The Relationship Between World Class Manufacturing Practices and Operational Performance of Steel Mills in Kenya

Abstract

The main objective of this study was to determine the relationship between world class manufacturing practices and operational performance of steel mill firms in Kenya. To achieve this, specific objectives were to determine the WCM Practices in application, to determine enhancement of Operational performance from adopting WCM practices and to determine the benefits and challenges of adopting WCM practices by steel manufacturing firms in Kenya. The study adopted a descriptive cross sectional design which was appropriate because conclusions used objective measures and made generalizations possible based on the information provided at the time of enquiry. The study used primary data questionnaires and analysis was carried out using SPSS Software. The study targeted twenty (20) respondents and the responses was 13, a response rate of65%. The main world class manufacturing practices identified were total quality management, total preventive maintenance, employee involvement, lean manufacturing and others such as electronic data interchange, supply chain management, material requirement planning and material resource planning. The findings revealed that there was a strong positive relationship between world class manufacturing practices and world class operational performance at R (0.946).The findings on the challenges experienced in the adoption of world class manufacturing observed that insufficient justifications and lack of quantifiable evidence are the main obstacles to convince executives to adopt these practices. The benefits of integrating world class manufacturing include increased competitiveness, development of new and improved technology and innovation. The recommendations is steel milling firms in Kenya should adopt full implementation of World class manufacturing practices to experience and attain world class status.