What is the problem? : A diagnosis of manufacturing performance to identify improvement opportunities

Abstract: Purpose – The objective of this master thesis is to systematically identifycommon manufacturing interferences in order to investigate improvementopportunities.Design/methodology/approach – A qualitative exploratory case study isused mainly abductively to gather data from interviews, observations and aquestionnaire.Findings – The corporate culture was found to be an issue interfering withmanufacturing performance. Both empirical findings and theories support anintroduction of TPM in order for the corporate culture to be positivelyinfluenced, mainly through an increased flexibility of the work force.Research limitations/implications – This paper explores a somewhatdifferent area than previous research within the operations management field.The consequences are that there is uncertainty whether a broad generalizationcan be made or if the procedure and findings are applicable in this researchsolely. A need for many further studies can thus be confirmed that improveand create diagnostic tools for manufacturing and organizations in general.Originality/value – This research provides indications that a changeinitiative, such as TPM, could positively influence the corporate culture of anorganization. Additionally, the paper provides a step-by-step example of howto go about when identifying performance interferences within manufacturing.