Sequences of improvement initiatives in operations

The study considers the improvement initiatives which companies implement in operations, in the areas of design, supply and production (for example, design computerization, linkages with suppliers, JIT, quality improvement, flexible automation, etc.). Using data collected by means of a survey, the paper examines the question of the existence of different/common sequences followed by companies to innovate their operations and obtain better performance levels. Four different sequences, which in this paper have been labelled Hard World Class Manufacturers, Soft World Class Manufacturers, Hard Discriminators and Soft Discriminators, are identified on the basis of the initiative start-up sequence. The different characteristics of the production context for each sequence are also considered.