Implementation Of Lean System Research Articles

Lean readiness factors for construction organizations

Application of the principles of the “Toyota Production Systems” and the advancements such as lean management systems for the construction projects are very beneficial. Implementation of lean systems in any organization is a journey of transformation that requires an intrinsic recognition of the need and commitment towards improvement, driven with passion by the top management, changes to existing organizational cultures and practices before it can be implemented. Studies have been documented that more than 90% of the organizations fail in their journey of lean implementation and a majority of the organizations have failed to sustain the implementation and reap the benefits thereon. Research has been conducted in SMEs and manufacturing, healthcare & emergency, humanitarian & higher education domains to identify a set of conditions/practices which indicate the state of readiness of organizations to embrace the lean journey. Currently, no studies exist which have investigated the aspect of lean readiness of construction organizations. The present study has identified the lean readiness factors for construction organizations covering all the phases of construction projects, through literature review and experts’ opinions. The factors identified form the basis for the design of the framework which shall benefit construction organizations immensely for sustainable lean transformation.

Lean System: analysis of scientific literature and identification of barriers for implementation from a bibliometric study

abstract: This article presents a bibliometric analysis on the Lean System over the period ranging from 2006 to 2017, showing the evolution of the publications over the years, the number of publications per country, the main journals, the most prolific authors, the most used keywords, and eventually barriers for the implementation of the Lean System. The greatest growth of publication rate occurred from 2014 to 2015. The countries with the most contribution have been the United Kingdom, the United States, and Sweden. The publications have been concentrated primarily in twelve journals. The bibliometric map of keywords presented them grouped into six clusters. Several underlying factors like technical and managerial aspects, planning, and leadership can explain the main barriers for the implementation of the Lean System. According to the literature, the understanding of such barriers is the best way to reduce the implementation-time and reach profitability and competitiveness. Therefore, the main contribution of this work is to make the evolution and importance of publications in this area are better known, helping organizations in the knowledge of the Lean System implementation barriers present in the literature, and in reformulating the curricula of undergraduate and postgraduate in disciplines related to Lean System. Finally, a future scientometric analysis on the subject is suggested, covering the analysis of evolution of publications, scientific journal, and authors distributions, by means of bibliometric laws, like those by Price, Bradford and Lotka, respectively.

Lean readiness within emergency departments: a conceptual framework

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to develop a framework to assess the lean readiness within emergency departments (EDs) and identify the key quality practices deemed essential for lean system (LS) implementation.Design/methodology/approachAn extensive review of the lean healthcare literature was conducted, including LS implementation within the healthcare sector (both generally and in EDs), best ED quality practices, essential factors for LS implementation within healthcare and lean readiness assessment frameworks. The authors identified six main categories from a literature review (top management and leadership, human resources, patient relations, supplier relations, processes and continuous improvement (CI)), and validated these based on experts’ opinion.FindingsSeveral factors were identified as crucial for EDs, including top management and leadership, human resources, patient relations, supplier relations, processes and CI.Research limitations/implicationsThe framework has not yet been tested, which prevents the author from declaring it fit for EDs.Practical implicationsThis framework will help ED managers determine the factors that will enable/hinder the implementation of LSs within their premises.Originality/valueTo the author’s knowledge, this is the first lean readiness assessment framework for EDs and one of the few lean readiness assessment frameworks in the literature.

Real time implementation and validation of lean implementation model for sustainability (LIMS) in medium scale industry

Lean manufacturing is a strategic tool, which is used to cut down waste and to improve the efficiency of an organization and helps the organization to sustain in the competitive environment. Implementation of lean systems in organization results in reduce energy consumption, waste generation, and hazardous materials used while also building the companies’ images as socially responsible organizations. Several research efforts discussed in the literature indicate that lean companies show significant environmental improvements by being more resource and energy efficient. Lean systems are associated with waste reduction techniques. In foreign, many industries have started implementing these concepts and they are getting good results. In India, companies are facing problems in implementing lean concept. Critical success factors for lean system implementation in Indian medium scale manufacturing industries has been identified to overcome it. The factors are grouped into different levels by Interpretive Structural Modelling (ISM). A lean implementation model has been developed for medium scale industry and named as 'LIMS'. This paper investigates the implementation and validation of the LIMS through the real time implementation in a medium scale industry.

Toyota falls foul of caste system

Purpose – The paper aims to analyze the cross-cultural reasons underlying the extreme industrial unrest experienced during the first seven years of Toyota’s operations in India. Design/methodology/approach – It draws on information obtained from 30 personal interviews, field notes, observations and Internet media sources. Findings – It reports how Toyotism shares three common features with Brahminism – renunciation, performance and perfection – and how antipathy toward the manner in which these features were implemented in India caused significant resistance among the production workforce. Practical implications – It suggests that management seeking to implement lean manufacturing in India should concentrate on minimizing the antipathy by production workers. Social implications – It helps to show how employee relations, unrest and antagonism toward lean-manufacturing practices are closely related to cross-cultural issues prevalent in host countries. Originality/value – It considers that the concept of Brahmanism in Indian employee relations is under-researched in comparison with other aspects of Indian culture, and antipathy toward the concept as a source of resistance to the implementation of lean systems needs to be better understood.

THE PROCESS OF LAYING CONCRETE AND ANALYSIS OF OPERATIONS APPLYING THE LEAN APPROACH / BETONAVIMO PROCESO IR OPERACIJŲ ANALIZĖ TAIKANT LEAN METODIKĄ

The paper considers Lean philosophy ‘Just in Time’, a value stream map and total quality management principles applying them to the construction. In order to follow these principles, a case study was performed, thus observing and recording the process of laying concrete in three houses where a lower ground floor was casted employing fiber concrete. The collected data were required to fragment the process of laying concrete into smaller operations and examine each operation independently. The examination of operations was introduced in certain units of measurement – time, the number of workers, cubic meters of concrete used, space area, etc. This information helped with distinguishing useful operations from useless actions bringing no value to the product. The previously mentioned methods can be applied to useless operations to reduce their duration or even eliminate them. The main problem is the process of laying concrete splitting it into smaller operations, operation analysis and adaptation of Lean principles. The implementation of Lean system can reduce waste and increase the value of the final product. Santrauka Straipsnyje supažindinama su Lean metodika, „kaip tik laiku“, vertės srauto žemėlapio ir visuotinės kokybės valdymo principais ir jų pritaikymu statyboje. Siekiant pritaikyti šiuos principus atliktas tyrimas stebint ir fiksuojant betonavimo procesą trijuose namuose, kai buvo betonuojamos cokolinių aukštų grindys fibrobetonu. Iš surinktų duomenų betonavimo procesą galima išskaidyti į atskiras operacijas ir nagrinėti kiekvieną atskirai. Tiriant operacijas buvo taikyti tam tikri matavimo vienetai – laikas, darbuotojų skaičius, kubiniai metrai betono, patalpų kvadratūra. Šie duomenys padėjo išskirti naudingas operacijas nuo vertės nekuriančių. Vertės nekuriančioms operacijoms galima pritaikyti anksčiau minėtus principus ir sumažinti jų trukmę arba visiškai panaikinti. Svarbiausia problema yra betonavimo proceso išskaidymas į operacijas, tų operacijų analizė ir Lean principų joms pritaikymas. Įdiegus Lean sistemą galima išvengti atliekų ir padidinti galutinio produkto vertę.

A Framework for Lean System Implementation in Healthcare

Organizations are complex web of processes. When faced with process-related problems, it grapples to locate the source of the problem. Without proper identification of the source and its root causes, problem solving becomes a frivolous exercise. Problems keep recurring at regular intervals, and organizational members engage in patch working. Although extant literature is surfeited with articles on problem solving, yet many industry practitioners lack clear understanding on how to locate a problem and then resolve it. This article, which is a part of a major empirical research study conducted in a hospital, demonstrates the use of two well established tools: Value Stream Map (VSM) and A3