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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the gap between the current vision and knowledge of future early career operations managers (OM) and a common strategic total quality management (TQM) framework.

A survey questionnaire and a non-parametric test for different groups of participants were adopted to identify the gap and analyse the significance of these groups on the factors in the TQM framework.

A new set of TQM factors with the necessity of more knowledge and understanding of future generation were identified, followed by the identification of clear differences amongst different groups of this generation.

A sustainable OM practice needs managers and leaders with a sustainable knowledge development of quality management (QM); and as the result of this study, the current vision of future young OM would not echo this.

This study has a systematic, non-parametric approach towards currently fragmented QM analysis, and is integrated with human resource and visionary elements of future young OM and universal QM models and theories.

The purpose of this paper is to present a new optimisation approach for product variance from the purchasing perspective.

The research is based on a case study of a collaboration with a global acting automotive Tier 1 supplier, who produces steering systems for cars and commercial vehicles. A total of 116 different variants of three components of a car automotive steering system were analysed and evaluated. The data were gathered from 13 sub-suppliers for three different types of a steering system.

Unnecessary time, money, quality and technology can be saved through a greater understanding of such product variances. The results of the case study lead to a general method to optimise existing product variance and present cost improvements and a new key performance indicator to manage product variance out of the purchasing department.

The research is based on a purchasing case study at a Tier 1 supplier of the automotive branch. The approach can be used for other company departments, e.g. logistics and for different industries than automotive.

A company can be successful and competitive when it meets the customer needs with a maximum on satisfaction without generating of waste. Unnecessary existing product variance is a kind of waste. The insights of this paper support the operative user and the strategic company management to reduce and improve unnecessary variance in different sections.

The structured analysis of product variance from the purchasing perspective and the key performance indicator “variance share” are new to company management. The research focuses on the management of existing variance out of the purchasing department which is a segment that has received limited academic attention in research to date.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the implementation of the Six Sigma methodology as a systematic business strategy and quality initiative to improve the critical logistical measures within small-to-medium-sized food distributors.

The first stage was the conducting of structured questionnaires to verify the applicability in terms of capability, resources and culture in the targeted industry. The second stage was the implementation of two industrial case studies to investigate the impacts of Six Sigma on logistical measures.

It was found that Six Sigma is applicable and beneficial in small-to-medium-sized food distributors. It was also found that required training, personal characteristics of managers, size of the organisation, education level and workplace of the employees are the most effective elements to adopt Six Sigma for these organisations.

Cultural factors including high level of secrecy in information exchange, ambiguity and lack of knowledge, sampling population and requirement of ISO9000 were found as key issues in implications of this research programme.

Six Sigma programme can be used as a problem solving practice, a performance measurement tool and a business strategy in small food distributors through more simplified approach to improve the ultimate food supply chain.

This research paper studies the application of Six Sigma in food logistics SME sector by having integrated research approach, and also provides a practical scientific and rigorous quality and profitability improvement methodology for smaller food distribution organisations with limited resources.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the level of concern and practice of sustainability development and also policy failure in the fast food supply chain.

A questionnaire using Likert scoring recorded variations in current practice and attitudes toward sustainable business. A two-stage cluster analysis was conducted to analyze the multi-attribute ordinal data obtained from the questionnaire.

Significant differences were found among clusters of fast food businesses in terms of their sustainability concern and practice, which is of interest to policy makers, consumers and supply chain partners. Medium-sized fast food dealers emerge with high environmental and social concern, but poor practice; larger retailers and fast food chains appear to have both fair social and environmental awareness and practice; and there is a cluster of small takeaway-specific outlets that have particularly low levels of knowledge of sustainability or sustainable practices. Policy failure is prevalent amongst these businesses and without regulation this represents a possible threat to the sector.

Reliance on stated rather than revealed preferences of the study may limit the implications of this analysis but it is a major step forward in understanding what has in the past been a very difficult sector to investigate due to data paucity.

Fast food is a sector with a lack of transparency which has attracted little academic attention to date, due to the difficulties of empirical analysis rather than lack of interest in a key food consumption sector. The message for the sector is to monitor its act, across all business types or face regulatory and policy intervention.

The research conducts a three-dimensional sustainability analysis of fast food supply chains to investigate the differences and trade-offs between different sustainability dimensions.

This paper aims to investigate the feasibility of a systematic Lean Six Sigma (LSS) education through the curriculum of business schools to respond to the existing gap between the graduate’s expectation of employability and skill requirements by the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

A UK business school has been used as a case study to conduct extensive module and programme review followed by a semi-structured interview with potentially suitable core and programme-specific module tutors and comparative analysis.

The result revealed a high potential of the existing modules in the business schools equivalent to the private sector training providers to increase the level of LSS problem-solving knowledge and skill for all graduates and improve their employability and productivity for the SMEs.

The result of this study highlights the role of LSS to reduce the knowledge and skill gap between the business schools as the source of the explicit knowledge, graduates as the knowledge and skill bearer and SMEs as the knowledge and skill users.

The purpose of this paper is to research and design a feasible automatic identification and data capture (AIDC) system for a manufacturing small to medium enterprise (SME) that is able to facilitate the flow of accurate and real‐time data throughout the manufacturing process.

The processes and operations conducted at a manufacturing SME were critically analysed in order to identify areas, where the use of an AIDC system could be used to improve the efficiency and visibility of the processes throughout manufacture. The areas for improvement could then be identified and solved through specific applications and/or systems of which a cost benefit analysis could be conducted.

Significant cost savings are found through the implementation of a radio frequency identification (RFID) system based on the reduction of safety stock, the elimination of manual job tracking and the reduction of the manual input and written data throughout the process.

The read range of the technology outlined in this project was found to be limited due to the metal interference of the products, which should be aimed to be improved through the detection of other RFID transponders or a better adhesive medium used.

The most common limitations were found to be the lack of IT infrastructure, limited knowledge on the benefits of the system and also cultural resistance to change. However, appropriate training is to be provided to overcome any problems.

AIDC systems utilising data carrier technologies have been successfully implemented within many large multinational organisations but research into the implementation of AIDC systems within SMEs is far more limited.

Six sigma is a systematic data driven approach to reduce the defect and improve the quality in any type of business. The purpose of this paper is to present the findings from the application of six sigma in a food service “small to medium sized enterprise” (SME) in a lean environment to reduce the waste in this field.

A simplified version of six sigma is adopted through the application of appropriate statistical tools in order to focus on customer's requirements to identify the defect, the cause of the defect and improve the delivery process by implementing the optimum solution.

The result suggests that modification in layout utilization reduced the number of causes of defect by 40 percent resulting in jumping from 1.44 sigma level to 2.09 Sigma level which is substantial improvement in SME.

Simplicity of six sigma is important to enabling any SME to identify the problem and minimize its cause through a systematic approach.

Integrating of supply chain objectives with any quality initiatives such as lean and six sigma has a substantial effect on achieving to the targets.

This paper represents a potential area in which six sigma methodology along side the lean management can promote supply chain management objectives for a food distribution SME.

The purpose of this paper is to focus on three fundamental human-related behaviour factors associated with Lean Six Sigma (LSS) projects in German manufacturing small-and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) on the readiness of people (managers and their staff) to commence LSS projects. These are core personal competence, strategic vision of the people and the organisational culture of the specific organisation.

Based on a thorough review of the academic literature a set of hypotheses were constructed to examine the level of association between people’s competence, vision and culture with LSS readiness within SMEs. This was done using correlation and regression analysis. Data collection were carried out in seven different German manufacturing SMEs involved in aerospace supply and agro-food manufacturing using a survey instrument.

It was found that there is a strong positive association between the core competence of people and organisational culture with readiness for commencing LSS in the manufacturing SMEs studied. The core values of people, education level and the vision of making continuous quality improvement were identified as key variables in promoting LSS readiness in these manufacturing SMEs. This study indicates that these “softer” variables can be essential to successful LSS implementation and need to be explored further before undertaking the process.

From the perspective of the implementers of LSS the results of this research could be of interest to different manufacturing SMEs intending to embark upon an LSS journey as it highlights the significance of human-related behavioural factors in the process. SME organisations may consider carrying out development or training with their managers and employees around personal and organisational values, addressing core competence and strengthening organisational culture in order to facilitate LSS readiness and enhance the prospect of its success.

It would appear that this LSS research has not been carried out within the German manufacturing SME context before and although discrete in nature has surfaced the “softer” variables of core competence of staff and organisational culture as important readiness issues to address when undertaking LSS. This integrated approach of human behavioural factors, organisational culture, LSS and manufacturing SMEs demonstrates the originality of the research.