An investigation of the relationship between global manufacturing practices and outcomes in machine tools and textile industries

This empirical research study investigates the manufacturing planning and control (MPC) practices associated with successful company performance. To form a database of global manufacturing practices, data collected from machine tools and textile industries in 12 countries around the world via the Global Manufacturing Research Survey was combined. An exploratory factor analysis was first conducted to reduce the dimensionality of the data. Three Discriminant Analyses were then performed on the factor scores of successful and non-successful companies, between free and planned economies and among the 12 countries represented in the database, with an emphasis on the factors found to be associated with success. The results show that close coordination of several business functions with the MPC system is essential for success. Significant differences were found between state-managed and free-market economies and among the countries represented in the database. In general, countries with free-market economies had high success coefficients, led by Japan, which had the most combined use of essential success factors, while countries with planned economies had low success coefficients.