A non-linear redesign methodology for manufacturing systems in SMEs

SMEs often have to adapt their manufacturing systems to changing circumstances such as technology advances and business growth. This paper presents a new methodology for the redesign of manufacturing systems within SMEs.This paper will show that most approaches to manufacturing systems redesign are linear and it will explain why this is not the best option for SMEs. Foremost among these reasons is the uncertainty of the SME environment. Redesign planning that is conducted at the outset of a change episode may be superseded by events that are impossible to foresee. A further issue for conventional redesign approaches is the resource poverty that is a widely reported feature of SMEs. The most obvious impact is on the financial support available for costly technology-led solutions. Resource poverty also includes the available expertise and managerial time to implement complex methodologies.The alternative approach proposed uses an iterative model as its basis for change. The basic helical model is extended to provide four perspectives on systems change. These perspectives focus on structural, people, technology and process issues. It is these perspectives that make the difference between continuous improvement and systems redesign. The model has been developed through action research in manufacturing SMEs. Validation was achieved through a longitudinal case study that provided empirical evidence to support the methodology. A single case was used for validation to provide depth over breadth. The development of the methodology had been broad through action research into several diverse SMEs and it was considered that more detailed case study would add balance to the research. The depth afforded by a single longitudinal study also allowed for greater scrutiny of the methodology under real world conditions.

[1]  Donald A. Schön,et al.  Organizational Learning: A Theory Of Action Perspective , 1978 .

[2]  M. Hammer,et al.  Reengineering the Corporation , 1993 .

[3]  A. Gunasekaran,et al.  Improving operations performance in a small company: a case study , 2000 .

[4]  Bryan Lawson,et al.  How Designers Think: The Design Process Demystified , 1990 .

[5]  Taina Savolainen,et al.  Cycles of continuous improvement , 1999 .

[6]  P. G. Ratcliff.  Change catalysts in small manufacturing companies , 1997 .

[7]  John Chris Jones,et al.  Design Methods: Seeds of Human Futures , 1981 .

[8]  A. Gibb.  Small Firms' Training and Competitiveness. Building Upon the Small business as a Learning Organisation , 1997 .

[9]  Darold Wobschall.  Circuit design for electronic instrumentation: for signal processing, data transmission, displays, and instrumentation, 2nd ed. , 1987 .

[10]  Alan Brown,et al.  Venturing Down the TOM Path for SME's , 1998 .

[11]  John Luckman,et al.  An Approach to the Management of Design , 1967 .

[12]  Bryan Lawson,et al.  How Designers Think , 1980 .

[13]  Pierre-André Julien,et al.  A Typology of Strategic Behaviour among Small and Medium-Sized Exporting Businesses. A Case Study , 1997 .

[14]  Vilfredo Pareto,et al.  Cours d'économie politique : professé à l'Université de Lausanne , 1896 .

[15]  Roger S. Pressman,et al.  Software engineering (3rd ed.): a practitioner's approach , 1992 .

[16]  David O'Sullivan,et al.  Manufacturing Systems Redesign: Creating the Integrated Manufacturing Environment , 1994 .

[17]  J. R. Moore,et al.  The theory of the growth of the firm twenty-five years after , 1960 .

[18]  David Bennett,et al.  Production Systems Design , 1986 .

[19]  Sylvie K. Chetty,et al.  The Case Study Method for Research in Small-and Medium-Sized Firms , 1996 .

[20]  J. Christopher Jones,et al.  Design methods: Seeds of human futures , 1970 .

[21]  John A. Welsh,et al.  A Small Business is not a Little Big Business Harvard Business Review, Vol. 59, No. 4, July/August, 1981, pp.18 (9 pages , 1982 .

[22]  Abby Ghobadian,et al.  Total quality management in SMEs , 1996 .

[23]  W. A. Shewhart,et al.  Statistical method from the viewpoint of quality control , 1939 .

[24]  Robert J. Hughes,et al.  Small Business Management , 1990 .

[25]  Barrie Dale,et al.  Are the ISO 9000 series of quality management system standards of value to small companies , 1994 .

[26]  R. Westbrook.  Action research: a new paradigm for research in production andoperations management , 1995 .

[27]  D. Storey.  Understanding the small business sector , 1994 .

[28]  David G. Ullman,et al.  The Mechanical Design Process , 1992 .

[29]  Darold Wobschall,et al.  Circuit Design for Electronic Instrumentation: Analog and Digital Devices from Sensor to Display , 1979 .

[30]  D. Kolb.  Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of Learning and Development , 1983 .

[31]  Jack R. Meredith,et al.  A comparison of cellular manufacturing research presumptions with practice , 1999 .

[32]  Gloria L. Lee.  The 'pros' and 'cons' of total quality management for smaller firms in manufacturing: Some experiences down the supply chain , 1995 .

[33]  R. Ackoff,et al.  Mechanisms, organisms and social systems , 1984 .

[34]  A. Ghobadian,et al.  TQM and organization size , 1997 .

[35]  W. Edwards Deming,et al.  Out of the Crisis , 1982 .

[36]  David J. Storey,et al.  Management Training and Small Firm Performance: Why is the Link So Weak? , 1996 .

[37]  Jane Darke,et al.  The primary Generator and the Design Process , 1979 .

[38]  Elaine Aspinwall,et al.  TQM implementation issues: review and case study , 2000 .

[39]  Barry W. Boehm,et al.  A spiral model of software development and enhancement , 1986, Computer.

[40]  Martin R. Ramirez,et al.  Engineering vision: Considerations in a meaningful approach to conceptual design , 1996, Artificial Intelligence for Engineering Design, Analysis and Manufacturing.

[41]  Tomás Reyes,et al.  The Reengineering Revolution: A Handbook HarperBusiness 1994, Michael Hammer and Steven A. Stanton, $29.95 , 1996 .

[42]  R. Stake.  The art of case study research , 1995 .

[43]  Paul Joyce,et al.  Barriers to Change in Small Businesses: Some Cases from an Inner City Area , 1990 .

[44]  Harry Boer,et al.  CI and performance: a CUTE approach , 1999 .

[45]  J. R. Larson,et al.  Groups as problem‐solving units: Toward a new meaning of social cognition , 1993 .

[46]  Morris Asimow,et al.  Introduction to design , 1962 .

[47]  E. James Flynn,et al.  World class manufacturing: an investigation of Hayes and Wheelwright's foundation , 1999 .

[48]  H. Leavitt,et al.  Managerial Psychology: Managing Behavior in Organizations , 1989 .