Sustainable Excellence in Small and Medium Sized Enterprises: Continuous Improvement Approaches That Matter

This book is a collection of the up-to-date experience and knowledge about the implementation of sustainable business excellence in a particular context of SMEs. The book uses empirical and practical approach to tackle this issue, which is underdeveloped in the literature. Hence, it could constitute a relevant reference for SMEs managers seeking to manage their operations sustainably, efficiently and resiliently. The book also integrates the smart component to the sustainable business excellence and proves for those who are still skeptical that SMEs could benefit from smart and digital technology in the favor of sustainability and business excellence. Overall, we build on successful initiatives we experienced in real life to guide SMEs in order to be sustainable smart and resilient in the post COVID context which is highly demanding in terms of business excellence and efficiency.

Fatima Ezahra Touriki is Associate Professor in the Industrial Engineering department at ENSA-Safi, Cadi Ayyad University, Marrakech Morocco. Fatima Ezahra started her research career at the Paul Cézanne University―Faculty of Science and Technology of Marseille (France), by obtaining her PhD in "Intelligence and competitive intelligence" in 2005. In 2016, Fatima Ezahra became Head of the Industrial Engineering Department. Her scientific activity focuses on Lean Management, Quality Management, food supply chains and sustainability. She has published several papers in leading academic peer-reviewed journals such as International Journal of Production Economics, Journal of Cleaner Production, Production Planning and Control and Journal of Small Business Management.

Amine Belhadi is an expert and researcher in operations management and sustainability. Basically, Amine is an industrial engineer. He works currently as a consultant and project analyst in OCP group one ofthe leading chemical companies in Morocco and the world. His expertise area is the industrial engineering particularly lean manufacturing, industry 4.0 and sustainability. He has participated in operational excellence programs implementation in many companies. His publications have appeared in international peer-reviewed journals such as International Journal of Production Economics, International Journal of Production research, Technological Forecasting and Social change, Production Planning and Control, Journal of Cleaner Production, Computers and Industrial Engineering, Journal of Small Business Management.

Sachin S. Kamble is Professor of Strategy (Operations and Supply Chain Management) at EDHEC Business School, France. He holds a Ph.D. in Management, MBA in Operations and Bachelors Degree in Mechanical Engineering. In academics, he has been associated with various institute of repute such as National Institute of Industrial Engineering (NITIE), Mumbai, Hyderabad Central University, and Karnatak Univeristy. Dr. Sachin’s teaching and research interests include operations management, supply chain management, big data analytics, industry 4.0 and blockchain technology. He has more than 50 authored/co-authored publications in referred international journals and include high impact journals such as Int. J of Production Economics, Int. J of Production Research, Computers in Industry, Int. J of Information Mgmt. and Process Safety and Env. Mgmt. Dr. Sachin has done 27 consultancy assignments for leading manufacturing organizations that include TNT Logistics Ltd, Parle Limited, ACC Ltd., Intas Pharma, Mundra Ports and SEZ Ltd., Indogulf Fertilizers Ltd., TTK-LIG Ltd, BPCL-Mumbai, Gujarat State Fertilizer Corporation, Kochi Refinery,Indian Rayon, RCF Ltd, AICTE and Glaxo Smithkline. He has also conducted various MDP's for the senior level executives from, ACC Ltd., HDFC Bank, BEL, HMT, L&T, Apollo Tires Ltd, TMT Ltd., etc. in the area of operations and SCM.Dr. Sachin has also conceptualized special certificate program on SC and Logistics Management for L & T-Electrical group (one year duration) and Mfg. Excellence Prog. for Apollo Tires Limited. Dr. Sachin is a highly acknowledged person in the field of research and academics. He is presently the invited member on various advisory boards. Dr. Sachin is presently editing special issues for reputed journals such as International Journal of Production Research, International Journal of Physical Distribution and Logistics Management, and Journal of Global Operations and Strategic Sourcing on the emerging topics of industry 4.0 and blockchain technology.

Imane Benkhati is an expert and associate research in the field of industrial engineering in the ENSA-Safi, Cadi Ayyad University, Morocco. Currently, Imane works as a supply chain engineer in the Fast-moving goods sector. Her scientific activity focuses on industry 4.0, lean manufacturing,resilient manufacturing and sustainability.