Production Improvement Function and Corporate Operational Efficiency in the Nigerian Manufacturing Industry

This paper investigates the extent to which Production Improvement Function, had affected the Corporate Operational Efficiency of the Nigerian manufacturing industry. Three hypotheses were formulated and questionnaire were distributed to eighty respondents in the eighty sampled manufacturing firms from the one hundred in the industry, quoted in the Stock Exchange(Fact Book 2009). Sixty two copies of the questionnaire were retrieved. These with the financial statements of the firms were used for the analysis. From its findings, the study revealed that production planning and control have significant impacts on operational efficiency of Nigerian manufacturing industry; while production scheduling has an insignificant and weak influence on operational efficiency alone. This finding implies that production improvement function significantly affects the operational efficiency of firms. Based on these, the study recommends among others, that the Nigerian manufacturing industry should efficiently and effectively operationalize the all embracing production improvement function, especially in the area of production scheduling, in order to restore the industry as the base of all development. Keywords: Production Improvement Function, Corporate Operational Efficiency. Production Plannin