Lean Manufacturing Framework Research Articles

Development of a lean manufacturing framework to enhance its adoption within manufacturing companies in developing economies

Abstract: The urgent need to reduce negative corporate environmental impacts while enhancing their financial strength and positive societal benefits is attracting company leaders to implement various quality improvement systems such as lean manufacturing, six sigma, sustainable manufacturing, and circular economy concepts, approaches and technologies. All of these approaches are valuable, with Lean Manufacturing (LM) among the leading systems, if implemented within an appropriate framework. In that context, the objective of the authors was to document the drivers for improving implementation of LM within manufacturing companies. Implementation of LM practices is already providing competitive advantages such as improvements in product quality, productivity, worker health and safety and customer satisfaction in developed countries but has not been widely implemented in companies in developing countries. To help to enhance implementation of LM in developing countries, the authors developed a framework for enhancing the adoption of lean manufacturing processes in such companies. The hybrid Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Process (FAHP)- Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) tools were used as the framework to identify and to quantify the interrelationships among the drivers for implementation of LM. This hybrid approach facilitated documentation of the relative importance and priority of the thirty-one lean manufacturing drivers. The results revealed that improved shop-floor management, quality management, and manufacturing strategy drivers were among the most critical drivers, which enhance LM adoption. These findings are beneficial for company leaders and researchers working to improve environmental, economic and societal health, especially within companies in developing countries.

Lean Intrapreneurship for Networked Manufacturing Enterprises

Manufacturing processes are usually imbedded in cross-company value and supply chains. Most manufacturing companies are currently encountering the obligation to react on their rapidly changing network environments. For companies, which are willing to remain competitive and to keep their position in the global business environment, continuous improvement and innovation of production system processes has become a necessity. Lean manufacturing and lean thinking represent meanwhile traditional frameworks for improving the performance for production systems in various industries. But not all production companies succeed with their implementation efforts towards lean manufacturing and performance improvements due to failures in organisational topics, especially at the interfaces within supply chains. Lean start-up theory and its methodologies represent success factors for organisational development paving the way to intrapreneurial and innovation concepts in a lean management influenced by lean thinking. Modern manufacturing concepts which are embracing networked enterprises are emphasising approaches for production in networks. The article investigates the innovation shortcoming in the lean manufacturing framework; organisational development in the context of intrapreneurship in a case study of a modular manufacturing company which is based on a smart and lean production concept. The research is empirically validated by using data samples from a business reengineering project in an internationally operating high-tech manufacturing enterprise from Estonia. The empiric analysis is based on semi-structured expert interview data and secondary data revealing the synergies between lean practice bundles and networked production enterprises in the context of intrapreneurship.

Using OEE to evaluate the effectiveness of urban freight transportation systems: A case study

The transport of goods is essential for the economic growth of cities and regions. Urban freight transportation makes up a very small percentage of the total transportation time for goods, but it can represent up to 28% of total transportation costs. To reduce overall costs and increase revenue from this operation, one common methodology used by decision makers is the optimization models. This paper proposes a new methodology for evaluating the effectiveness of urban freight transportation systems using the OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness) metric, a well-known rate used in the Lean Manufacturing framework. The methodology uses a mathematical model with several objective functions, two of which are multi-objective, to explore the relationships and trade-offs between economic development, quality, performance and availability (partial rates of the OEE). The final objective is to optimize the OEE metrics and the profitability of a transportation system. This methodology was tested using real-data from the city of Bogotá, Colombia. Experiments were run with different companies, costs, demands and travel times in order to validate the proposed approach. The results show the benefits of using multi-objective functions to optimize both OEE (quality, performance and availability metrics) and profits. The proposed methodology provides an ‘ex ante’ evaluation of the tactical and operational decisions made by companies in configuring an urban freight transport system.

Design and evaluation of a Lean Manufacturing framework using Value Stream Mapping (VSM) for a plastic bag manufacturing unit

The paper principally aims to implement the emerging trend of making an organization 'lean', in a small scale industry. A Lean manufacturing framework is developed using value stream mapping for a plastic bags manufacturing unit. It consists of mapping the current process of the industry and evaluating the same to identify wastes and bottleneck processes. Based on the 7 wastes of lean manufacturing, solutions are suggested to remove the wastes identified. A future state map based on suggested solutions is created. Both current and future state map are simulated and analysed for different attributes such as TAKT times, production lead times, processing time to evaluate the overall gain achieved by using value stream mapping. Simulation results predicted a reduction in TAKT time from 46 minutes to 26.6 minutes. Number of rolls made per day increased from 28 to 50. Implementation of lean manufacturing framework increased the value added time by 74.5%. Simulation results indicate that framework maybe applicable to various other small scale industries.

A Mixed Method Approach to Investigate the Lack of Lean Manufacturing Implementation in Libya

Lean manufacturing systems have been established to remove or diminish manufacturing waste and thus increase operational performance in manufacturing practices. The concept of lean thinking originated from the Toyota production system that determined the value-added activities or steps from non-value added activities or steps; and removing waste so that all phases add value to the process. This study examines the quality management processes which are utilized by Libyan manufacturing companies, and offers a methodology to develop a lean manufacturing framework. The literature review identified very few studies relevant to the use of quality improvement techniques in Libya; and no previous studies related specifically to waste reduction and lean systems, and the barriers that prevent lean manufacturing from being implemented in Libyan manufacturing companies. There are several difficulties that are facing lean manufacturing implementation in Libya such as lack of top management support, poor awareness of the importance of the system from workers, absence of lean training programs, and inadequate infrastructure and economic support. This paper presents types of mixed methods designs and the benefits of using them and the research methodology to develop an understanding in order to determine the barriers behind the lack of lean manufacturing implementation in the Libyan manufacturing sector. Having an understanding of the difficulties that face the implementation of lean manufacturing systems, as a new and modern system and using this to develop a suitable framework will help to improve the manufacturing sector in Libya.

An empirical study for implementation of lean principles in Indian manufacturing industry

Purpose – Lean manufacturing (LM) principles are one of the alternatives to improve manufacturing productivity, quality and customer satisfaction in Indian manufacturing industry. The purpose of this paper is to find the implementation status of LM principles across Indian manufacturing organizations through the empirical survey methodology. Design/methodology/approach – The survey questionnaire was developed based upon literature review conducted on LM and also considered experts suggestion in the field of LM. The survey questionnaire was sent to 753 manufacturing organization located in India. The respondent organization details have gathered from the list of Confederation of Indian Industries directory for the year 2011.The selected respondents were production managers, quality managers, sales managers, maintenance managers, CEOs of the organization. The empirical survey collected 180 filled survey questionnaires from Indian manufacturing industries. Findings – The study clearly identified that many manufacturing organizations were in initial transition stage and concentrating mostly in-plant operations instead of collaboration in all levels of business with suppliers and customers. The present study found that drivers for implementation of LM were customer satisfaction and organizational continuous improvement program. The present study also found that barriers to implement LM principles were employee resistance, implementing few elements of LM principles instead of the complete package of LM framework, budget constraints and lack of understanding of LM principles to shop floor managers. Finally the study concluded that Indian manufacturing organizations have to conduct continuous learning programmed to improve understanding of LM principles as well as to maintain their motivation level in apex point. The study also suggested that a systematic LM framework is needs to Indian manufacturing organizations, which will act as clear cut guiding torch to the organization managers to implement LM principles across organization. Research limitations/implications – The sample size of the present study was moderate number than previous studies. However the study only concentrated on manufacturing organizations across India. The results of the present study cannot generalize across all the sectors of Indian organizations. Originality/value – The concept of LM was very popular among developed and developing countries in the world. Many research studies were performed across world to find the status of LM implementation in their countries. Very few research studies reported the status of LM implementation in Indian manufacturing industries and those studies also with limited focus of the status of LM implementation. Hence the study presented details status of LM principles implementation in Indian manufacturing industries.

Lean manufacturing frameworks: review and a proposed framework

The objective of the study is to perform critical review and find out the inconsistencies of lean manufacturing (LM) frameworks. It has reviewed 35 frameworks in the field of LM as well as proposed an LM framework to overcome the shortcoming of the existing LM frameworks. It has performed review on various aspects of LM frameworks such as novelty of the framework, participation of various researchers, and verification aspects. It has found major inconsistencies in the existing LM frameworks such as lack of adaptation of existing framework, lack of contribution of consultants and practitioners, less number of frameworks verified, all LM frameworks were verified in developed countries and manufacturing sector as well as highly incoherent elements used. The outcome of research proposes development of a unified theory in LM field. Finally, the study proposes a comprehensive conceptual LM framework to show the way to develop unified framework in the field of LM with the help of coherent set of LM elements. [Received: 29 August 2014; Revised: 25 July 2015; Accepted: 7 January 2016]

Validity and reliability of lean manufacturing frameworks

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to investigate, validity and reliability analysis on existing Lean manufacturing (LM) frameworks when applied to Indian organizations. LM is one of the best manufacturing strategies that are used by manufacturing plant managers to improve manufacturing capabilities.Design/methodology/approach– In the present research work, a questionnaire-based survey was used to examine 35 LM frameworks. The study targeted respondents ranging from top- and middle-level management personnel in Indian manufacturing industry. The sample includes organizations in a variety of industries ranging from automobile, electronics, engineering, process and textile industries products. The survey tool was prepared with team of 12 members i.e. six academicians and six professionals from manufacturing industry environment. The study received 186 responses from various sectors of manufacturing industry, 180 surveys were usable resulting in a response rate of 23.90 per cent. Factor analysis was conducted to check unidimentionality of the framework. Cronbach’s alpha is calculated to find reliability of each framework’s. Lastly, frequency analysis was used to recognize familiar constructs of LM on the chosen framework.Findings– This study has identified that most of the LM frameworks revealed a high level of reliability. When the study has examined further advance about unidimensionality with respect to the construct, i.e. the LM it measures, it confirmed 11 frameworks were revealing unidimensionality. The frequency analysis was evident that a greater part of the constructs has a high mean score and mode. Finally, the research concludes that there is requirement for a novel framework to Indian manufacturing industry to stay in competition with global manufacturing industries.Research limitations/implications– Cross-sectional data from manufacturing industries and India (only one country) is used with sample size restricted to 180 only, and it would be interesting to test these frameworks for more than one industry sector and country.Practical implications– The present work tries to find the suitability of the presented LM frameworks to Indian manufacturing industry sector. The authors hoped that the present research would give the information to the management to execute the suitable LM framework in their firm.Originality/value– The present work tries to find the suitability of the presented LM frameworks to Indian manufacturing industry sector. The authors hoped that the present research would give the information to the management to execute the suitable LM framework in their firm.

Review study of developing an integrated TQM with LM framework model in Malaysian automotive industry

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the origin and evolution of total quality management (TQM) and lean manufacturing (LM) in the automotive industry globally and specifically in Malaysia; and selective studies on effective performance measurement for future integration of TQM and LM. The paper examines critical success and failure factors of the implementation stage based on established quality criteria, such as in the Deming Prize Award, Malaysian Prime Minister Award, ISO/TS16949, Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, SAEJ4001 and Toyota Production System.Design/methodology/approachThe paper takes the form of a review of the literature on TQM and LM, utilizing journal articles, reports, books and theses.FindingsBased on reviewed papers, it was noted that TQM and LM originate from Japan. TQM started from a Company Wide Quality Control Program initiated by Deming, while LM originated from the Toyota Production System. Both terms were coined by the west for global acceptance in 1985. It was also gathered that the evolution of LM started much earlier than that of TQM. Since then, voluminous studies have been conducted on TQM and LM but mostly independently. It was found that an integrated approach combining both TQM and LM has not been fully explored. This is especially evident in the context of the automotive industry in Malaysia. It is then believed that the need to examine this integrated initiative in the Malaysian scenario is imminent. This review paper is a preliminary work for future study to establish the standing of the automotive industry in Malaysia with respect to implementing integrated TQM and LM practices.Practical implicationsSuitable for implementation by practitioners, especially in the Malaysian or Asian automotive industry.Originality/valueThe paper is the first to study the Malaysian automotive industry, which integrates ISO/TS16949 with four TQM awards and two LM systems.

ANALYSIS OF LEAN MANUFACTURING FRAMEWORKS

In recent years, the applications of Lean Manufacturing (LM) in different types of industries are growing rapidly. Some of the organizations have reported huge benefits, while many industries have not obtained the desired results. One of the reasons for this can be attributed to improper understanding of LM by both the management and employees of an organization. Researchers worldwide have attempted to solve this issue by proposing various frameworks. A literature review on frameworks of LM revealed around 30 frameworks. A comparative analysis carried out on these frameworks has shown that these frameworks suffer from various shortcomings. Hence in this paper, an attempt has been made to propose a new conceptual framework for LM, which will resolve some of these limitations. The proposed framework utilizes 65 LM elements, which are categorized according to the decision levels and the role of internal stakeholders in an organization. According to the authors' knowledge, there is no LM framework in the literature, which is as comprehensive as the proposed one and which provides a complete integration of these elements into a coherent whole. However, the proposed framework is conceptual and needs to be validated.