A contingency-based decision support instrument for selecting lean production tools and techniques

This study is about the development of decision support instrument for selecting lean tools and techniques based on the contingency factors to help Malaysian organizations to select the right lean tools and techniques based on their context. Most of the prior studies were found focusing on the selection lean tools but did not assess the critical contingency factors that may influence the selection of lean tools and techniques. Adding to that, there were no similar studies on the selection of lean tools and techniques within the Malaysian context. The right tools and techniques to be used may vary depending on several factors, therefore to keep away from unnecessary waste and dissatisfaction, it would be better for organization to choose the right lean tools and techniques that will fit with organization’s situation and give benefits to the organization. A mixed-methods study exclusively focused on the development, evaluation, and refinement of a decision support instrument or specifically known as “Decision Aid for Lean Tools and Techniques Selection” (DEALS) was used. The developed decision support instrument, which incorporates 10 most widely used lean tools and techniques was emphasises the use of holistic processes which start from diagnose their current state of waste until the guidance of selecting the appropriate lean tools and techniques. Additionally, contingency factors were employed to include multifaceted viewpoints and contexts in the development of DEALS, such as the adeptness to acquire the commitment and support from the top management and the advantages of implementing lean tools and techniques. The developed decision support instrument includes two selection methods, namely (1) simple additive weighting (SAW) for basic selection and (2) analytic hierarchy process (AHP) for more advanced selection. Based on the evaluation results, all respondents (100%) agreed on the usability, accuracy, and novelty of DEALS as well as the relevance and validity of the selection and the clarity of the purpose of DEALS. The final results of validation testing also shows less than 5% errors when comparing final results of DEALS with two established software which are Expert Choice 11 software and Super Decision Software. By having this DEALS, it expected significantly benefit to managers, practitioners, consultants, researchers, and academicians as a guidance instrument in the selection of lean tools and techniques and generally to organization to have knowledge workers

Experimental study of the effects of secondary air on the emissions and stability of a lean premixed combustor

Tests were run using a perforated plate flameholder with a relatively short attached recirculation zone and a vee gutter flameholder with a relatively long attached recirculation zone. Combustor streamlines were traced in cold flow tests at ambient pressure. The amount of secondary air entrainment in the recirculation zones of the flameholders was determined by tracer gas testing at cold flow ambient pressure conditions. Combustion tests were caried out at entrance conditions of 0.5 MPa/630K and emission of NOx, CO and unburned hydrocarbons were measured along with lean stability and flashback limits. The degree of entrainment increases as dilution air injection decreases. Flashback appears to be a function of overall equivalence ratio and resistance to flashback increases with increasing combustor entrance velocity. Lean stability limit appears to be a function of both primary zone and flameholder recirculation zone equivalence ratios and resistance to lean blowout increases with increasing combustor entrance velocity

Ares Launch Vehicles Lean Practices Case Study

This viewgraph presentation describes test strategies and lean philisophies and practices that are applied to Ares Launch Vehicles. The topics include: 1) Testing strategy; 2) Lean Practices in Ares I-X; 3) Lean Practices Applied to Ares I-X Schedule; 4) Lean Event Results; 5) Lean, Six Sigma, and Kaizen Practices in the Ares Projects Office; 6) Lean and Kaizen Success Stories; and 7) Ares Six Sigma Practices

Norchem drug testing: A small company's lean journey: Working paper series--13-02

In response to competitive pressures and business opportunities, Norchem Drug testing had committed to and successfully pursued a transition to lean thinking and processes. Norchem, a small, northern Arizona drugs of abuse testing laboratory served clients across the West and Midwest of the U.S. In business for approximately 15 years, Norchem had grown steadily and profitably due, in part, to its relentless application of lean. Initially starting with lab operations, it had begun to extend lean thinking into other functions of the company, notably the accounting/finance area. Bill Gibbs, the CEO, and some of his staff described the struggles and successes of implementing lean in a small, service-oriented company. While many in-house processes had achieved an enviable level of lean, there were still areas in which it was striving to reduce waste and improve processes. Of specific concern was its relationship with a major supplier. As a small customer of a larger supplier, Norchem was challenged to influence the supplier to better support Norchem's lean processes. In addition, the company was reconsidering its strategy of customer responsiveness due to a changing market that has again increased competitive price pressure

Advanced Gas Turbine (AGT): Power-train system development

Technical work on the design and effort leading to the testing of a 74.5 kW (100 hp) automotive gas turbine is described. The general effort was concentrated on building an engine for test starting in July. The buildup progressed with only routine problems and the engine was delivered to the test stand 9 July. In addition to the engine build effort, work continued in selected component areas. Ceramic turbine parts were built and tested. Burst tests of ceramic rotors show strengths are approaching that achieved in test bars; proof testing is required for acceptable strength ceramic vanes. Over 25 hours was accumulated on the combustor rig in three test modes: pilot nozzle only, start nozzle, and main nozzle operation. Satisfactory ignition was achieved for a wide range of starting speeds and the lean blowout limit was as low as 0.06 kg/b (0.14 lb/hr). Lean blowout was more a function of nozzle atomization than fuel/air ratio. A variety of cycle points were tested. Transition from start nozzle flow to main nozzle flow was done manually without difficulty. Regenerator parts were qualification tested without incident and the parts were assembled on schedule. Rig based performance matched first build requirements. Repeated failures in the harmonic drive gearbox during rig testing resulted in that concept being abandoned for an alternate scheme

The development and testing of a contextual model for healthcare quality improvement using Lean and the Model for Understanding Success in Quality (MUSIQ) : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Quality Systems at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand

This study developed a new theoretical model of quality improvement (QI) contextual factors, for QI activity undertaken at the healthcare microsystem level. The Model for Understanding Success in Quality (MUSIQ) (Kaplan, Provost, Froehle, & Margolis, 2012), was aligned with Lean improvement activity using the Toyota Way framework. The aim of the research was to improve the effectiveness of healthcare quality improvement initiatives by providing more understanding of the associations, relative importance and precise functioning of critical contextual factors. A new survey instrument, based on the literature, was developed to collect data and the hypothesised theoretical relationships were tested using the partial least squares path modelling (PLSPM) technique. QI practitioners at a large New Zealand District Health Board were surveyed on a range of contextual factors hypothesised to influence improvement outcomes. All survey participants had recently completed a small-scale improvement project using Lean, or were participants in training programmes that introduced them to Lean thinking and methods. Some participants worked autonomously on improvements of their own selection; others were part of a wider training programme derived from the National Health Service’s (UK) ‘productive ward’ programme. In the healthcare organisational context, the majority of these improvement initiatives were carried out at the microsystem level – initiated and delivered by the teams responsible for the work processes being modified. Survey responses were first analysed via principal components analysis (to examine the dimensionality of the scales) and then PLSPM. The defined contextual factors for ‘Teamwork’, ‘Respect for People’, ‘Lean Actions’ and the influence of negatively motivating factors all reached significance. Defined contextual factors for ‘Previous Experience’ and the influence of positive motivating factors did not reach significance at 5% level. The final model showed a statistically significant, moderate predictive strength, with an overall adjusted R2 of 0.58. This result was an encouraging validation of the microsystem-level layer of the MUSIQ model using Lean as the QI method (context). The relative influence of ‘Teamwork’, ‘Respect for People’, ‘Motivation’, and a mediating mechanism for making process changes (in this instance, Lean) were measured and found to be consistent with the MUSIQ model. Identifying more detailed causal mechanisms (the present model was intentionally parsimonious due to the time frame allowed and the resources available for the research), refining the operational definitions, and developing and testing predictive models for the defined contextual factors are the proposed next steps in the research

Lean manufacturing and business performance: testing the S-curve theory

This article makes a case for the importance of exploring patterns in the relationship between the adoption of lean manufacturing practices and business performance. This relationship has been described as ambiguous, because it has variously appeared to be positive, insignificant, and negative. Accordingly, this article tests this relationship for non-linearity and shows that it follows the S-Curve theory. A survey of manufacturing companies in an industrial cluster in Brazil was undertaken. This region faces infrastructural challenges, such as geographic distance between purchasers and suppliers and a shortage of skilled Labour. Despite the conditions, these companies have significantly improved their operational, financial, and environmental performance through the adoption of lean practices. Thus, this article contributes to the literature on lean manufacturing by: (a) furthering the debate on the relationship between lean practices and business performance, and testing its adherence to the S-curve theory by means of survey research; and (b) simultaneously testing operational, financial and environmental performance as a result of the adoption of lean manufacturing practices. As a consequence of the S-shaped relationship demonstrated, managers need to be aware of the presence of inertial and saturation points in the adoption of lean manufacturing practices, so they can correctly allocate resources for improving the adoption of lean practices

Correlation and prediction of dynamic human isolated joint strength from lean body mass

A relationship between a person's lean body mass and the amount of maximum torque that can be produced with each isolated joint of the upper extremity was investigated. The maximum dynamic isolated joint torque (upper extremity) on 14 subjects was collected using a dynamometer multi-joint testing unit. These data were reduced to a table of coefficients of second degree polynomials, computed using a least squares regression method. All the coefficients were then organized into look-up tables, a compact and convenient storage/retrieval mechanism for the data set. Data from each joint, direction and velocity, were normalized with respect to that joint's average and merged into files (one for each curve for a particular joint). Regression was performed on each one of these files to derive a table of normalized population curve coefficients for each joint axis, direction, and velocity. In addition, a regression table which included all upper extremity joints was built which related average torque to lean body mass for an individual. These two tables are the basis of the regression model which allows the prediction of dynamic isolated joint torques from an individual's lean body mass

LEAN HOSPITAL MANAGEMENT IMPLEMENTATION IN RURAL PRIVATE HOSPITAL: ITS EFFECT ON JOB SATISFACTION AND TURNOVER INTENTION

Abstract. Previous studies in Indonesia examining the effect of lean hospital management implementation on employee’s job satisfaction and turnover intention had not been done. Results from studies in other countries regarding the effect of lean hospital for employee’s wellbeing also point to contradictions, being positive or negative. The expected positive effect of lean hospital implementation for employee’s wellbeing is to encourage the sustainability of lean management implementation in hospital. Adina MC Hospital as a rural private hospital in Central Java has implemented the lean concept to improve the quality of hospital service in the last seven months. This study is aimed to determine the effect of lean hospital tools (Value Stream Mapping and 5S) to job satisfaction and turnover intention of hospital employees in the context of job demands as mediator and job resources as moderator. Questionnaires were given to 78 employees of Adina MC Hospital who had been working for more than one year. All data and hypotheses testing were analyzed using smartPLS. The findings show that the implementation of lean hospital tools (5S) is positively associated with job satisfaction. The influence of lean hospital tools' VSM could not be seen because it has been dropped out in reliability testing instruments. Job satisfaction was also found to be negatively associated with turnover intention. In the context of job resources, the findings show that job resources moderate the correlation between lean hospital tools (5S) implementation with job satisfaction, so lean hospital implementation could promote employee’s job satisfaction when supported by adequate job resources. Job resources are also not found to moderate the correlation between job demands with job satisfaction and both hypotheses of job demands mediate the correlation between lean hospital tools implementation with job satisfaction and turnover intention have been rejected.Keywords: lean hospital, job satisfaction, turnover intention, job demands, job resource

Utilizing Employee Stress to Establish Guidelines for Managing Personnel During Lean Transition

Employee resistance has been one of the many primary obstacles during Lean execution. Employee stress is a principal outcome of resistance when implementing Lean systems. This research is directed towards finding the relationship between employee stress and Lean. The hypothesis states-Lean implementation increases employee stress. The research methodology involves investigating employee stress during various phases of Lean. This research proposes three phases of Lean that are- Lean Introduction Phase, Lean Implementation Phase, and Lean Refinement Phase. Surveys are used to collect data for the study. Two questionnaires are used 1) Lean Environment Evaluation Profile (LEEP) 2) Work Stress Profile (WSP). A pilot test is conducted using these two questionnaires. The results from the pilot test are used to calculate the sample size; the standard deviation was 13.06, with an acceptable confidence level of 95% and maximum error of 3. The sample size was calculated to be 72.80 rounded up to 73. A standard data collection procedure is designed to ensure consistency of data collection throughout the study, which included identifying the companies for the study. Hypothesis testing, correlation analysis, regression analysis, and descriptive and graphical analysis are used to analyze the data collected. Correlation analysis and regression analysis indicates that there is a negative correlation between employee stress and Lean. There is a - 0.531 correlation between employee stress and Lean. The coefficient of determination (r2) is calculated to be 0.28. The following regression equation was obtained from the analysis, Employee stress = 190 - (0.396) x (Lean) Hypothesis testing resulted in refuting the null hypothesis that was H0 = Lean increases employee stress. The results from data analysis indicated that as Lean progressed through various phases the employee stress reduced, however there is a slight increase in employee stress at the beginning of every phase as shown in figure 10. The research made the following conclusions based on the analysis of the data collected using the LEEP and WSP questionnaires. 1. There is a negative correlation between employee stress and Lean 2. Employee stress is different in the three phases of Lean 3. Various Lean principles have a different impact on employee stress in various phases of Lean This research identified areas for future research and suggested the following hypothesis: Human aspects of Lean are more stressful than technical aspects of Lean