Most management practices derived from manufacturing were developed in an environment where measurements to the nearest 1/1000th are common place. Most software project strive to estimate production +/- 10%. Given the difficulty the software world has in even simply quantifying its size, it seems translating process from the manufacturing world to the IT world must be done with care.
Does any publicly available quantitative evidence exist that shows the impact of implementing manufacturing-style process on software project where it did not previously exist? I'm not picky about the process, could be Six Sigma or something I've never heard of as long as its source was originally manufacturing.