Competitive manufacturing strategy: an application of quality management practices to advanced manufacturing technology implementation

To achieve the expected benefits of advanced manufacturing technology (AMT), appropriate managerial efforts prior to and after adoption of these technologies are required. Quality management systems constitute certain management practices that could be used to enhance these managerial efforts in AMT implementation. The purpose of this study is to examine whether the application of these management practices in AMT implementation would lead to increased performance. The results of exploratory factor analysis of survey data obtained from 149 companies in the Thai automotive industry identify five quality management practices: customer focus, leadership, employee involvement, continual improvement, and mutually beneficial system vendor relationship. Then, a hierarchical regression analysis indicates that the moderating effects of three quality management practices on the relationship between AMT and performance are significantly positive. These are leadership, employee involvement, and mutually beneficial system vendor relationship. It is important to note that the companies that invest in these technologies and adopt appropriate quality management practices have better performance than those that do not use these management practices.