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Population growth has been followed by an increase in the share of residents in urban centers, in developed countries as well as in the least developed. These areas of high population density generate an increase in commercial activity, being urban freight transport a key factor, in account of providing the goods commercialized in its stores. Urban logistics presents a series of hard-to-solve issues, and the models which seek to align the interests of the various stakeholders in the search for solutions are scarce. The aim of this article is to present a framework to understand the needs of the different stakeholders, and, in this way, to facilitate joint working with the goal of finding solutions for a better management of urban freight transport. It was found that there are many different regions that coexist within the same city, which makes evident that not all solutions are applicable to all of them. By studding deeply one of these regions, it can be inferred that not all cities are prepared for the current challenge that urban freight transport encompasses. The choice of a multi-perspective study appeared to be convenient to address the complexity these process, allowing the researcher team to gather a comprehensive view of this reality. These various aspects were shown in a workshop that included representatives of each of the stakeholders’ groups. In this workshop, the different distribution strategies and regulations that could be implemented in the short and medium term were deeply discussed.

PurposeUrban logistics presents a series of challenges, as the interests of the different stakeholders are not always aligned. The aim of this research is to explore the potential of applying Lean principles to reduce waste in urban logistics.Design/methodology/approachAs a structure for “going to gemba,” the authors implemented the shadowing technique to better understand the perspective of companies distributing products in the city of Montevideo, Uruguay. Then, meetings were conducted to validate the observations by the people shadowed.FindingsThe results show that most of shipper's time is dedicated to waiting (59%), which is followed by driving (22%), and only a small section of time was dedicated to unloading and verification activities (19%). Although collaborative solutions are needed along with the different stakeholders, this research highlights how deploying Lean thinking can improve significantly urban logistics achieving up to 25% improvement in the number of stores served per shift.Practical implicationsFrom an academic point of view, this study emphasizes the importance of continue applying and evaluating the Lean practices into transportation contexts. From a company's perspective, the authors have presented a list of propositions that can be implemented for carriers in order to reduce waste and/or improve the efficiency of the urban transportation process.Originality/valueBased on the literature review carried out, the subject study of Lean and its application to urban logistics remains mostly unexplored in the scientific literature.

The transport sector stands in the core of Latin-American economies but is also responsible for 19% of CO2 emissions in the continent. Battery electric trucks (BET) are a modern alternative to diesel trucks with the potential to mitigate the freight transport emissions of CO2. This study makes an economic analysis, in a total cost of ownership (TCO) basis, for different weight classes and applications in five Latin-American countries: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Uruguay. Based on data gathered by a state-of-the-art literature review, the aim of this paper is to calculate the break-even year for each segment's BET by means of a quantitative linear model. This model considers multiple parameters that vary between the different countries, such as purchase price, fuel and electricity costs, insurance and registration costs, maintenance costs, import tariffs and charging infrastructure costs. Results show that Chile and Uruguay are the first countries to achieve break-even while Argentina and Brazil the last. A lower mileage leads the transition together with light-duty trucks, whereas heavy-duty trucks fight to reach parity with diesel trucks. Initial investments on BETs are highlighted as the main barrier for their adoption since it is the main cause for the TCO gap between both alternatives, while the electricity and fuel cost differential is also identified as a relevant factor to achieve parity. Public policies such as tax exemptions and subsidies are analysed by studying their impacts in achieving an earlier break-even. Finally, this research provides insight into a currently deserted venue as it is the insertion of BETs in Latin America.

Purpose Companies use continuous improvement (CI) as a strategy to achieve business excellence and innovation. Yet CI initiatives fail mostly due to a lack of employee engagement. The paper aims to discuss this issue. Design/methodology/approach Based on the CI literature and the technology acceptance model (TAM), a comprehensive model called continuous improvement acceptance mode (CIAM) was developed to understand the main organisational antecedents that predict employee intention to participate in CI. The CIAM is based on structural equation modelling using partial least squares and it was validated in a large manufacturing plant in Europe. Findings Emulating the findings of the TAM, this study shows that employee intention to participate can be predicted by two variables called ease of participating and usefulness of participating. The CIAM then relates these constructs with relevant CI enablers found in the CI literature. Practical implications The CIAM could help academics and practitioners to better understand employee participation in CI activities, allowing CI systems to be better designed and achieve long-term sustainability. Originality/value The CIAM presents new variables and interactions that help to understand employee participation in CI activities. Some of these variables and interactions have received scant attention in the CI literature and thus they are worth investigating in greater depth in the future.

Purpose This paper aims to outline the barriers in introducing Lean in health care and to asses which of these have a greater impact in the Uruguayan health-care sector. Design/methodology/approach To uncover the barriers hindering Lean health-care implementation, a literature review was undertaken. Once identified, first-hand information was obtained from managers and professionals involved in managerial activities who evaluated each of the difficulties using a Likert scale. Findings In total, 17 barriers to the implementation of Lean health care were identified. Survey results show that the highest scores correspond to “controllable” barriers, those which can be overcome, almost exclusively, by the organization willing to implement the program. Practical implications Managers need to understand and ascertain the existing barriers before implementing Lean if they want to develop strategies to mitigate them. Although the exploratory study was conducted in the Uruguayan health-care sector, it could be replicated elsewhere. Originality/value An exhaustive list of barriers was synthesized and was later assessed by managers in the Uruguayan context. This is an important first step that could help foresee obstacles and develop strategies prior future implementation.

PurposeFor the past 20 years, Latin American countries have gone from being a low-cost region to significant players in the world economy, with five of its countries ranked among the world’s 50th largest by gross domestic product. This paper aims to study the contribution of Latin American researchers in the field of supply chain management (SCM) to aid an understanding of the Latin American impact within global supply chains (SCs).Design/methodology/approachThe authors present a study which includes a bibliometric analysis of the papers authored by Latin American researchers in the SCM field and which were exclusively published in journals included in the Journal Citation Reports. In addition, the authors conducted a survey to Latin American researchers and consultants to gain greater understanding of the main difficulties, which in their opinion, have negatively affected the SCM area in Latin America within the past five years, and identify possible misalignment between Latin American research and the challenges for SC in the region.FindingsThe results show that Latin American research on SCM in the past nine years is not significant for the field considering the number of papers, citations and the papers published in top journals. Another interesting finding is the lack of collaboration among researchers from different Latin American countries, as well as with corporate. Finally, survey results reveal significant differences regarding the main difficulties each country perceived as relevant.Practical implicationsComparing results from both analyses, relevant misalignments stand out between published research and the main difficulties detected. These suggest a challenging opportunity for Latin America, emphasizing the need to increase research contribution of the scientific community, through collaboration and alignment toward overcoming the most troublesome difficulties for Latin America. Therefore, the authors suggest future regional research directions which could also help global companies to tackle the challenges faced and optimize performance of their Latin American SCs.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, no previous research on the quality and impact of Latin American research in SCM has been conducted. Also, misalignments between researchers and practitioners in the region, which allow identifying weaknesses of Latin American SCs, have not been studied before.

Growing concerns about the environmental impact caused by industrial operations is spurring companies to seek more sustainable modes of production. In this context, adopting sustainable manufacturing (SM) practices still represents a challenge, especially for small and medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs). In order to address this issue, this study identified a set of barriers to SM implementation. The main findings reveal that there is limited research on SM from Latin American (LATAM) countries, and the majority of published articles discuss the implementation of lean tools and cleaner production in industry. Additionally, results showed that the biggest challenges that Uruguayan companies have to face are associated with economic and financial barriers. A new categorization of barriers: human perceptions, resource constraints and weak legislation was presented. Finally, the study examines the adoption of SM practices in the country, with cleaner production and product recovery being the most implemented practices. This study concludes that there is an urgent need for government institutions, academia, and organizations to align their objectives and work together in order to support SMEs in their transition towards sustainability.

Purpose: Achieving employee participation in continuous improvement (CI) systems is considered as one of the success factors for the sustainability of those systems. Yet, it is also very difficult to obtain because of the interaction of many critical factors that affect employee participation. Therefore, finding ways of measuring all these critical factors can help practitioners manage the employee participation process accordingly. Design/methodology/approach: Based upon the existing literature, this paper presents a 4-Phase (9 steps) diagnostic tool to measure the main determinants associated with the implementation of CI systems affecting employee participation in improvement activities. Findings: The tool showed its usefulness to detect the main weaknesses and improvement opportunities for improving employee participation in CI through the application in two different cases. Practical implications: This diagnostic tool could be particularly interesting for companies adopting CI and other excellence frameworks, which usually include a pillar related to people development inside the organization, but do not include tools to diagnose the state of this pillar. Originality/value: This diagnostic tool presents a user’s perspective approach, ensuring that the weaknesses and improvement opportunities detected during the diagnose come directly from the users of the CI system, which in this case are the employees themselves. Given that the final objective is to identify reasons and problems hindering employee participation, adopting this user’s perspective approach seem more relevant than adopting other more traditional approaches, based on gathering information from the CI system itself or from the CI managers.

Continuous improvement (CI) is still one of the strongest ways for companies to achieve process excellence in order to survive in nowadays’ competitive environments. Yet, it is still very difficult to implement and sustain CI systems, mainly because of the difficulty in engaging people in these activities. Based on an exhaustive literature review, followed by a three-round Delphi study with Spanish experts, this paper helps to assess what the main elements are with respect to the CI system that could motivate employees’ intention to participate in CI activities. Main results show 44 elements grouped into 10 factors that could affect employees’ intention to participate. These factors were structured into a more comprehensive model following an interpretive structural modelling approach.

Purpose – Continuous improvement (CI) is regarded as a powerful approach to achieve business excellence. However, the implementation is not simple as it involves managing a considerable amount of tangible and intangible factors throughout the whole organization. The purpose of this paper is to fill the gap by presenting first-hand information about how companies really implement and organize their CI processes. Design/methodology/approach – The study was based on semi-structured interviews in ten high performing companies in the Basque Country, a region in northern Spain well known for its business quality. The objective was to analyze the state of their CI processes, putting special focus on how the organizational structure integrates with the CI processes and what are the characteristics of the corresponding measurement system. Findings – The study shows a lack of company-wide focus on CI, little written evidence of previous improvement activities, unclear improvement process owner, and poor use of adequate measurement systems to monitor CI. Practical implications – Managers should understand that is not enough to guarantee their own commitment and provide the structure, since in order to become learning organization, a different holistic approach towards the CI process must be adopted. Originality/value – While most previous work on this field have focused primarily on how to implement different techniques in order to achieve better productive performance, this study presents empirical research from a more holistic approach, assessing the characteristics affecting CI by considering strategy, structure, and the measurement system.

Purpose – The purpose of this article is to create a list of supply chain (SC)-related difficulties based on the existing SC literature. It also presents an exploratory survey concerning the main difficulties which Uruguayan managers consider to have the most negative impact on their SCs. Design/methodology/approach – The survey was carried out within small- and medium-sized manufacturing and retailing companies in Uruguay, yielding 99 valid responses. A statistical analysis of the survey is introduced including a ranking of the difficulties and a grouping of those using factorial analysis. A difficulty, as understood throughout this paper, is any factor that significantly impacts, or has impacted in recent years, the performance of SCs. Findings – Eighteen main difficulties hindering SC performance were identified. Moreover, an exploratory analysis of the survey showed that the main concerns to SC managers are related to workforce availability and government policies. Practical implications – Difficulties encountered by SCs would not only be of interest to scholars but also to the managers who face the challenge of the day-to-day managing of a SC. Once the difficulties over the SCs are identified, strategies can be designed and implemented to attain desired benefits. Today’s intense competition requires firms to be more aware of their SC and to achieve excellence in many areas, especially at small- and medium-sized enterprises. Originality/value – There is a growing body of literature concerning isolated issues that SCs have to face; however, an exhaustive list of difficulties is hardly available. Moreover, first-hand information of Uruguayan managers was ascertained to rank each one using a Likert scale.

One of the most important enablers of continuous improvement sustainability is ease of communication, and doing so in a way that can be understood by all employees and allows information to flow rapidly throughout the company. Visual Management (VM) provides significant benefits in communication and standardisation which boosts the effectiveness of improvement systems. This article presents an in-depth literature review about the concept of VM and its benefits, and provides results from an exploratory study carried out in the Basque Country that aims to ascertain the usage of VM in 52 companies. Based on a literature review, 20 different VM elements were identified for improving the workplace. The implementation of these elements was studied, as was the relationship of VM with employee participation systems. The results of this study show a general moderate implementation of VM tools in companies with implementation levels differing according to company size. Some of the lowest scores are detected in the ...

PurposeTeamwork is one of the most powerful tools to ensure success across any activity. The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors that actively contribute to the effectiveness of teams. This research looks at two different types of teams: care delivery teams representing healthcare and improvement teams representing the manufacturing industry. The aim is to provide greater knowledge about the application of team work factors in different environments.Design/methodology/approachQualitative interviews about teamwork factors were conducted with 17 leaders of teams from healthcare and 22 leaders from manufacturing industries. The responses were categorized into different levels according to the application of each factor. Then, the factors were analyzed to draw conclusions about the different approaches to teamwork and their application.FindingsMost of the factors analyzed are highly applied in both sectors. However, we found significant differences between hospitals and the manufacturing industry when it comes to factors such as strategies, feedback on results, leadership, participation and communication.Originality/valueMeasuring each factor in two different sectors (healthcare and industry) has yielded noteworthy findings and the best practices for their implementation.

Lean manufacturing has been increasingly applied by leading manufacturing companies throughout the world, led by the major automobile manufacturers and their equipment suppliers. The aim of this case study is to show the applicability of lean manufacturing’s body of knowledge to a different environment: a seasonal food industry. Several techniques and analyses such as value stream mapping (VSM), overall equipment efficiency, spaghetti diagrams, work balance, and discrete event simulation were applied in this case study. Some of the improvement ideas resulting from the tools used were tested in the field to corroborate the findings. Finally, the future state VSM was mapped, where most of the improvement ideas identified throughout the project were consolidated. Whether the path to improvement is marked by increased spending on systems and machinery, human capital, or both, engineers and managers in the frontlines of food production recognize that improvement is a quest and not a destination. Although process industries need a special version of lean manufacturing tools, this case study shows how, with slight modification, several tools can be applied to the seasonal traditional craft industry.

Experimenters should be aware of the possibility that some of their observations may be unavailable for analysis. This article considers different criteria to assess the impact that missing data can have when running three-level designs to estimate a full second-order polynomial model. Designs for three to seven factors were studied and included Box–Behnken designs, face-centered composite designs, and designs due to Morris, Mee, Block–Mee, Draper–Lin, Hoke, Katasaounis, and Notz. These designs were studied under two existing robustness criteria: (i) the maximum number of runs that can be missing and still allow the remaining runs to estimate a given model; and (ii) the loss of D-efficiency in the remaining design compared with the original design. The robustness of three-level designs was studied using a third, new criterion: the maximum number of observations that can be missing from a design and still allow the estimation of the given model with a high probability. This criterion represents a useful ge...

Many researchers consider absenteeism to be a significant problem for employers. Absenteeism lowers the overall level of worker expertise, which may affect product quality and trigger an increase in customer complaints. This research was carried out in a prominent automobile manufacturing company, with an assembly line-driven rigid production process. This article gathered customer quality complaints registered during the 17 months after cars were delivered to customers, from one year of car production, to analyze how employee absenteeism affects customer quality complaints. The empirical evidence presented by this research in the automotive industry confirms that absenteeism does not lead, necessarily, to a decrease in quality. This evidence must make organization redefine the value of their expert workers. Moreover, these results could have an impact on assembly-line design and the use of worker job-rotation programs for technologically sophisticated assembly lines. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

PurposeSince the field of healthcare was a latecomer to the quality movement, knowledge transfer has generally flowed in one direction, from industry to healthcare. However, organisations can also be enriched by healthcare. In particular, this paper aims to show industry that important lessons can be learned regarding how teamwork is generally managed within healthcare.Design/methodology/approachTo identify the useful lessons that healthcare can teach industry, the authors started with a brainstorming session among the members of the research team to pin‐point the lessons based on their experience with healthcare and industrial environments. Afterwards, an exhaustive review of the relevant literature from the last ten years was carried out.FindingsIndustrial organisations need to develop teamwork frameworks focused on involving every employee in cross‐disciplinary, empowered and trained teams. Moreover, from a team perspective, special care must be shown when defining clear roles, focusing on end clients, formulating shared objectives and facilitating internal communications.Practical implicationsThe ten lessons from healthcare teamwork best practices believed to be the most important are given in the paper. Although some of these lessons may not be completely new concepts for industrial organisations, the paper shows how healthcare develops, spreads and applies these concepts in the real world.Originality/valueThe paper summarises, in ten useful lessons for organisations, healthcare's best teamwork practices in the literature.

PurposeThis research paper aims to explore how intranet mechanisms for knowledge transfer in a multinational automotive company can be improved with the inclusion of a human interface, specifically a resident engineer. A resident engineer is an assembly line employee who spends the majority of their time in the Advanced Engineering Center, which aims to improve knowledge transfer through face‐to‐face interaction.Design/methodology/approachA multinational automotive company was selected for the study. Six years of data containing all product modifications were analyzed.FindingsThe paper concludes that electronic knowledge transfer can be significantly improved when resident engineers physically interact with the Advanced Engineering Center. Intranet knowledge transfer alone cannot overcome the considerable handicap involved in knowledge assimilation.Practical implicationsFor companies with Advanced Engineering Centers located far from assembly‐line plants, the creation of specific human mechanisms to explain the knowledge generated and to reduce approval time is indispensable.Originality/valueThis research paper features a complete case study from a multinational automotive company with more than 800 analyzed modifications.

As comfort has become an important factor in the lift industry, validated lift models are currently a significant research area. In this article, we present an analysis of a lift guiding system, which transmits vibrations to the cabin and affects passengers' comfort. The project consisted of determining the most important lift guiding system factors that affect a lift's comfort. The Design of Experiments technique was chosen as the best technique available to maximize the information gathered from the experiments. In order to carry out the experiments, a lift test rig was specially constructed in order to simulate a real installation. We screened and analyzed the influence of many factors on the response with an adapted factorial fractional design. This article shows the steps carried out in planning and analyzing the experiments, putting special emphasis on the planning during every phase of the DoE application. This research project was co-developed by a research center, a university and a well-known Spanish lift company. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

In an industrial environment, it is important to pay close attention to the planning stage of an experimental process where various factors can strongly influence the results of the study. Using an actual DoE application, it is demonstrated how the best..

A case study on laser welding processing at a one-model car production line at a recognized automotive plant is presented. The process under study is used to weld together the roof and sides of a car by means of two lasers. This process has quality issues related to the frequent appearance of pores in both cords. As this problem had been occurring for the last two years, it was evident that it was necessary to tackle it from a different angle, so experimentation was identified as the tool needed. A design of experiments approach was chosen as an efficient technique to maximise the information gained from the experimentation. An average reduction in the number of pores of 97 per cent is obtained.

The design of experiments (DoE) methodology is a technique that has been applied for many years in industry to improve quality. In this study, a summary of 77 cases of practical DoE application in the field of engineering is presented. All of the cases were published in important scientific journals between 2001 and 2005. The type of design that is applied, the size of the experiment, the number of factors that influence the response variable, and the sector of application of the design are analyzed. In addition, the increasing use of these designs over time is demonstrated. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Although lean production tools are considered an urgent prerequisite for producers everywhere, in the process industry, and particularly the seasonal process industry, there is surprisingly little use of these techniques. The aim of this paper is to analyze and facilitate the implementation of the core tools for lean in the seasonal process industry. The second part of the paper presents a brief case study of a nougat fabrication company to show the applicability of this proposal. Although process industries may need to adapt the traditional lean tools to better fit their circumstances, the case study will show how, with slight modification, several tools were applied successfully and with great impact.

Choosing the appropriate experimental design is critical to the application of design of experiments (DoE), as an inappropriate experimental design is sure to compromise experiment results. Although picking the right experimental design may seem an easy task for an expert in DoE, this activity is complicated for novice users. Therefore, we have highlighted key points and presented guidelines to help practitioners select appropriate experimental designs. Three case studies illustrate the application of these key points in the selection of an experimental design.

By means of a case study of an automotive manufacturer, this paper aims to study the impact of a continuous improvement (CI) programme on quality defects. The analysis aims to ascertain if several independent variables such as production, CIs, and shifts are correlated to each of two dependent variables: internal quality defects and auditor quality defects (detected in the line). We gathered daily data for each shift of internal quality and auditor quality in a 12-month period. The defects considered and analysed through this study amounted to more than 68,000. This analysis could be useful as a methodology to evaluate the CI programmes of other manufacturers, since there is very little literature in terms of case studies or examples that focus on the daily struggle that manufacturers face when transforming these strategies into working practices.