 2002 and 2012 in China, this paper develops

Purpose The purpose of this study is to explore the mediation effect of volatile economic conditions on performance benefits of successful kean manufacturing implementation (LMI). The mediating factor of economic volatility (EV) is constructed based on four macroeconomic dimensions – supplier uncertainty, market demand fluctuations, governmental policy changes and peer competition. Design/methodology/approach

Purpose This paper addresses the most important factors for the selection of additive manufacturing (AM) technology as a method of production of metal parts. AM creates objects by adding material layer by layer based on 3D models. At present, interest in AM is high as it is hoped that AM contributes to the competitiveness of Western manufacturing industries. Design/methodology/approach A literature

Purpose Three-dimensional (3D) printing (3DP) offers a promising value proposition across multiple manufacturing industries. Despite the variety of production benefits the technology entails, its rate of adoption is still low compared to industry forecasts. In face of this challenge, industry as well as academia requires more information and guidance. This review aims to examine the characteristics

Purpose The COVID-19 pandemic caused global supply disruptions and shortages that resulted in countries battling over desperately needed (medical) supplies. In this mayhem, additive manufacturing (AM) provided relief to the strained healthcare systems and manufacturing environments by offering an alternative way to rapidly produce desired products. This study sheds light on how AM was used globally

Purpose This paper introduces interactive research as an emerging approach within a broad family of collaborative research approaches in management and organization research. Interactive research is a way to contribute to the dual tasks of long-term theory development and innovation and change processes in organizations. One of the distinguishing features of interactive research is a focus on continuous

Purpose The research purpose is to analyse when and how innovation support programmes (ISPs) can affect collaboration between universities and established small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). The paper specifically considers SME’s absorptive capacity. Design/methodology/approach A Swedish research centre is studied in the context of innovation support and two of its SME-ISPs are examined with

Purpose The aim of this paper is to explore how small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Taiwan employ technology to participate in global supply chains so as to respond to the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Design/methodology/approach This study chose four small to medium textile SMEs using qualitative exploratory multiple case studies to examine their participation in the global value chain (GVC) and

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to introduce, summarize and combine the results of 11 articles in a special issue on the implementation of Industry 4.0. Industry 4.0 emerged as a phenomenon about a decade ago. That is why, it is interesting now to explore the implementation of the concept. In doing so, four research questions are addressed: (1) What is Industry 4.0? (2) How to implement Industry

Purpose Although prior studies have identified several technologies related to Industry 4.0 and their individual potential, it is still unclear how these technologies could be integrated to achieve better results. Based on this, we propose several collaborative networks combining technologies associated with Industry 4.0. Design/methodology/approach A literature review was performed using a research

Purpose This paper analyzes the effects on local suppliers of the adoption of a modular platform, taking into account different supply-chain relations. Design/methodology/approach The authors’ research follows an interpretive case study methodology based on a theoretical approach that seeks to validate the approach while making conclusions about the case study. Findings The traditional pyramidal structure

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of five dimensions of green supply chain management (GSCM) practices (i.e. internal environmental management, green purchasing, cooperation with customers, eco-design, and investment recovery) on three dimensions of organizational performance (i.e. environmental, economic and operational performance). Design/methodology/approach Data were collected

Purpose Additive manufacturing (AM) is one technology among the many under the umbrella of Industry 4.0 technologies. AM is developing rapidly, and extant research reveals that the technology contains possibilities for firms to develop competitive advantages, but that it also poses several challenges to overcome before such benefits can be achieved. To provide further insight into this topic, this

Purpose While manufacturing digitalization is currently considered an important enabler of competitive advantage, its applicability across the industrial spectrum is unclear. This paper aims to investigate the relationship between the use of digital technologies and different production environments and company sizes. The focus is on three aspects of digitalization: shop floor digitalization, technologies

Purpose This study aims to suggest that firms and stock market investors are more sensitive about inventory leanness when industry information technology (IT) usage is high. First, when industry IT usage is high, a firm's inventory leanness is more responsive to information inputs (cash holding and sales efficiency). Second, when industry IT usage is high, the price-to-earnings ratio (indicative of

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the moderating effects of the role a plant plays in a manufacturing network on the relationships between its level of integration with other plants in the same manufacturing network (referred as “internal manufacturing network integration” in this paper), its interactions with suppliers/customers (referred as “external supply chain integration” in this paper)

Purpose The objective of this study is to propose a sequence of implementation of the core characteristics of reconfigurability: modularity, integrability, diagnosability, adaptability and customization. For this purpose, the relationships among the core characteristics and Industry 4.0 technologies are analyzed as well as the impacts of one core characteristic on another. Design/methodology/approach

Purpose Exploring ways to sustain competitive positions as well as improve firm performance through environmental production initiatives has been a major preoccupying topic for mostly practitioners and researchers. Despite several studies on the influence of environmental initiatives on firm performance, many questions remain unanswered as to how to further extract more gains from environmental production

Purpose The purpose of this study aims to develop and test a motives-mass customization (MC) capability-performance model by dividing MC capability into product-oriented MC capability and service-oriented MC capability. Design/methodology/approach This research tests the hypothesized relationships using survey data from 277 Chinese manufacturing firms. Findings The results indicate that instrumental

Purpose This study investigates business model innovation in small- and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises (SMEs) and its impact on firm growth. Design/methodology/approach The study was based on analyzing data collected through a questionnaire survey. Structural equation modeling was applied to test the hypotheses. Findings Business model innovation has a positive effect on SME growth in the manufacturing

Purpose Product configurators are expert systems that support product customization by defining how predefined entities and their properties may be combined. Developers of configuration systems act as designers, although they do not often recognize that they are performing as such. Moreover, exploring solution spaces is typically not integral to configuration projects, as this task is typically perceived

Purpose Smart manufacturing can lead to disruptive changes in production technologies and business models in the manufacturing industry. This paper aims to identify technological topics in smart manufacturing by using patent data, investigating technological trends and exploring potential opportunities. Design/methodology/approach The latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) topic modeling technique was used

Purpose The purpose of this study is to identify a comprehensive list of main enablers of successful implementation of green manufacturing (GM) practices in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Based on the inputs from Irish SMEs' experts, a validated conceptual hierarchy model of the identified enablers is developed to analyse and prioritise the most dominant ones. Design/methodology/approach

Purpose This study analyzes how technological changes in the context of Industry 4.0 influence buyer-supplier relationships (BSRs). Design/methodology/approach The study is explorative in nature; hence, an empirical qualitative research design is applied. It bases on 45 expert interviews with managers from German and Austrian industrial companies as empirical data. A qualitative content analysis is

Purpose Although the adoption of lean inventory management for performance improvement has been widely recognized, sticky inventory management is still a stopgap measure for new small and medium enterprises (SMEs) against survival risks. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the nonlinear relationship between new SMEs inventory stickiness and venture survival by focusing on the moderating effects

Purpose Increasingly, dynamic market environments lead to growing complexity in manufacturing and pose a severe threat for the competitiveness of manufacturing companies. Systematic guidance to manage this complexity, especially in the context of Industry 4.0 and the therewith rising trends such as digitalization and data-driven production optimization, is lacking. To address this deficit a case-based

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the contribution to improving the efficiency of the focal firm made by lean management at the internal and supply chain levels. Design/methodology/approach An empirical study was conducted of 285 Spanish focal companies from industrial sectors that occupy an intermediate position in the supply chain. The data gathering method consisted of a telephone

Purpose The aim of this paper is to develop a contribution to knowledge that adds to the empirical evidence of predictive condition-based maintenance by demonstrating how the availability and reliability of current assets can be improved without costly capital investment, resulting in overall system performance improvements Design/methodology/approach The empirical, experimental approach, technical

Purpose The purpose of this research is to detect, through applying a process-based view, how to manage economisation of the maintenance and modification operations in offshore petroleum logistics operations. Design/methodology/approach A single case study of engineering services, more specifically, maintenance and modification service operations, on a Norwegian Sea oil platform reveals the dynamics

Purpose The authors’ main objective is to examine the resource alteration underlying the digital manufacturing transformation. The authors rely on the adaptation aspect of dynamic capabilities (DC) theory and their analysis shows how and why a factory adapts its resources and capabilities during digital transformation. Design/methodology/approach To grasp the change, the authors apply the longitudinal

Purpose The aim of this study is to explore the link between green manufacturing practices, operational competitiveness, firm reputation and sustainable performance dimensions as well as advance a mediation approach. Design/methodology/approach The study resorted to structured questionnaire to collect data from 158 manufacturing firms from different industries, and partial least square–structural equation

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to understand the current practices of tool and die development, particularly in the Malaysian context with respect to collaborative manufacturing (CM). It is important to gauge the presents of CM, which is one of the key elements of Industrial Revolution 4.0 (IR 4.0) so that significant initiatives could be taken. The findings are also expected to address the issues

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the impact of lean criteria on leanness as well as prioritize them, taking the relationships between dimensions into consideration for manufacturing enterprises. Design/methodology/approach This study considers leanness over quality, cost, delivery and innovation (QCDI) performance dimensions. Twenty eight criteria related with these dimensions were

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to develop a decision support system (DSS) to assist supply chain (SC) risk managers to select a suitable risk management (RM) strategy and expedite the implementation of corresponding RM enablers. The relationship between RM strategies and RM enablers is explored by identifying the underlying factors between them, which is further used to build the DSS. Design

Purpose The paper explores coordination practices in digital–physical product development and their consequences for companies traditionally relying on physical product development. Design/methodology/approach Using an embedded case study design, the paper reports four action research initiatives addressing the digital–physical coordination challenges encountered by a leading B2C company. Findings

Purpose This paper sets out to identify barriers to intra-network exchange within international manufacturing networks (IMNs) from the micro-level perspective of key actors at the plant level, namely, plant leaders. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected through interviews with 12 plant leaders from nine different firms operating in at least three geographically dispersed manufacturing facilities

Purpose Cloud manufacturing (CMfg) has emerged as a service-oriented paradigm that enables modularization and on-demand servitization of resources in the context of manufacturing. The plethora of studies on CMfg has led the authors to investigate its implementation, as most of the literature is theoretical or simulation-based. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate the reality of the

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to illustrate how the introduction of new technologies can lead to reconsidering the division of the production process as well as the location of each stage, which may mean reshoring some of them. Design/methodology/approach The research is based on the analysis of the consequences of new technologies developed and introduced in the market to be applied in the

Purpose This article explores a particular on-demand fabrication unit, the microfactory (MF). It identifies and contrasts several MFs and proposes a taxonomy. This research also explores online manufacturing platforms (OMP) that complement certain MFs. Design/methodology/approach This research implements a multiple case study (71 cases in 21 countries), triangulating data available on the web with

Purpose The desire for firms to gain competitive advantage and improve performance has resulted in the adoption of several practices. Green supply chain practices (GSCPs), just in time (JIT) and total quality management (TQM) are some of the practices adopted by firms to improve operational performance (OP) and business performance (BP). This study examines the direct influence of GSCPs, JIT and TQM

Purpose Adoption of blockchain technology (BT) leads to shrinking supply chains, produces a better quality product, saves product development time and increases the customized offering to the customer. Since it is a new and growing area of research, researchers and practitioners are not entirely aware of challenges in the adoption of BT in supply chain (SC). Therefore, the objective of this research

Purpose Green Lean concepts offer methods for managing manufacturing organizations with the goal of improving organizational performance. Green Lean practices are good options to increase the environmental and operational performance of manufacturing industries. However, there are some barriers to implement Green Lean in manufacturing industries. This paper aims to identify these barriers by reviewing

Purpose In pursuit of increased competitiveness, global manufacturers often seek tighter integration among the plants in their production networks. However, this is a challenging task because plants are dispersed across multiple institutional environments. Although the literature provides abundant evidence of how formal institutional environments affect the integration among plants, little is known

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to review the literature and offer a more generalizable empirical investigation on the performance impact of implementing Industry 4.0, and the way important contingency factors (plant size, multinational status, country context) affect implementation efforts. Design/methodology/approach Following a systematic literature review, the empirical research is based on

Purpose This research aims to conduct, to the best of our knowledge, the first systematic review of the implementation of Industry 4.0 in BRICS. This review facilitates the identification of main factors that affect the readiness to adopt Industry 4.0 in BRICS and the role of different agents, such as multinationals, the public sector or educative institutions. Design/methodology/approach Key publications

Purpose From the intra- and inter-regional dimensions, this paper investigates the linkage between industrial agglomeration and inventory performance, and further demonstrates the moderating role of firm size and enterprise status in the supply chain on this linkage. Design/methodology/approach Using a large panel dataset of Chinese manufacturers in the Yangtze River Delta for the period from 2008

Purpose To review the state-of-the-art in smart remanufacturing, highlighting key elements of an Industry 4.0 (I4.0) future that supports circular economy (CE) principles and offer a conceptual framework and research agenda to accelerate digitalisation in this sector. Design/methodology/approach The Scopus, Web of Science and ScienceDirect databases and search terms “Industry 4.0”, “Internet of things”

Purpose Firms are adopting strategies to advance product quality and environmental sustainability to achieve improved profitability and shareholders’ wealth. The study investigates strategies that create a superior quality performance to competitors and improve both environmental and business performances. This paper explores the direct and indirect influence of lean management and environmental practices

Purpose The purpose of the present study is to assist academics and practitioners in supporting and managing digital production innovation projects using managerial controls. The focus is on projects that deliver innovations containing new combinations of physical, digital and/or cyber-physical components, developed to be used within a production system. More specifically, this paper aims to explore

Purpose This study analyzes the role of supply chain ambidexterity (SC-Ambidexterity) in developing supply chain resilience (SC-Resilience). We describe SC-Ambidexterity as a simultaneous application of supply chain adaptability (SC-Adaptability) and supply chain alignment (SC-Alignment) capabilities. We also consider the role of supply chain agility (SC-Agility) in the relationship between SC-Ambidexterity

Purpose The impact of product variety decisions on fill rate, inventory and sales performance in a consumer goods company has been examined. From a marketing perspective, it is possible to leverage sales, reach new segments and consequently increase competitiveness when there is a greater product variety on the market. However, operations and logistics professionals indicate potential impacts on the

Purpose This article aims to investigate the organisational implications of adopting Industry 4.0 (I4.0) technologies, giving specific attention to operations. The paper addresses these implications in two directions: organisational prerequisites for, and consequences of, I4.0 technologies. Design/methodology/approach The research is based on a multiple case study of Italian small and medium enterprises

Purpose The study aims to analyse the impact of Industry 4.0 implementation on supply chains and develop an implementation framework by considering potential drivers and barriers for the Industry 4.0 paradigm. Design/methodology/approach A critical literature review is performed to explore the key drivers and barriers for Industry 4.0 implementation under four business dimensions: strategic, organisational

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to reflect on interactive research as a means to create relevant knowledge in the domain of operations management in general and specifically in the context of production start-up. Design/methodology/approach The reflection on the use of interactive research in production start-ups was based on a study of two completed interactive research projects. The lens for

Purpose In spite of its potential benefits in a wide range of situations, supply chain risk mitigation strategies have received scant attention on the subject of managing the supply chain risk in the business environment. Especially, there is still a limited understanding of the importance of firms’ supply chain flexibility, resilience and responsiveness in the supply chain risk management (SCRM) literature