The learning way to production performance : An evolutionary perspective on company-specific production systems (XPS)

Abstract

Manufacturing companies (MCs) implement “best-practice” concepts such as Lean and the Toyota Production System (TPS) for enhanced production improvement. However, 30 years of research have shown that very few succeed in this implementation, which is often related to the challenge of copying Lean and TPS in various technological, political, and social contexts. As a reaction to this, MCs have explored new strategies for implementing bestpractice concepts. Instead of copying a concept, the company tailors its own “self-adjusted” concept that is built on one or more standard concepts. This phenomenon goes by the name of “company-specific production systems” (XPS) and seems to be an important trend among (global) MCs. A key point of an XPS is its strategic importance to the company. The selection of concepts and the adaptation and adjustment to the company’s uniqueness take place at a corporate level, and they are strongly supported by the top management of the company. After the creation phase, the XPS is distributed to the MC’s (global) network. Hence, the initial adjustment and tailoring process is supposed to secure adoption and standardization across the company’s network. Despite the increased interest and strategic importance of the XPS phenomenon, knowledge of how an XPS is developed and implemented is limited. For example, we know little about how standard concepts are adapted to the company’s uniqueness, or about whether an XPS helps to ensure standardization in a (global) network. Furthermore, we have little knowledge about how an XPS is institutionalized and established as continuous improvement in a network. Understanding the XPS phenomenon is, therefore, of both theoretical and practical interest.