The application of Quick Response Manufacturing practices in Brazil, Europe, and the USA: An exploratory study

This research investigates the application of Quick Response Manufacturing (QRM) practices by enterprises in Brazil, Europe, and the USA. QRM is a management concept that focuses on time as the key factor in competitive manufacturing, particularly in customer-oriented Engineer and Make to Order (ETO/MTO) production environments. A literature review identifies QRM principles, divided into four core concepts. Next, an exploratory survey in 20 manufacturing companies that operate under ETO/MTO conditions and are known to have already implemented QRM shows that: (i) the degree of the application of QRM practices is not the same for the four core concepts of QRM; (ii) the extent of the implementation of each core concept is similar among all the world regions studied; (iii) the use of Lean Manufacturing favours the adoption of QRM; and (iv) the QRM practices least applied by the surveyed organizations are those related to the abandonment of a mentality based on economies of scale and cost reduction.