Since its beginning, lean manufacturing has built a worldwide reputation based on results related to production improvement and cost reduction in several companies. This management philosophy focuses on customer value creation through the elimination of production wastes. Lean methods and techniques have spread their scope from the automotive industry to a wide range of industries and services. This article presents a case study that describes the use of the lean tool value stream mapping in the production process of automotive parts for a major automotive company. At the beginning of the project, relevant data from the process were collected and analysed. Subsequently, the initial process was mapped, the related wastes were identified, and then future processes were mapped and financial results were estimated. The proposals were presented on kaizen meetings, the action plan was discussed and the decision regarding which option to choose was taken. Consequently, the Cycle Time and the level of the workforce were reduced, the process was improved and savings were obtained.

Purpose: Quality 4.0 is being presented as the new stage of quality development. However, its overlying concept and rationale are still hard to define. To better understand what different authors and studies advocate being Quality 4.0, a systematic literature review was undertaken on the topic. This paper presents the results of such review, providing some avenues for further research on quality management.Design/methodology/approach: The documents for the systematic literature review have been searched on the Scopus database, using the search equation: [TITLE-ABS-KEY (“Quality 4.0”) OR TITLE-ABS-KEY (Quality Management” AND (“Industry 4.0” OR “Fourth Industr*” OR i4.0))]. Documents were filtered by language and by type. Of the 367 documents identified, 146 were submitted to exploratory content analysis.Findings: The analyzed documents essentially provide theoretical discussions on what Quality 4.0 is or should be. Five categories have emerged from the content analysis undertaken: Industry 4.0 and the Rise of a New Approach to Quality; Motivations, Readiness Factors and Barriers to a Quality 4.0 Approach; Digital Quality Management Systems; Combination of Quality Tools and Lean Methodologies and Quality 4.0 Professionals.Research limitations/implications: It was hard to find studies reporting how quality is actually being managed in organizations that already operate in the Industry 4.0 paradigm. Answers could not be found to questions regarding actual practices, methodologies and tools being used in Quality 4.0 approaches. However, the research undertaken allowed to identify in the literature different ways of conceptualizing and analyzing Quality 4.0, opening up avenues for further research on quality management in the Industry 4.0 era.Originality/value: This paper offers a broad look at how quality management is changing in response to the affirmation of the Industry 4.0 paradigm.

The senior market has gained increasing interest from the tourism industry, mainly because of its considerable size and time flexibility. However, seniors are also a group facing many constraints to participating in tourism, which has led some countries to promote social tourism programmes for this market. However, little is known about the success of these programmes, while research showing the benefits derived by participants would be useful to continuously improve these initiatives. This paper presents a segmentation analysis of senior participants in a Portuguese social tourism programme, based on benefits derived. A questionnaire-based survey was undertaken, yielding a total of 848 valid responses, which were subjected to a hierarchical cluster analysis. Three clusters emerged: the least benefitted, the most benefitted and active and the highly benefitted and locally socializing seniors. The clusters were compared regarding socio-demographic profile, travel behaviour, satisfaction and loyalty. Several statistically significant differences among the clusters were observable, providing relevant inputs for managing social tourism programmes for this market.

Although tourism is recognized as a major industry worldwide, it is not accessible to all yet. In order to increase seniors' access to tourism, some countries have developed social tourism programmes for this market. However, few studies analyse the relevance and the motivations for participating in these programmes. This paper presents a market segmentation of a Portuguese social tourism programme for seniors based on motivations and a comparison of the resulting segments regarding the following features: socio-demographic profile; travel behaviour; benefits obtained; satisfaction; and loyalty. A questionnaire-based survey yielded 667 valid responses. A K-means cluster analysis was adopted to segment the market, and clusters were compared using ANOVA, Kruskal–Wallis, and χ² tests. Three clusters emerged: “the passive seniors”, “the socio-cultural seniors”, and “the active seniors”. Several statistically significant differences among the clusters were detected. The results highlight the importance of social tourism programmes for the senior market.

Nowadays, due to globalization, business diversification and a growing number of different business projects, the need to support people involved in tasks related to project management is becoming increasingly important. Timely and accurate data about projects’ plans, their progress and related costs, are extremely important for project managers and consequently for assuring the success of the project. In this context, Project Management Information Systems (PMIS) are commonly viewed as an important tool for project management. However, this kind of Information Systems (IS) is relatively expensive and therefore out of reach for many small and medium enterprises (SME) that often choose not to use them. As a way to overcome this situation many consulting companies decide to invest in the development of their own PMIS. This paper presents the design process of an Information System for Project Management, whose main purpose is to manage investment projects throughout their life cycle. The system supports all the application process for incentive programs, as well as the documentation and procedures required, and helps to manage the project itself, when it is approved. This solution will thus contribute to the improvement of the performance of the Projects & Incentives’ division of the consulting company, but can also be replicated by other companies that have similar needs

This paper suggests a framework for assessing the economic relevance of social tourism programmes for tourism destinations, based on two simultaneous approaches: an analysis of the stakeholders’ perceptions of the economic impacts and a quantitative assessment of the impacts on the national economy. This framework was applied to a Portuguese social tourism programme directed at the senior market. A survey of supply agents (N=220) was carried out to analyse the stakeholders’ perceptions of the Programme impacts. An integrated model, including a senior survey (N=1000) and an input-output model, was used to estimate the total economic impact of the Programme on output, household income, employment and Value-added. The supply agents surveyed perceived considerable positive impacts of the Programme on their companies regarding profitability, employment, occupancy rate in the low season, loyalty and attraction of new consumers. They also perceived important positive impacts on local communities regarding decrease of seasonality, diversification and revitalization of local economy. The quantitative assessment also revealed high total economic impacts (direct, indirect and induced) of the Programme on the national economy. Finally, some suggestions to maximize the economic benefits of social tourism programmes for tourism destinations are presented.