The identification of factors affecting change towards best practice in manufacturing organisations

Whilst many papers focus upon development strategies and results of positive change, few report company failure or the characteristics of organisations that are failing to identify the untapped potential within their manufacturing systems. Successful change is arguably dependent upon the management mindset, vision, and a knowledge of best practice. The availability of proven concepts such as lean manufacturing and just‐in‐time techniques are however of little use if management and indeed all employees fail to embrace even a basic understanding of their impact and cannot direct or manage the change process. This paper discusses the factors that have been found repetitively to affect change towards best practice and act as a barrier to development. With findings gathered from 13 companies this paper is intended to be of assistance to industrial managers attempting to restructure their organisations. To maintain autonomy no company names or products are reported, but the visible and recurring key negative traits that have been observed by the writer are discussed.