A review of improvement methods in manufacturing operations

There is a range of methodologies and techniques aimed at improving the effectiveness and efficiency of operational activity. Examples are business process reengineering, total quality management and organisation development. Such methods differ from each other in how “improvement” should be achieved and implemented and even what to improve. In this paper a number of improvement methods, together with their aims and implementation processes, are discussed. It becomes apparent from a review of these methods, based on the literature available, that none of the methods presented is particularly adept at identifying what to improve – how to find potential improvement areas. The paper describes a performance factor model and a measurement model designed to fill this gap; they are guides as to what to analyse and how to measure in improvement work.