Not so different altogether: Putting Lean and sociotechnical design into practice in a process industry
Purpose: The shop-floor organization under lean production (LP) has been hotly debated for about three decades. As this organization concept leaves considerable room for interpretation, the content of lean-inspired changes can vary widely. This paper pleads for a contingency view of how LP is implemented and how the outcomes of lean-inspired changes rely on users’ interpretations of the concept in particular production contexts.Design/methodology/approach: A case study was conducted in two large Norwegian chemical plants. Data from the observations and interviews were supplemented by interviews with top managers in 2017 and 2018. The first author also followed a management audit in one plan…
The learning way to production performance : An evolutionary perspective on company-specific production systems (XPS)
Manufacturing companies (MCs) implement “best-practice” concepts such as Lean and the Toyota Production System (TPS) for enhanced production improvement. However, 30 years of research have shown that very few succeed in this implementation, which is often related to the challenge of copying Lean and TPS in various technological, political, and social contexts. As a reaction to this, MCs have explored new strategies for implementing bestpractice concepts. Instead of copying a concept, the company tailors its own “self-adjusted” concept that is built on one or more standard concepts. This phenomenon goes by the name of “company-specific production systems” (XPS) and seems to be an important t…
Orchestrated learning: creating a company-specific production system (XPS)
Purpose Companies create company-specific production systems (XPS) by tailoring generic concepts to fit their unique situation. However, little is known about how an XPS is created. This paper aims to provide insights into the creation of an XPS. Design/methodology/approach A retrospective case study was conducted in a Norwegian multinational company over the period 1991–2006, using archival data and interviews. Findings The development of the XPS did not start with a master plan. Instead, dispersed existing initiatives were built upon, along with an external search for novel ideas. Widespread experimentation took place, only later to be combined into a coherent approach. Once established,…
Managing adoption by cultural development: Exploring the plant level effect of a ‘Company Specific Production System’ (XPS) in a Norwegian multinational company
Purpose: ‘Company Specific Production Systems’ (XPS) aim to adopt ‘best practice’ across plants within a company. A pertinent issue in the literature involves the constraints in the possibilities of realising such an adoption. This paper addresses to what extent and how a Norwegian multinational succeeded in adopting the XPS in its local plants. Design/methodology/approach: A Brazilian, Chinese and Norwegian plant of a Norwegian electro-chemical company were studied from 2017 to 2019. Our data consist of the results of the plant’s assessment performance program, combined with interviews and observations at different organizational levels. Findings: The MNC had largely managed to adopt the X…