Manufacturing managers are still focused on the short-term tactical issues related to their business. Strategic issues tend to receive less attention. However, manufacturing can play an important strategic role. This book helps managers consider the strategic roles their operations can play and to provide guidance as to what actions can be taken.
About the Author: MAREK SZWEJCZEWSKI is a Reader in Innovation and Operations Management, and he is also Director of the renowned Best Factory Awards. Prior to joining Cranfield, Marek worked for several years in industry, he held management positions in a variety of industries ranging from retail to telecommunications. As Director of the Best Factory Awards programme, he has received significant public and private funding for his research on factory performance in the UK and has co-authored several major reports. He is also Director of the Global Manufacturing Roundtable, the roundtable's researchers work with manufacturing companies on projects to improve operational competitiveness and performance. Marek has been involved in various large research projects; he was co-investigator on a major European Commission project examining the impact of organisational innovation on performance. He has also led a major research project, funded by European Pharmaceutical companies, which investigated best practice in innovation management. One element of the project examined which new market research techniques (such as ethnography) were being used by innovative companies. Marek has published extensively in both academic (e.g. Journal of Operations Management and International Journal of Operations and Production Management) and practitioner journals. He has authored numerous articles and reports on supplier management, innovation, manufacturing performance, and manufacturing strategy. He has advised a wide range of organisations, including Dairy Crest, Pilkington and Schering. Marek's current research interests are manufacturing strategy, identifying customer hidden needs, supplier management, sustaining change initiatives, and new product portfolio management.

MALCOLM JONES began his studies of World Class Manufacturing in 1986 and has worked in Western and Eastern Europe, North America and the Far East providing facilitation, training and consultancy in these approaches. This book is a synthesis of 25 years' action learning and reflection on implementation in a wide variety of industries. He has previously edited two volumes translated from the work of the TP Management Group of the Japan Management Association and produced the 5S Improvement Handbook for Productivity Europe.