Lean Thinking Research Articles

Lean thinking in leisure: continuously improving event volunteering and management

ABSTRACTThe events industry is facing rapid societal change. Issues such as professionalization of the industry, competing funding streams, a crowded market, and decreasing access to volunteer labour are creating an environment of need for solutions. This paper proposes the application of lean thinking as a platform for simplification and continuous improvement in the event industry as a case example of potential broader relevance to the leisure industry. It scopes the event industry context, discusses the concept of lean, and proposes the testing of lean as a philosophy and methodology to assist event organizers and their volunteers navigate the changing event industry context. This paper also examines the potential benefits of lean to time poor volunteers to maximize the value of their participation.

Using lean thinking to improve hypertension in a community health centre: a quality improvement report

BackgroundAchieving better care at lower cost in the US healthcare safety net will require federally qualified health centres (FQHC) to implement new models of team-based population healthcare. Lean thinking may...

Integration of value stream mapping with DMAIC for concurrent Lean-Kaizen: A case study on an air-conditioner assembly line

This article proposes a new model for concurrent Lean-Kaizen based on the Lean production thinking. According to the concept and application scenarios of value stream mapping and DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control), we proposed an integrated VSM-DMAIC by adopting their advantages and avoiding their disadvantages. The VSM-DMAIC model is applied to tackle the production problems on production line. Value stream mapping is used to identify the production problems during production processes by waste identification. Then, the production problems are clustered into different production problem sets according to the changed types of production resources while solving production problems. The data envelopment analysis method is used to rank the production problems by input–output ratio, and the most important production problem in each set can be the concurrent Lean-Kaizen. DMAIC provides a structured problem-solving method for production problems. Finally, the production problems and production problem sets will be reassessed for the next concurrent Lean-Kaizen. A case study of an air-conditioner assembly line verified the feasibility and efficiency of the proposed VSM-DMAIC model, which can be used to improve the economic benefits and decrease the waste of production line.

Exploring the Potency of Rich Pictures in a Systemic Lean Intervention Process

This paper explores the usefulness of rich pictures as a method in Systemic Lean Intervention (SLI) process. It combines Lean and Systems Thinking analytical tools. Lean emerged with the main objectives of waste identification and removal in an operational system - which is synonymous to cost reduction, and value maximization. The research focuses on the use of rich pictures alongside lean tools such as workshop and interviews in a participatory research process, involving the identified stakeholders who are affected by the operational process. The research applies these tools with the intent to recognise the impacts of the various parts that function together in the operational process. A single case study organisation of a commercial Livestock farm in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria was used. The research found out that the application of rich pictures could be influenced by certain factors like the participants’ interest, power and authority possession of some participants, familiarity with the issues considered, and the participants’ level of background knowledge on the usage of rich pictures. Rich pictures were also found to be time-consuming in its interpretation and application to addressing identified issues.

Estudo comparativo entre a Adidas e a Nike sob o enfoque do ambiente Lean: manufacturing e accounting

Este artigo trata dos conceitos de Lean Manufacturing ou Manufatura Enxuta e Lean Accounting ou Contabilidade Enxuta. A realidade atual apresenta mercados altamente competitivos e a busca incessante de melhoria de desempenho por parte dos gestores, visando melhores margens de lucro e redução de desperdícios. Tais práticas resultam, consequentemente, na diminuição de custos e em melhor retorno para os negócios. A delimitação do estudo ocorreu mediante a escolha de duas empresas que ocupam posições de destaque no setor de artigos esportivos: Nike e Adidas. Uma análise comparativa entre tais empresas, visto que há a adoção da fabricação enxuta apenas na Nike. A observação comparativa mediante os demonstrativos contábeis de ambas as empresas evidenciou melhor eficiência para a empresa com cultura lean. Portanto, o presente artigo consegue evidenciar resultados positivos por meio da adoção do Lean Manufacturing concomitantemente ao Lean Accountig como opções e diretrizes para a redução de desperdícios e melhor desempenho operacional que decorrem em resultados monetários melhores as organizaçãoes que decidem pela adoção a fabricação enxuta, com a implementação de novas práticas ao negócio.

Assessing lean thinking using value stream mapping in a manufacturing unit - a case study

This paper aims to assess the lean manufacturing thinking using value stream mapping (VSM) concepts in an electronics manufacturing organisation. Using value stream concepts, both current and future states maps of the organisation's shop floor scenarios have been discussed. The research begins with collection of the process information through which, current value-stream map is generated, which reflects the current scenario of the operations. Considering the problems in the current state of production, a future value-stream map was suggested to bridge the gap and to serve as a guide for future operations. The conducted study through application of VSM resulted in an overall reduction of 16.22% in the processing time, 37.56% reduction in the lead time and 30% reduction in inventory. There was an overall 33.65% addition in the value added ratio, which gained wide acceptance from the management.

Implementing lean thinking in software development - a case study from India

Implementation of lean thinking (LT) in the service sector has been widely reported. Although few studies describing the application of LT in software development (SD) are available, not many are from an emerging market such as India. Our study addresses this gap by using a single-case study methodology to understand the lean approach adapted by a firm in India to overcome the issues faced in its SD process. Data were collected through direct observation for a period of one year. Difficulty in integrating work from various teams, long release cycles for the developed software products, late shipments, quality issues, customers' dissatisfaction, and high operational costs were the problems faced by the case company. These problems motivated the case company to adopt LT at the team level by following the scrum process. This study identified how the LT approach guided the case company to achieve responsiveness, regular interaction between employees, involvement of customers, and accomplishing targets within the planned timeline. This study helps both academicians and practitioners to understand the approach followed to implement LT in a SD firm in India.

Integrating lean thinking and mathematical optimization: A case study in appointment scheduling of hematological treatments

This paper addresses the relationship between lean thinking and mathematical optimization. We discuss the roles of the two approaches, using as a reference case study the appointment scheduling process in a hematological center of a large Italian hospital. We report on how lean tools have been deployed to improve the process, we present a mathematical optimization model and discuss its implementation. Our aim is to show that the joint use of lean thinking and mathematical optimization can disclose large benefits when they are properly integrated in the improvement process. In our case study, simulated experiments point out that the average patient lead time could be decreased by more than 30%.

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.

Making Formwork Design Lean

Traditional formwork design processes entail considerable waste, increasing non-value-adding manpower costs and operational time. The purpose of this research is to use lean thinking in formwork design so as to enhance design correctness and eliminate waste through establishing a Lean Formwork Design Process. In the design process, the concurrent design concept is adopted to provide a visual communication platform for design team members using Building Information Modeling (BIM). Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) are used as a protocol for sharing design artifacts. Design correctness is established to review and correct design errors, thus allowing for the construction of an organizational learning environment. Finally, the Lean Formwork Design Process is conceptualized using stock-flow diagrams. A real case is used to validate the applicability of the proposed approach. Application results show that the proposed method can enhance design correctness and reduce manpower waste and operational time in formwork engineering. This study is one of the first to apply lean thinking to improve practices in formwork design.

YALIN DÜŞÜNCE ÇERÇEVESİNDE MUHASEBEYE GENEL BİR BAKIŞ

Nowadays, changes in technology and many other fields are being used. As a result of these changes, enterprises need new strategies in order to maintain their existence in a competitive environment in which there is intense impact of globalization and to achieve cost advantage. At this point, the lean concept emerges. Lean is a concept based on the fact that the work that does not want the employees to be overloaded at the right time and at the right place. Although the concept of lean shows its effect in many areas, in this study lean thinking concept will be included in lean accounting concept. Lean accounting is expressed as a concept that involves the application of lean thinking in accounting processes. In this study, it is aimed to draw attention to the lack of literature on the importance of lean accounting applications by making a literature review of lean applications and lean accounting and to contribute to the future studies.

Lean Thinking contributions for Industry 4.0: a Systematic Literature Review

Abstract Lean Thinking has successfully challenged mass production practices, providing greater flexibility in production systems and processes, resulting in leaner products and supply chains, i.e., with less waste. More recently, the term Industry 4.0 emerged. It was first used in Germany in 2011 to refer to the 4th industrial revolution. It aims to connect the physical and virtual worlds in industrial production and has become increasingly popular with the many opportunities and business models that can be consolidated through new technologies. With such automation associated with Industry 4.0, questions arise about the interoperability between the two approaches and the role of Lean in this ongoing industrial revolution. Therefore, a systematic literature review was carried out in order to answer the research questions, and to identify the role of Lean in this scenario. The review was conducted for the period from 2011 to 2018 and resulted in a total of 26 articles being analyzed. This paper´s focus is the effect of Lean Thinking as a facilitator, within the scope of Industry 4.0. It is also clear that this is an emerging research area, with most of the selected studies published between 2017 and 2018.

Application of the “lean thinking” concept to the analysis of coal mining region’s sustainable development objective

The article is devoted to the application of resource saving technologies as an important tool to achieve sustainable development at coal mining regions of the Russian Federation. The negative impact of coal-mining enterprises on the water and air basins of the regions, on withdrawal of fertile land continues to be unacceptably high. As a result the objective to preserve natural environment in these regions has gained high priority. Its solution requires development and implementation of fundamentally new, cost-effective and environment friendly underground and open pit coal mining technologies. It is shown that an effective solution of the problem, a radical contraction of resource consumption requires radical rethinking of the whole coal mining management and production system. The basic principles of “Lean thinking” methodology have been applied to structure the issue and to develop guidelines for coal-mining systems reengineering.

Development of a Maturity Framework for Lean Construction

The issue of time and cost consuming activities such as rework, conflicts, and overlapping has received considerable critical attention by construction industry. Using benefits of lean thinking has a significant impact on the construction processes in order to achieve perfection at the whole building life cycle. The Lean construction methodology is an increasingly important area for the construction industry due to its effect on cost and value. However, the Lean construction methodology is not implemented by the construction industry professionals due to the complexity of methodology, change requirements in company organization, lack of guides for the process, etc. This study provides a comprehensive framework that focuses on defining processes which enables lean methodology implementation by demonstrating the whole building lifecycle. It will provide a broad explanation for the characteristics of each level and logical relationships between concepts. The levels of the maturity framework such as; Level 0 Traditional Construction, Level 1 Lean Construction, Level 2 Lean Construction, and Value Engineering, Level 3 Lean Construction, value engineering, and building information modeling, and Level 4 Lean Construction, value engineering, building information modeling, and data analytics were identified with a comprehensive literature review and comprehended. The findings of the study will be helpful to increase comprehensibility and implementation of lean concept.

ILeanDMAIC – A methodology for implementing the lean tools

Organizations focus must reside in their constant desire for improvement in order to satisfy their clients as a result of high-quality products, thus maximizing their profits through a waste reduction in the flow production. Lean thinking allows organizations to identify and eliminate wastes within the organization. The use of lean tools is considered a simple, efficient and cost-effective solution to achieve productivity and profit. DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control) is a problem-solving methodology that improves processes, allows defect reduction and reduction of process variability, allowing companies to continuously improve their efficiency and performance. In this work, a combined methodology iLeanDMAIC based on Lean Tools and DMAIC was developed, aiming to help organizations to easily and accurately solve their problems. It includes a case-study implementation on an organization of the sector of wood products. We were able to successfully validate this methodology and to show its efficacy in enhancing production. Results using iLeanDMAIC allowed a reduction time in changeover in the assembly machine (from 39 min to 17 min), presenting this a 44% gain on manufacture. iLeanDMAIC can help organizations thrive against their competitors, make their business more cost-effective and efficient.

Implementing lean thinking in software development - a case study from India

Implementing lean thinking in software development - a case study from India

Reusing Equipment in Cells Reconfiguration for a Lean and Sustainable Production

Production cells are considered a flexible production system capable to face new market demands. In most cases, this is provided by their capability of reconfiguration, i.e., by removing/adding new equipment needed and/or reusing the existent equipment for the new demand. Nevertheless, some companies are not conveniently exploring this opportunity. What happened, many times, is the design of a complete new cell replacing all the equipment and sending the existent machinery to the warehouse. This is a decision that, economically and environmentally, is costly. Furthermore, knowing that some equipment could be reused for a new product. In a Lean Thinking, this is waste and a Lean company should promote a more efficient and sustainable production. This paper introduces a study in a Lean company that has developed practices to reuse equipment. The reasons for the non-reuse of the existent equipment were studied and some strategies were proposed to turn this equipment available and visible for reuse. Also, the benefits of reusing equipment related with saved costs and contribution to the environmental sustainability, are discussed.

Lean Design-for-X: Case study of a new design framework applied to an adaptive robot gripper development process

Design-for-X (DfX) approaches continues to prove their importance to support design management in increased complexity products and towards sustainable development. Permanent increasing of market competitiveness lead the companies to narrow budgets and increase the application of Lean practices among their departments. Lean Design for eXcellence (LeanDfX) methodology was developed to cross Lean Thinking and Design-for-X project support, assessing multiple domains such as optimization, manufacturing, assembly, maintenance, eco-design, modularity or adaptability. This approach brings a systematic applicability for design engineers and technical managers, assessing the effectiveness and efficiency of a given product design. A LeanDfX index metric, ranging between 0-100%, and original scorecard were created for consistent decision support for comparison of different design concepts or design versions of products, integrating different ‘X’ domains. In this work, the LeanDfX methodology results are presented for a real industrial case study related to a robot gripper design of a palletizing production cell.

Improving The Order Fulfilment Process At A Metalwork Company

This article describes the 14 measures implemented at a company in the metalwork sector with a view to improving its order fulfilment process. Based on Lean thinking, each of the actions, as well as their potential impact on the process, is explained. Despite the constraints encountered during implementation, and the fact that manufacturing processes are invariably different, the overall results achieved were satisfactory. As a result of the interventions, internal functions were revised and processes simplified. There was also a reduction of 25% in budgeting time, as well as an improvement in communication systems and production management. One additionally was achieved the reorganization of storage spaces, a reduction in logistic operation times of about 20% and a decrease in the time spent accessing tools in near 61%. Far more important than the first results obtained is the company’s current commitment to the pursuance of these measures, allowing the different actions to generate synergies and produce improvements, which will undoubtedly set the company on the course of Lean culture.

An analytical study of lean implementation measures in pump industries in India

The manufacturing industries in India are gearing up to face the challenges namely the quality, timely delivery and satisfying customer need. This prompted some large manufacturing industries to implement lean thinking in their manufacturing process. Most of the manufacturing companies are yet to take up this task. Particularly, the pump industries which are mostly occupied by SMEs are still to follow the suit. In this context, this study has made sincere attempt to survey the implementation of lean in pump manufacturing industries in India through an instrument consisting of seven lean implementation measures namely, RILP, lean tools employed in the company, RLPTLI, MBLP, evaluation of level of waste in the company, success factors of lean practicing in the company and lean performance indicators. A survey type research was conducted and the results indicated that identified lean implementation measures were found to be significant in achieving lean implementation in pump industries.