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The purpose of the study is to develop knowledge on the implementation of Hoshin Kanri (HK) in small manufacturing companies. Two research questions are addressed: (1) what factors influence the implementation of HK in small manufacturing companies? (2) How do the factors influence the implementation of HK in small manufacturing companies?

The research presented in this paper is based on an extensive literature review and data from the implementation process in five small manufacturing companies. In the literature review, factors influencing the implementation of HK, lean production and total quality management (TQM) in small manufacturing firms are identified. Thereafter, five implementation cases are analyzed. Findings from the cases are then contrasted with the factors identified in the literature and further theorized.

Seven factors were found to either enable or hamper HK implementation in small manufacturing companies. Management involvement was identified as a critical factor. Management involvement can be typologized as collaborative or demanding, and the types of involvement is decisive in implementation processes within the small manufacturing company context.

In this paper, the authors focus on small manufacturing companies as the starting point and relate theoretical and practical results to the implementation processes in this defined target group. Conceptualizing implementation as a learning process, this research contributes to this emerging perspective on small firm development.

The requirements for two smaller companies in integrated manufacturing are addressed, in particular, the area of manufacturing control. The functional areas pertaining to manufacturing control in both companies are reviewed. On the basis of these reviews and management objectives, their requirements are specified. Recommendations are then made in respect of both companies on how to meet these requirements having regard to the nature of the manufacturing control systems available.

The objective of the research is to identify and analyse the main barriers to new product development within small manufacturing companies.

The study has employed a longitudinal case‐study methodology, which has focused on data gathering from three manufacturing companies that have undertaken new product development activities in‐house. The detailed case‐study material has been derived from project documentation and interviews with personnel at various technical and managerial levels.

Three generic managerial issues that impinge on new product development are identified: the influence of a dominant owner/manager; a focus on time and cost ahead of other key factors; and a failure to understand the importance of product design.

Although the case studies are detailed, only three manufacturing companies are assessed. Future research should expand on the generic issues, increase the number of case‐study companies, and ideally include an assessment of new product development within small companies from outside of the UK.

In order to overcome some of the inevitable managerial limitations within small companies, new product development activities should seek to promote a more systematic approach to design. This may encompass formal design training for senior managers and the implementation of simple design tools, such as product design specifications.

Barriers to and opportunities for new product development within small manufacturing companies are neglected areas in terms of detailed research studies. The issues highlighted in this paper will help to inform managers, practitioners and policy makers who are engaged in enhancing the competitive advantage of “traditional” manufacturing companies.

The purpose of this paper is to identify attributes of knowledge management (KM) for large and small manufacturing companies in United Arab Emirates (UAE) and to propose a process to evaluate the competitive priorities of these companies.

This research is designed by composing multi criteria decision making of KM attributes in order to identify competitive priorities of large and small manufacturing companies to achieve better customer focus. To deal with this complexity of multi criteria decision-making process, Analytical Hierarchical Process (AHP) method has been used in this research.

Results show that large manufacturing companies are putting more emphasis on “Know-Why” knowledge attribute in all four competitive priorities for achieving customer focus. While, small size manufacturing companies put higher weight on “Know-What” knowledge attribute by focussing on two competitive priorities (flexibility and quality).

Results are derived from a limited number of empirical data only in one country, therefore these cannot be generalized. Future research with larger samples of small and large manufacturing firms from other countries is needed.

To be competitive, manufacturing companies must reshuffle their production strategies to allow them to play a role in global knowledge-intensive market. Therefore, they must incorporate knowledge attributes as a way to achieve higher levels of performance.

This study is among the first and most exhaustive ones carried out in the small and large size firms operating in the manufacturing sector of UAE. It provides a systematic approach to identify the operational competencies and knowledge attributes being followed by large and small manufacturing companies.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the implementation of entry-level printers in small businesses and education to identify corresponding benefits, implications and challenges.

Data were collected from four small businesses in northeast Ohio through survey- and interview-based feedback to develop an understanding of their use of entry-level 3D printing. Three businesses are representative of typical manufacturing-related small companies (final part fabrication-, tooling- and system-level suppliers) and the fourth company provides manufacturing-related educational tools. Corresponding learning from implementation and outcomes are assessed.

Adoption of 3D printing technology was enabled through hands-on experience with entry-level 3D printers, even with their shortcomings. Entry-level 3D printing provided a workforce development opportunity to prepare small businesses to eventually work with production grade systems.

This paper details industry-based findings on venturing into commercializing 3D printing through first-hand experiences enabled by entry-level 3D printing.

This study aims to examine how the relationship among competitive environment, manufacturing technology and organisational strategy affect organisational performance.

Using a contingency approach, this study investigates the changes in competitive environment, manufacturing technology and organisational strategy in small and medium Malaysian manufacturing companies. The data is collected using a mailed questionnaire survey of manufacturing companies in the Klang Valley.

Results of the study show that the majority of responding companies have recognised changes in their competitive business environment and advanced manufacturing technology, which have impacted on organisational strategic behaviour. Structural equation modelling shows positive relationships among competitive environment, manufacturing technology and organisational strategy, with a positive impact on performance.

These outcomes provide useful insights into our knowledge of how organisational change has taken place in small and medium companies.

The study provides useful guidelines to small and medium sized companies facing changes to their business environment.

The study makes an incremental contribution to the existing organisational change literature for SMEs in developing countries.

This study is an exploratory study aiming to explore whether different groups of manufacturing firms with similar business characteristics and enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementation approaches would experience different business outcomes from ERP implementation. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Cluster analysis with data collected from 256 Korean manufacturing firms was employed to identify groups of manufacturing companies having similar business characteristics and adopting similar ERP implementation approaches. Then, the differences in business outcomes from implementing ERP systems among these groups of companies were examined.

Company size and production approaches are useful variables for grouping manufacturing firms into clusters of companies with similar characteristics. Additionally, large manufacturing firms with make-to-order production approach have significantly higher perceived benefits from implementing ERP systems regarding external coordination and competitive impact than other firms do.

This study was conducted in only one industry of one country and used the data collected by self-reporting instrument. Thus, further studies conducted in other industries and/or other countries and using more objective measures would allow more generalizability of the findings of this study. It would also be interesting to investigate the effects of the logistics practices adopted by small manufacturing firms even though these practices may be more suitable for large manufacturing firms.

This study contributes to the literatures on benefits obtained from implementing ERP systems as none of the previous studies has focused on the relationship among business characteristics, ERP implementation approaches, and business outcomes from ERP implementation.

The purpose of this paper is to compare ISO 9001 certified and non-certified manufacturing companies with regard to performance measures, both financial and non-financial.

A research study was carried out in 140 Greek manufacturing companies by means of a questionnaire. The questionnaire was sent by e-mail and it was requested that it should be answered by a company representative. Exploratory factor analysis is applied in order to extract the latent factors of performance measures. The differences between the ISO 9001 certified and non-certified manufacturing companies are determined through non-parametric tests such as the χ2-test and the Mann-Whitney U-test.

The ISO 9001 certified manufacturing companies significantly outperform the non-certified with regard to product quality, customer satisfaction, operational, market and financial performance. This is evident in a business environment where an economic downturn and financial crisis dominates.

The sub-samples of the responding ISO 9001 certified and non-certified manufacturing companies are small sized and they are limited to small- and medium-sized enterprises. The subjective character of the data collected through the company representatives involves the risk of receiving biased responses regarding the performance measures. The above limitations suggest future research recommendations.

The increased performance measures of the ISO 9001 certified manufacturing companies may motivate the non-certified ones to implement the ISO 9001 standard and apply for the certification in order to increase their performance and withstand the current economic downturn and financial crisis. The present study may also stimulate manufacturing companies to adopt traditional and modern benchmarking techniques, in an additional effort to improve their businesses and competitiveness.

The present study compares performance measures of ISO 9001 certified and non-certified manufacturing companies operating under unprecedented circumstances due to the current economic downturn and financial crisis.

Reports findings from an empirical investigation into the process of operations strategy formation in six small manufacturing companies in the UK. A two‐stage methodology was used, with three companies being studied in‐depth and three as supplementary cases. The top‐down strategic planning mode, which dominates the manufacturing strategy literature, was found to be inadequate as a depiction of manufacturing strategy formation in SMEs in practice. Manufacturing strategy formation was shown to be a complex process involving a combination of deliberate and emergent actions and decisions, influenced by organisational culture, politics and powerful individuals. Emergent actions and decisions within manufacturing always played a part in manufacturing strategy formation. Manufacturing strategy formation could be more deliberate if greater use was made of business planning and by the identification of a set of explicit objectives for manufacturing. Manufacturing strategy formation could be less emergent if political behaviour could be reduced. Other factors that seemed to be influential included the interpretative processes of managers, the role of a corporate parent and the level of management education.

Investing in Industry 4.0 is an important consideration for manufacturing firms who strive to remain competitive in this global economy, but the uncertainty and complexity of where to focus technology investments is a problem facing many manufacturers. The purpose of this paper is to highlight a region of manufacturing firms in the Midwest USA to investigate the role of firm size, access to funds and industry type on decision to invest in and deploy various Industry 4.0 technologies.

A survey was developed, piloted, and deployed to manufacturing companies located in the Midwest USA, specifically, Indiana, USA. A total of 138 manufacturing firms completed the full survey. The survey participants were requested to rank order the various technology categories with respect to previous historical spending, workforce capabilities and anticipated return on investment. The survey was supplemented with publically available data. Due to the use of rank-order data to identify Industry 4.0 priorities, a non-parametric analysis was completed using the Kruskall Wallis test.

The findings suggest that manufacturers with less than 20 employees and/or less access to funds (sales less than $10m) prioritize digital factory floor technologies (e.g. technology directly impacting productivity, quality and safety of manufacturing processes). Larger manufacturers with 20 or more employees and/or access to more funds (sales greater than or equal to $10m) prioritize enterprise support operations technologies.

Research studies and reports tend to lump manufacturing’s perspective of Industry 4.0 into one homogenous group, and rarely acknowledge the limited participation of “smaller” Small and medium-sized enterprises, which account for the far majority of manufacturing firms in the USA. The value of this study is on the “novelty of approach,” in that the data collection and analysis focuses on heterogeneity of manufacturing firms with respect to size, access to funds and industry type. The findings and recommendations are beneficial and relevant to organizations supporting Industry 4.0 efforts through workforce development and economic development initiatives.