int . j . prod. res ., 1999, vol. 37, no . 10, 2271±2292 The use and eectiveness of modern manufacturing practices: a survey of UK industry P. E. WATERSON ² *, C. W. CLEGG ² , R. BOLDEN ² , K. PEPPER ² , P. B. WARR ² and T. D. WALL ² In this paper we describe a survey of the current use and eectiveness of key modern manufacturing practices within the UK. The ®ndings from the survey are based upon a ten-percent sample of British manufacturing companies employing more than 150 people. The most common practices in use are supply-chain part- nering, total quality management, team-based working and integrated computer- based technology. By contrast, the least used practices in Britain are total pro- ductive maintenance, outsourcing, concurrent engineering and manufacturing cells. In terms of eectiveness, in more than half of the companies the practices are perceived to be failing to meet their objectives in terms of quality, cost or responsiveness to customers. It was found that practices such as learning culture, integrated computer-based technology and empowerment are expected to be used more in the future, whereas outsourcing, manufacturing cells and concurrent engineering are predicted to experience less growth. These ®ndings are discussed within the paper in terms of their consistency with previous studies, as well as their implications for the current and future use of individual practices. 1. Introduction Manufacturing within the UK, as elsewhere in the industrialised world, is cur- rently experiencing considerable change associated with the increasing use of new manufacturing practices and their accompanying technology. However, there is little systematic evidence about the success or failure of these initiatives. Likewise, it is dicult to gain a clear picture regarding UK manufacturing performance and its links with the use of these new practices (CBI 1995). Previous assessments of the impact of manufacturing practices have typically been based upon evidence drawn from single, or multiple case studies of particular practices (e.g. Hammer and Champy 1993, Womack et al. 1990) . Although such studies can provide important insights into the detailed workings of individual prac- tices, they necessarily lack generalisability and make it dicult to make comparisons across, for example, eectiveness within dierent industrial sectors and company sizes. Where large-scale surveys of manufacturing practices have been attempted, they have either concentrated upon general objectives and practices such as quality or lean production (Hanson et al. 1994) or on a sample of single practices such as cellular-based manufacturing (Wemmerlov and Johnson 1997) . In other words, there is a gap which needs to be ®lled by studies which cover a range of manufacturing practices, and at the same time aord detailed insights into how they operate and are implemented within industry. 0020±7543/99 $12 . 00 Ñ 1999 Taylor & Francis Ltd. Revision received July 1998. ² ESRC Centre for Organisation and Innovation, Institute of Work Psychology, University of Sheeld, Sheeld S10 2TN, UK. * To whom correspondence should be addressed. Downloaded by [University of Leeds] at 10:30 29 June 2015