Vol. 2004 No. 1 (2004)
Methodological Assessment of Manufacturing Systems in Senegal: A Panel Data Approach to Measuring Cost-Effectiveness
Abstract
Manufacturing systems in Senegal are diverse and exhibit varying levels of efficiency, influenced by economic factors and technological advancements. The study employs a fixed effects model to analyse data from multiple manufacturing plants across different sectors of the economy over several years, accounting for potential cross-sectional and time-series heterogeneities. A notable finding is that the implementation of lean management practices significantly reduced operational costs by approximately 15% in certain sectors, with a confidence interval around this estimate being ±3 percentage points. The empirical evidence supports the effectiveness of implementing lean principles for enhancing cost-effectiveness in manufacturing systems within Senegal. Manufacturers and policymakers should consider adopting lean management practices to improve their operational efficiency and competitiveness. The maintenance outcome was modelled as $Y_{it}=\beta_0+\beta_1X_{it}+u_i+\varepsilon_{it}$, with robustness checked using heteroskedasticity-consistent errors.