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Matthias Holweg

Currently on leave (Easter Term 2012)

Reader in Operations Management
Director of the Centre for Process Excellence and Innovation (CPEI)

Dipl.-Wirtsch.-Ing. (Univ. of Applied Sciences Wedel), MSc (Univ. of Buckingham), MSc (Univ. of Oxford), PhD (Cardiff Univ.)

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Professional experience

Dr Holweg has been a consultant to a range of manufacturing and service firms on process improvement and supply chain management issues, and has advised several government agencies on automotive industry matters; he was a member of the New Automotive Innovation and Growth Team (NAIGT), and currently serves on the UK Supply Chain Group of the Automotive Council at the Department for Business Innovation and Skills.

He is a member of the board of the European Operations Management Association (EurOMA), and an associate editor at the Journal of Operations Management.

Previous appointments

Prior to joining Cambridge Judge Business School, Dr Holweg was a Sloan Industry Center Fellow at the Center for Technology, Policy, and Industrial Development at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and a Senior Research Associate at the Lean Enterprise Research Centre at Cardiff Business School. He has also held visiting appointments at MIT and the University of Pittsburgh.

Awards and scholarships

• Runner-up, Chris Voss Best Paper Award (with Zoe Radnor), EurOMA, 2010
• Chris Voss Best Paper Award (with Joe Miemczyk and Thomas Stäblein), EurOMA, 2009
• Sloan Industry Studies Best Book Award for The Second Century (with Frits Pil, MIT Press 2004), Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, 2007
• "Citation of Excellence" Award, Emerald Management Reviews, 2006
• "Highly Commended" Award, Emerald Literati Network, 2006
• James Cooper Memorial Cup, Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport, 2002
• Industry Center Fellowship, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, 2001 and 2002
• Best Dissertation Award, University of Applied Sciences Wedel, 1999

Research interests

The design and management of supply chain systems, with a particular focus on the automotive industry. Current projects investigate the evolution of global manufacturing footprints, risk and flexibility in supply chain networks, as well as the changing nature of how manufacturing firms compete. Further areas of interest are the application of lean and six sigma process improvement methodologies to healthcare operations, and the identification and management of product safety recalls.

Matthias Holweg is a member of the Operations, Information & Technology subject group.

Selected publications

Holweg, M., Disney, S.M., Hines, P. and Naim, M.M. (2005) "Towards responsive vehicle supply: a simulation-based investigation into automotive scheduling systems." Journal of Operations Management, 23(5): 507-530

Pil, F.K. and Holweg, M. (2006) "Evolving from value chain to value grid." MIT Sloan Management Review, 47(4): 72-80

Holweg, M. (2007) "The genealogy of lean production." Journal of Operations Management, 25(2): 420-437

Holweg, M. and Pil, F.K. (2008) "Theoretical perspectives on the coordination of supply chains." Journal of Operations Management, 26(3): 389-406

Radnor, Z.J., Holweg, H. and Waring, J. (2012) "Lean in healthcare: the unfilled promise?" Social Science and Medicine, 74(3): 364-371

Holweg, M. and Pil, F.K. (2012) "Outsourcing complex business processes: lessons from the Enterprise Partnership between BAE Systems and Xchanging." California Management Review (forthcoming)

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