Interpretive ranking process-based lean manufacturing barrier evaluation

Abstract

In the literature, diverse obstacles or barriers have been reported to result in the unsuccessful implementation of lean manufacturing in firms. However, little is known about these barriers' importance levels with respect to performances measures in lean implementation. In view of the lack of research and the importance in understanding them, this paper evaluates lean barriers in terms of their levels of importance in accordance with performance measures. The evaluation is based on a novel ranking technique — Interpretive Ranking Process (IRP). In the IRP-based evaluation, a group discussion technique is used to determine the most important lean barriers and performance measures; a number of matrices are developed for calculating the ranks of lean barriers. Upon validating the ranks, an IRP-based lean barrier evaluation model is developed. The model can help the practitioners better understand lean barriers and their levels of importance in lean implementation.