Editorial
Article Type: Editorial From: International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, Volume 64, Issue 6.
In putting this issue together a key feature of the journal once again comes to the fore, namely the wide-ranging interests represented in the journal. We have technical papers that cover how to optimise the productivity of heavy capital-equipment and, in contrast, strategic papers on how to measure, and improve, the performance of humanitarian supply chains. We have papers that look to the future needs of society by concentrating on sustainability; and papers that look at improving today’s basic economic activities such as warehouse operations. The contexts of papers range across public and private sectors, construction and service, and developed and emerging countries.
As usual we have seven papers in this issue; these comprise six standard papers and a reflective practice paper. One particular theme contained in this issue is the construction industry – an important area of the economy that doesn’t feature that often in the journal. Three of our papers deal with construction. On the other hand, a number of papers reflect recurring themes such as supply chains (two papers) and lean Six-Sigma (LSS). We hope you find something among the variety of papers to interest and enlighten you.
The conjunction of sustainability and supply chains has become a topic of great interest to researchers and practitioners. In the issue’s first paper Tajbakhsh and Hassini argue that our immaturity of knowledge on measuring performance in sustainable supply chains hinders progress. Therefore, the authors set out to bring together and analyse the literature, culminating in a framework that integrates all the relevant aspects relating to sustainability. Whilst this is probably not the last word on this topic, it appears to be a comprehensive treatment of the state-of-the-art on various sub-dimensions of sustainability.
As indicated above, interest in supply chain performance continues to grow. With this growth curiosity has expanded from standard supply chains associated with manufactured goods to more esoteric but, perhaps, more worthy supply chains associated with such as disaster relief and other such emergency situations. In the next paper Santarelli, Abidi, Klumpp and Regattieri shed light on both theoretical and empirical aspects of humanitarian supply chains that they divide in to disaster response, and reconstruction and development. Based on a review of the literature, the authors design a system of standardised performance measures, and obtain data from practice which they analyse and present. They demonstrate how practices and the performance emphases differ between the two types of humanitarian supply chains in a number of practical situations. This is a praiseworthy piece of work in that the authors are helping to improve the performance of systems that aim to alleviate human suffering.
Labour productivity in construction projects is of major importance in emerging economies. In the third paper Ghoddousi, Poorafshar,Chileshe and Hosseini take a novel perspective by examining the views of 60 company leaders on the factors that help to depress productivity in the Iranian construction industry. They find that the views of chief executive officers (CEOs) do differ from those involved with construction projects at a lower level, albeit on the whole the views of both groups are reasonably consistent. Both groups are likely to perceive worker motivation as a key issue and to play down health and safety matters – which is worrying. CEOs are less likely to see the need for training, leadership strategies and communication compared to other groups. This is an interesting study that seeks to establish the views of key decision makers on what makes productivity tick. It would be useful to replicate such a study in other contexts.
Pheng, Gao and Lin, in the fourth paper, look at the impact on the Singapore construction industry of combining two initiatives for productivity improvement: early contractor involvement (ECI) in the design phase of a construction project and adoption of lean construction practices. Using interviews and a survey they found that practitioners believe that these two initiatives complement one another and can lead to enhanced productivity. However, the authors also discovered that building professionals need to increase their awareness of the two approaches to be able to better benefit from them. So investment in knowledge and training brings rewards in productivity enhancement – a view that readers of this journal would no doubt subscribe to.
The next paper by Holt and Edwards is the third in this issue that deals with construction. It is a technical paper that deals with productivity of mechanical excavators. By careful use of a work study approach, the authors show how productivity can be estimated for an important piece of construction equipment, the “hydraulic” excavator. Their analysis shows how the optimum values for technical parameters, such as bucket size, can be determined to fit the environmental conditions. However, they also draw attention to the importance of operator competence which can make a substantial difference to the productivity of the operator/equipment combination. A point that reinforces the maxim that technology alone is not enough to drive productivity increase.
With the growth in internet trade and the globalisation of supply chains, warehousing operations have come under closer scrutiny. The sixth paper is a technical paper that looks at how the placing and picking of items within a warehouse can be made more efficient. Sharma and Shah take the case study of a warehouse stocking batches of man-made fibre that have been produced in the adjacent factory; and which are then shipped to customers who process the fibre further. Their analysis shows how the warehouse layout and the performance of the associated placing and picking practices can be substantially improved. Perhaps this warehousing scenario runs counter to the excavator productivity paper in that warehouse operatives have to follow the instructions of the warehousing computer; rather than contribute any skilled cognitive behaviour.
The final paper, a reflective piece by Antony, deals with the increasingly popular operations improvement philosophy of LSS. He contends that LSS, betraying its manufacturing origins, faces challenges generally in its implementation in the public sector and, in particular, in higher education. To back up his claims he presents the views of an informed group of academics and business people drawn from three continents. It seems that some of the issues are not novel, namely the need for visionary leadership, the difficulty of defining quality in the experiential service environment and, finally, finding ways to engage staff in activities that appear to constrain their freedom to act as professionals. However, familiarity does not necessarily make them any easier to deal with.
Thomas F. Burgess and John Heap
