Assessing leanness level with demand dynamics in a multi-stage production system

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a dynamic model to measure the degree of system’s leanness under dynamic demand conditions using a novel integrated metric. Design/methodology/approach – The multi-stage production system model is based on a system dynamics approach. The leanness level is measured using a new developed integrated metric that combines efficiency, WIP performance as well as service level. The analysis includes design of experiment technique at the initial analysis to examine the most significant parameters impacting the leanness score and then followed by examining different dynamic demand scenarios. Two scenarios were examined: one focussed low demand variation with various means (testing the impact of demand volumes) while the second focussed on high demand variation with constant means (testing the impact of demand variability). Findings – Results using the data from a real case study indicated that given the model parameters, demand rate has the highest impact on leanness score dynamics. The next phase of the analysis thus focussed on investigating the effect of demand dynamics on the leanness score. The analysis highlighted the different effects of demand variability and volumes on the leanness score and its different components leading to various demand and production management recommendations in this dynamic environment. Research limitations/implications – The presented lean management policies and recommendations are verified within the scope of similar systems to the considered company in terms of manufacturing settings and demand environment. Further research will be carried to extend the dynamic model to other dynamic manufacturing and service settings. Practical implications – The developed metric can be used not only to assess the leanness level of the systems which is very critical to lean practitioners but also can be used to track lean implementation progress. In addition, the presented analysis outlined various demand management as well as lean implementation policies that can improve the system leanness level and overall performance. Originality/value – The presented research develops a novel integrated metric and adds to the few literature on dynamic analysis of lean systems. Furthermore, the conducted analysis revealed some new aspects in understanding the relation between demand (variability and volume) and the leanness level of the systems. This will aid lean practitioners to set better demand and production management policies in today’s dynamic environment as well as take better decisions concerning lean technology investments

LEAN APPROACH OF IMPROVING MANUFACTURING EFFICIENCY AND ITS DEVELOPMENT IN LATVIA

Important role in producing goods or services of enterprises that produce products, taking into account every modern method and the latest technology in the field of quality. Among them are the logistics concept Lean Production. The principles of Lean management are familiar in the USA, Japan and other countries, but this approach is not as popular in Latvia as it is abroad. In this scientific article, the author explores Lean management and its impact on enterprises as well as its development trends in Latvia. The aim of this work is the Lean approach and its development in Latvia. To achieve the goal better, the author has used the following methods: monographic or descriptive, grouping, graphical analysis and synthesis. After the research, the author can conclude that there is no demand for Lean approach in Latvia. Only a small number of Latvian companies use the principles of Lean Management for a little more par 5%. This proves that many people do not even know what Lean management is. The author of the work will explore everything about Lean management. Will explore the benefits companies will have after implementing Lean management principles in their companies. The recent trends of the Lean approach in Latvia from 2011 to 2015

Computer Simulation to Manage Lean Manufacturing Systems

There is a difference between a lean manufacturing system and a manufacturing system that just applies lean techniques. This paper addresses the previous statement through using computer simulation to explore the impact of applying just in time lean policy on a traditional inventory based production system. A system dynamics model is introduced to capture the different components of the production system. The inventory dynamics of the modeled system is examined against different production scenarios under stochastic demand. Results showed that in systems that are not fully transferred to lean, adopting lean principles are not always beneficial. The paper suggests some specific management policies for successful lean application within the scope of the modeled manufacturing syste

Libraries in Lean Times: Increasing Efficiency, Improving Services, and Cutting Red Tape

Developed by industry to refine their manufacturing processes, Lean principles can be equally effective when applied to library processes and procedures. Lean management aims to reduce waste (in terms of time, energy, and resources), streamline operations, increase efficiency, and maximize value for customers (or, in our case, patrons). In times of shrinking budgets and increasing patron demand for library services, these considerations are especially valuable. Evaluating and revising library processes and procedures according to Lean principles will result in less time spent on housekeeping duties and more time spent on projects that truly matter. This paper addresses the how’s and why’s of Lean management, the steps and adaptations necessary to apply it to library processes, and the application of Lean principles to lost book searching and weeding at South Dakota State University’s H.M. Briggs Library.https://openprairie.sdstate.edu/library_presentations/1005/thumbnail.jp

Research of the Effectiveness of Various Strategies for the Formation of Lean Competencies of Students

The paper examines the efficiency of various strategies for students’ lean competencies formation in the educational process of the university. The relevance of the issue is justified by the fact that university graduates with developed lean competencies are in high demand in the job market. The paper formally describes lean competencies, requirements for students’ personal, professional, and other skills and qualities, action plans, methods, and algorithms of actions related to lean production in a particular field. The author solves the indicated issue by analyzing the pedagogical experiment results. During the experiment, the author tested the effectiveness of four students’ lean competencies formation strategies – formal education, practical training, hidden curriculum, and mixed strategy. Two hundred and eight 3rd and 4th year students mastering undergraduate programs in “Economics (Accounting, analysis, and audit),” “Economics (Finance and business analytics),” “Management (Production management),” “State and municipal administration (Regional and municipal administration)” were surveyed during the experiment

ALIGNMENT OF BUSINESS STRATEGY AND SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT: a study of medium-to-large-sized internationalized German companies from an international business student perspective

In an increasingly globalized world, effective supply chain management and its alignment with a company’s business strategy is seen as a firm’s competitive advantage. Existing studies, which were conducted in internationally known companies, suggest three main strategies: Lean, agile and leagile supply chain strategies. Lean supply chain strategies in markets with a stable demand follow a cost-minimizing approach. Agile supply chain strategies in markets with an unpredictable demand focus on differentiation, innovation and flexibility in order to fulfill customer-specific demand. Finally, leagile supply chain strategies try to combine lean aspects for a base demand and agile aspects for more customer specification. This study researches internationalized medium-to-large-sized German companies with the purpose of understanding how companies can improve their supply chain management from an international business perspective. Results are based on the analysis of qualitative data collected through 14 semi-structured interviews with employees from the SC or business department. Findings suggest that lean, agile and leagile supply chains exist as described in the literature. Furthermore, the supply chain strategies called ‘project’ SC and ‘capable’ SC were found. Project SCs are used for a fixed period of time in order to conduct customer-specific ventures. They are a specialized version of agile SCs with the difference that they are constructed from scratch. Capable SCs are characterized by delivery reliability and speed and customer closeness in markets with predictable demand. They can be considered an advancement of leagile SCs. Furthermore risk- hedging SC management was researched. Moreover, the changes in strategies over the years were examined and the meaning of increased automation and usage of computerized systems in the context of industry 4.0 were questioned. The results show that changes and technology play different roles according to industry. In conclusion the findings cannot be generalized due to the small sample size. However, the results give an insight into current supply chain management strategies that can lead to the practical implication of integrating the customer more in the SC. In the future SCs could have increased transparency, flexibility, and simultaneity. Further quantitative research is recommended.fi=Opinnäytetyö kokotekstinä PDF-muodossa.|en=Thesis fulltext in PDF format.|sv=Lärdomsprov tillgängligt som fulltext i PDF-format

Exploring the adoption of lean principles in medical laboratory industry: Empirical evidences from Namibia

Purpose: As the demand for efficiency and quality in the health-care industry has increased over the past few years, adoption of Lean principles and tools in the medical laboratory industry has become increasingly crucial. The purpose of this study is to explore the level of adoption, barriers and enablers of Lean principles and tools in the Namibian medical laboratory industry. Design/methodology/approach: A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out to examine the level of usage, barriers and enablers, impact of Lean tools and to suggest appropriate strategies for adopting Lean in the Namibian medical laboratory services. Findings: Research findings reveal that Lean tools are moderately implemented in most laboratories. Standard operating procedures, root cause analysis, overall equipment effectiveness and visual management are the important Lean tools used in the industry. Results of the survey also show that Lean tools had a positive impact on operational performance, employee motivation, turnaround time and cost reduction. Furthermore, top management involvement, adequate training and proper planning emerged as important enablers, while lack of support from the management, financial constraint and staff resistant to change are major barriers to the adoption of Lean principles in the Namibian medical laboratory industry. Research limitations/implications: The paper has inherent limitations of survey research, which the authors will overcome by using case studies with medical laboratories. Practical implications: The findings of the authors’ work will help in widening the application of Lean principles in more medical laboratories in Namibia and in other parts of the world. Originality/value: The paper is based on numerous health-care studies on Lean. This is one of the few papers investigating the adoption of Lean principles, specifically in medical laboratories, from an emerging economy such as Namibia. © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited

Lean production system definition from the perspective of Malaysian industry

“Muda” is a term in the Toyota Production System (TPS), which refers to waste that occurs in the manufacturing process. Waste is removed from the production process by eliminating activity that does not add value to the customer through a continuous improvement activities. This is the basis concept for TPS in order to produce products that meet customers’s demand and requirements which then indirectly reduce the cost of production. Lean production concept has been implemented in various types of organizations. However, a low success rate for the implementation of lean production has become the attention of practitioners and researchers in the industry. Among the issues that contribute to this situation are confusion about the definition of lean and lack of knowledge on how to implement lean, which caused misunderstanding. In addition, there are no strategic planning and lack of support from the top management. Thus, the objective of this study is to develop a definition of lean from Malaysian context. The study is expected to help organizations implementing lean concepts with success and thus increasing the organizational competitiveness

Construction of Lean and Green indexes to measure companies’ performance

The demand for costs and time reductions in companies’ processes, in order to increase efficiency, leads companies to seek innovative management paradigms to support their needs for growth and continuous improvement. The Lean paradigm has great relevance in companies’ need for waste reduction, particularly in manufacturing companies. On the other hand the demand of companies for waste reduction has gained a new dimension not only at the material level, but also at the environmental level with the introduction of the Green paradigm. As such, manufacturing companies have been adopting practices that reduce the impact of their activities on the environment. Although nowadays many manufacturing companies already implement waste reduction practices related to Lean and Green paradigms, many of them are unable to understand specifically if their efforts are enough for the application of these practices to be successful or even if their actual performance in implementing Lean or Green practices reflects the self-assessment that they have of themselves. Thus, besides the study of the development of Lean and Green paradigms in recent years, the present dissertation has the important objective of the construction of two indexes (the Lean Index and the Green Index) enabling the measurement of the performance of Portuguese manufacturing companies relating the implementation of Lean and Green practices. The data used to create the Lean and Green indexes where obtained from the implementation of the European Manufacturing Survey 2012 in Portugal. The survey questions related to the implementation of Lean and Green practices are used as variables in the development of the model for the two indexes. For the construction of representative expressions of Lean Index and Green Index it was applied the Factorial Analysis for assigning the variables weights and aggregation

Incorporating Lean Construction agent into the Building Standards Act: the Spanish case study

There is a demand for lean construction in Europe; even though lean construction is still an emerging field and there is growing interest, there are no regulations on this topic. The main objective of this research is to regulate this role when in a project and to define and develop a building agent structure, according to the Building Standards Act (LOE by its acronym in Spanish), to be able to incorporate it into the Spanish law, protecting it from civil liabilities. In Spain, there is jurisprudence in civil jurisdiction based on the LOE to acquit or convict building agents, who are defined in the courts as “constructive managers” or similar. For this reason, courts could establish in the future several liabilities for the lean construction specialist and other agents of the project, depending on their actions and based on the implementation of the lean project delivery system, the target value design and the integrated project delivery. Conversely, it is possible that the level of action of the lean construction specialist may comprise design management, construction management and contract management. Accordingly, one or more building agents should be appropriately incorporated into the LOE according to their functions and responsibilities and based on the levels of action of the lean construction specialist. The creation of the following agents is proposed: design manager, construction manager and contract manager, definitions that are developed in this study. These agents are loosely defined, because any project manager, building information modeling manager or similar may act as one or as more-than-one of them. Finally, the creation of the lean construction manager is also proposed, as the agent who takes on the role of the design manager, construction manager and contract manager, but focused on the lean production principles