Jesús García Arca

Personnel participation as a key factor for success in maintenance program implementation

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to put forward the methodology and most important aspects used at the Spanish group of timber companies Grupo Losan to design and implement a satisfactory preventive maintenance program in the manufacture of melamine and veneers in accordance with continuous improvement and TPM philosophy.Design/methodology/approach – The paper draws on empirical evidence from one case study and develops a framework for improvement in continuous improvement management for company competitiveness.Findings – The authors judge the difficulty in implementing a continuous improvement culture to be caused by the complexity of obtaining commitment and involvement from the personnel most affected by the project. In this context, a participative approach and a suitable methodology for implementation are key factors that are not always taken into account by companies. This experience also proposes the important role that researchers can play as “agents of change” from a viewpoint of “action re...

Continuous improvement and employee participation in SMEs

The active participation of all personnel is the basis for continuous improvement in companies. This paper describes the main features of systems for channelling such participation, used in a series of companies in the automotive parts industry in the Northwest of Spain. These characteristics were obtained from research carried out in mid‐1997 and based on personal interviews. Likewise, the great spread of this kind of practice found in this supply industry, mainly made up of SMEs, supports the idea that it is not only applicable in large companies. However, it should not be forgotten that the automotive sector has one of the longest traditions in continuous improvement and employee involvement activities.

Packaging Logistics. A Case Study in Dairy Sector

No many companies give importance to the impact of packaging design for achieving logistic efficiency and sustainability in the supply chain. This paper sets out to illustrate how the adoption of “Packaging Logistics” approach makes it possible to obtain competitive advantages throughout the supply chain. To illustrate this statement, in this paper, not only the conceptual field of this concept is developed, but also its application, analysing a case study in dairy sector.