An investigation of supply chain operational improvements for small and medium enterprises (SMEs): A UK manufacturing case study

Abstract

In an increasingly turbulent business environment and intensive market competition and globalisation, manufacturing organisations of the 21st century have been forced to continuously seek improvements in their supply chain operations to increase productivity and quality. Therefore, making competition no longer between organisations but rather among its supply chains by seeking to reduce costs and improve quality as an alternative to gain higher market share. This paper investigates different aspects of operations and supply chain improvement of a small and medium manufacturing organisation in UK. The main objective of this paper is to help SMEs to identify deficiencies in their operations and take necessary steps to correct them to enhance performance and productivity in their supply chain operations. For this to happen, the current study has implemented lean approach as a method to improve the organisation’s supply chain, enhancing the quality of processes and products. By conducting interviews and observations together with gathering company internal records, it remarks some potential problems of the manufacturing company. Finally, several recommendations (such as introducing ERP system) are made for future improvements.