This paper examines the further development of shop floor management (SFM) in the context of the steel industry with a view to strengthening a sustainable culture of improvement and promoting operational excellence. The focus is on identifying and evaluating seven key success factors of SFM, including transparency, standardisation, leadership, visualisation, goal setting, problem-solving processes and the measurement of sustainability. Based on a comprehensive literature review and a qualitative empirical analysis with expert interviews, the practical relevance of these success factors in an energy- and resource-intensive industry such as the steel industry is examined.