Manufacturing and Continuous Improvement Performance Level in Plants of Mexico; A Comparative Analysis Among Large and Medium Size Plants

Abstract

A random and statistically significant sample of 40 medium (12) and large (28) manufacturing plants of Apodaca, Mexico were surveyed using a structured and validated questionnaire to investigate the level of implementation of lean manufacturing, sustainable manufacturing, continuous improvement and operational efficiency and environmental responsibility in them, it is important to mention it was found that performance in the mentioned philosophies, on the two categories of plants is low, however large plants show a better performance than medium plants. In both cases, it is worrying that in the highly industrialized municipality of Apodaca, Mexico are not decisively adopting the philosophies mentioned, as this compromises in a global world, in the medium and long term the viability of the plants, particularly the medium size plants. Finally this article shows the results of the answers to the items of questionnaire for the plants managers, and this can be useful to the management of the plants to identify and to define specific improvement actions towards priority areas.

Implementación de la manufactura esbelta en una línea de arneses eléctricos automotrices

“…En México es poca le evidencia empírica acerca de investigaciones que utilicen estadísticas descriptivas o análisis multivariados que muestren el nivel de su adopción en plantas mexicanas. (Monge y Cruz, 2015).…”

“…En una investigación realizada en el sector de Apodaca Monge y Cruz (2015) obtuvieron s resultados que coinciden con lo establecido por Liker (2011) y Bowen (1999) en la que el uso de herramientas y técnicas de manufactura lean fue implementado de forma aislada y no consistente produciendo como resultado un programa insostenible de la filosofía lean (Liker et al, 2011;Spear y Bowen, 1999). Un hecho relevante es que las empresas de todo el mundo se jactan de los resultados que han conseguido por sus programas Lean sin embargo, a pesar de todos los proyectos realizados, ninguna compañía en ninguna industria en el mundo ha alcanzado el nivel de excelencia operacional que Toyota ha logrado (Liker y Convis, 2011).…”