Abstract
Abstract The literature regarding Lean Production philosophy is vast depicting historical aspects, implementation challenges, benefits of its adoption and other topics applied to various industries and services. However, the agribusiness segment, one of the major segments of the global economy features a large gap in national and international literature. This article aims to conduct a research through multiple case studies concerning the use of techniques and tools of Lean Production System in agribusiness organizations. Multiple type case studies were conducted in eight agribusiness units from different segments through the application of structured interviews, on site visits and document analysis. The research carried has identified that Lean Production techniques and tools are applicable to agribusiness environments, and that the ones which involve improvements in process control, production flow and logistics have higher emphasis on research units. Techniques and tools such as long-term supplier and customer relationship, production smoothing/heijunka and value stream mapping distinguished themselves by the similarity of use when compared to previous studies in agribusiness environment. It was also identified that there are differences concerning the adoption of the techniques and tools in research units that operate in production environments of the type Make to Order or Make to Stock. Such differences are imposed by specificities that affect agribusiness organizations, which is indicative for future studies.
Highlights
It was noted in recent years that business environment has experienced significant changes in national and global level
The establishment of leaner and more flexible organizational structures linked to a systemic approach strongly associated with cost reduction through waste elimination is essential. This adaptation to new market strategies in various industrial sectors has been given by what is called Lean Production System that was originated by the Toyota Production System
The research, as its objective, has descriptive character by looking for the identification of the existence of relationships between variables, seeking to determine the nature of this relationship (Kumar, 2014) in order to understand the importance of a phenomenon and provide subsidies for the construction of these theories or the refinement of them. This situation applies to this research proposal because the study aims to identify which techniques and tools related to Lean Production System are applied in agribusiness, and, according to the theory proposed by Voss et al (2002), with the focus on how the phenomenon happens or how it is structured and works on a system, method, process or operational reality
Summary
It was noted in recent years that business environment has experienced significant changes in national and global level. Globalization and the inherent technological improvements have been redefined determinant factors of competitiveness, bringing out new success organizations and turning obsolete those unable to adapt to new surroundings (Savic et al, 2014) Such optimization scenario of organizational environments has intensified the demand for higher speed in product development, manufacturing flexibility, waste elimination, better process control and the use of efficient workforce (Karim & Arif-Uz-Zaman, 2013). In bibliometric review papers regarding Lean, authors such as Vamsi Krishna Jasti & Kodali (2014), Bhamu & Sangwan (2014) and Marodin & Saurin (2013) identified an average of 3% of papers that turn their study to the Lean application on agribusiness environment Within this scenario is identified a gap in literature that motivates this research. The article ends with the fifth section presenting the conclusions and perspectives for future studies
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
