Corporate IT Systems and Continuous Improvement

Abstract: The focus of this research is in the area of Lean production and corporate IT systems. Essentially it studies the effects of IT systems on a fundamental aspect of Lean production; continuous improvement. This is important because the increasingly common corporate IT systems lock processes into inflexible patterns while continuous improvement require processes to be flexible; they are thus contradictory. Few studies have covered this. The research approach is an exploratory case study of a European Lean production pioneer, operating within machinery manufacturing. The findings provide evidence that IT systems designed to facilitate a normal state in production are effectively facilitating continuous improvement, while IT systems designed to directly support continuous improvement can be ineffective, counterproductive, and negative for worker motivation. It is also found that in-house development of IT systems is not the solution for making IT fit for continuous improvement. The thesis recommends companies to carefully consider the negative effects from IT systems directly supporting continuous improvement. Also it recommends effective cross-functional management of IT development to facilitate rapid change of IT systems when that is required for continuous improvement efforts.