Mediation Effect of Lean: A Bidirectional Synergetic Relationship with SCM for Higher Operational Performance

Competitive plants focus their efforts on reducing manufacturing costs and waste along their production chains. Hence, manufacturing programs with important practices and methodologies such as lean, JIT, TPM, and Kaizen have been embraced. However, an empirical investigation of simultaneous use of several manufacturing programs representing multiple facets of lean is lacking in the literature. Various studies have found that some supply chain management practices are bi-directionally related to lean, but its holistic measurement in relation to supply chain management is still lacking. Thus, this paper provides an evidence of mediation effect of lean from high performance manufacturing (HPM) project perspective in relation to supply chain management

Measuring the level of lean readiness of the Hong Kong's manufacturing industry

Increasingly competitive business environments have forced manufacturing organisations to continuously seek improvements in their production processes as an alternative to achieve operational excellence. Lean manufacturing principles and techniques based on the elimination waste have been widely used by manufacturing organisations around the world to drive such improvements. The purpose of this paper is to present an empirical study that evaluates the readiness level of the Hong Kong’s manufacturing industry to provide a foundation for the successful implementation and/or sustainment of lean practices. To conduct this study, the paper adapts an assessment framework developed by Al-Najem et al. [16]. Thus, the lean readiness assessment is based on six quality practices (i.e. planning & control; processes; human resources; customer relations; supplier relations; and top management & leadership) related to lean manufacturing. One research question and three hypotheses were formulated and tested using a combination of inferential statics (i.e. Levene’s test and t-test) and descriptive statistics. Data were collected through a survey questionnaire responded by 9 manufacturing organisations with operations in Hong Kong. The findings suggest that the Hong Kong’s manufacturing organisations surveyed do not currently have a well-developed foundation to implement or sustain lean manufacturing. In particular, these organisations present important opportunities to further develop some quality practices such as processes, planning & control, customer relations, supplier relations, human resources, and top management & leadership. The improvement of these quality practices will ensure, according to Al-Najem et al.’s [16] framework, a more effective implementation and sustainment of lean manufacturing in their operations

Manufacturing System Lean Improvement Design Using Discrete Event Simulation

Lean manufacturing (LM) has been used widely in the past for the continuous improvement of existing production systems. A Lean Assessment Tool (LAT) is used for assessing the overall performance of lean practices within a system, while a Discrete Event Simulation (DES) can be used for the optimization of such systems operations. Lean improvements are typically suggested after a LAT has been deployed, but validation of such improvements is rarely carried out. In the present article a methodology is presented that uses DES to model lean practices within a manufacturing system. Lean improvement scenarios are then be simulated and investigated prior to implementation, thereby enabling a systematic design of lean improvements

LEAN MANUFACTURING TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES IN THE PROCESS INDUSTRY WITH A FOCUS ON STEEL

This research addresses the application of lean manufacturing concepts to the continuous production/ process sector with a focus on the steel industry. The goal of this research is to investigate how lean manufacturing tools can be adapted from the discrete to the continuous manufacturing environment, and to evaluate their benefits on a specific application instance. Although the process and discrete industry share several common characteristics, there are areas where they are very different. Both manufacturing settings have overlap, but at the extreme, each has its unique characteristics. This research attempts to identify commonalities between discrete and continuous manufacturing where lean techniques from the discrete side are directly applicable. The ideas are tested on a large steel manufacturing company (referred to as ABS). Value stream mapping is used to first map the current state and then used to identify sources of waste and to identify lean tools to try to eliminate this waste. The future state map is then developed for a system with lean tools applied to it. To quantify the benefits gained from using lean tools and techniques in the value stream mapping, a detailed simulation model is developed for ABS and a designed experiment is used to analyze the outputs of the simulation model for different lean configurations. Generalizations of the results are also provided

Enablers and Constraints in Implementing Lean Manufacturing: evidence from Brazilian SMEs

Lean Manufacturing has revolutionized the global manufacturing environment at an unprecedented rate. In scholarly and managerial literature, many works have reported that Lean Manufacturing is a very efficient approach and a straightforward way towards process improvements, in terms of productivity and value adding activities ratio. However, many studies on Lean Manufacturing have highlighted many problems in its implementation. The analysis carried out within the research project is aimed to the factors enabling or constraining the Lean Transformation of a firm’s production system, along with the most relevant tools or practices to be applied. The research methodology used is the so-called “Normative Delphi” with a panel formed by 32 experts coming from 16 Brazilian SMEs. Our results are partially consistent with what has already been discussed in the literature and we found that the most relevant tools/practices are: value stream mapping, 5S methodology, and Kaizen (Gemba walks); the top three enabling factors are: knowledge and sponsorship of senior management, focus on continuous improvement, and employee development fostered by the company; finally, the main critical constraints are: little support from the top management, resistance to change by middle management, and poor or non-qualified Lean training activities

Improving the efficacy of the lean index through the quantification of qualitative lean metrics

Multiple lean metrics representing performance for various aspects of lean can be consolidated into one holistic measure for lean, called the lean index, of which there are two types. In this article it was established that the qualitative based lean index are subjective while the quantitative types lack scope. Subsequently, an appraisal is done on techniques for quantifying qualitative lean metrics so that the lean index is a hybrid of both, increasing the confidence in the information derived using the lean index. This ensures every detail of lean within a system is quantified, allowing daily tracking of lean. The techniques are demonstrated in a print packaging manufacturing case

MODELING AND SIMULATION OF A LEAN SYSTEM. CASE STUDY OF A PAINT LINE IN A FURNITURE COMPANY

Since they were first developed, lean methodologies have grown in importance and scope and have been applied in both manufacturing and service. However, determining how to transform a common manufacturing company into a lean one, as well as how to evaluate the future company, are challenges for both researchers and manufacturers. This paper presents a case study of a lean manufacturing implementation for the paint line system in a furniture company. A systematic method for execution is shown. In addition, a simulation model is constructed to evaluate the new system in comparison with the MRP system. The new system promises much improvement in terms of a resource’s utility and the system’s productivity.Lean Techniques, Simulation Model, Paint Line, Furniture Company.

Case study of lean manufacturing application in a die casting manufacturing company

The case study of lean manufacturing aims to study the application of lean manufacturing in a die casting manufacturing company located in Pulau Penang, Malaysia. This case study describes mainly about the important concepts and applications of lean manufacturing which could gradually help the company in increasing the profit by studying and analyzing their current manufacturing process and company culture. Many approaches of lean manufacturing are studied in this project which includes: 5S housekeeping, Kaizen, and Takt Time. Besides, the lean tools mentioned, quality tool such as the House of Quality is being used as an analysis tool to continuously improve the product quality. In short, the existing lean culture in the company is studied and analyzed, with recommendations written at the end of this paper

Investigation of Visual Management Cases in Construction by an Analytical Framework from Manufacturing

Along with the progress of globalization, speed and efficiency have become more critical for any industry than ever before. In this sense, the concept and methods of lean management, promoting these performances, have been deployed from manufacturing, its origin industry, to other industries. This paper deals with this management style in the construction industry, called lean construction. In particular, visual management (VM) as one effective tool in this scheme is focused on. A number of VM cases, 306 in total, was collected from both construction and manufacturing sites and investigated by the so-called 5W1H analytical framework developed in the manufacturing industry. Obtained results suggest that the VM cases in construction have common attributes such as purpose and location, target to attain, users’ attributes, timing to use and elemental technologies for case development. A comparison analysis of the VM cases from construction and those from manufacturing was also carried out, for a mutual transfer of this technology between these industries

The Remote Site Doctrine in Alaska

In recent years, software development has been evolving around an Agile way of working to optimize software development processes. Simultaneously in other industries, the Leanconcept have been adopted and used to make manufacturing and production of services more efficient. Software development companies has now started to realize that in order to become competitive in software delivery they need to optimize the entire end-to-end process and not only improve the development phase. Thus, an increased interest for Lean thinking has appeared in the industry. Applying Lean successfully in a software development context is not an easy task. This since Lean is developed for and by the manufacturing industry its content is also dependent on the characteristics of this context. Thus, it is not applicable to other contexts without being adjusted. Though, literature argues that when the content of Lean is properly adjusted to nature of the relevant context it can contribute with the same benefits as in manufacturing. However, the literature lack in studies on how Lean can be successfully applied in nonmanufacturing contexts. This study aims to contribute to this knowledge gap by adjusting and applying Lean tools in software development context in order to make the end-to-end processmore time- and resource-efficient. This will be made through a case study at a software development department at a Swedish Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Company. This department develops software components that work as building blocks of the product sold to the end customer. More specifically, these components contribute with functionality that enables communications between the nodes in a network. The review of the existing body of knowledge together with an analysis of the company specific problems indicates that the most sufficient tool to apply in this case study Lean implementation is Value Stream Mapping (VSM). Hence, the study focuses on adjusting the Value Stream Mapping framework to this new context in order to visualize the entire value flow and make improvements aligned with Lean. The adjustments of VSM are underpinned by relevant findings from previous research together with an analysis of the differences between manufacturing Lean and software development Lean. The study shows that it is possible to reasonably adapt and benefit from Value Stream Mapping also in the context of an ICT Company. The outcome of the study is an overview of the current value flow at the company and suggestions on how, where and what improvements can be made. Though, all improvement suggestions evolve around the aim of improving the flow efficiency and eliminating waste by improving the communication, standardization, synchronization, resource allocation and developing proper measurements. The conclusion is that Lean is applicable in the particular software development context with some necessary adjustments made to fit the current way of working and value offering. The usage of Lean tools such as Value Stream Mapping is possible, also here adjustments are a must and the VSM shows that the current state is better in providing a base for improvements than the future state map. This since improvements in this context is not always visualized and captured in the future state map, but the future map contribute to a vision for the valuestream to aim towards. Key words: Lean, Agile, Value Stream Map, Software development, Flow, Waste, Managemen