ICT and Lean Management: Will They Ever Get Along?

In companies, Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) accelerate the speed with which information is exchanged between employees, facilitate the processing of data and improve the quality of intra-company communication. As such, ICTs are powerful management support tools and can help to boost firms' performance. However, there is no consensus as to the way in which they should be used. The aim of this article is to contribute to the discussion on the various ways that ICTs are used in companies. Its empirical analysis is based on observations of the paradoxical practices and reasoning that dominate the lean manufacturing approach. Although the lean manufacturing approach considers that ICTs are useful to a degree for carrying out certain tasks, it emphasises the inefficiencies that can result from an inappropriate use of these technologies.Use; Information and Communication Technology; Lean Management; Information Systems; Toyota Production System

Information technology and performance management for build-to-order supply chains

En las siguientes líneas se plantea un artículo de reflexión que tiene en cuenta parte del marco teórico que sustenta la investigación titulada “Prácticas pedagógicas que promueven la competencia argumentativa escrita (CAE) en niños campesinos de los grados 4° y 5° del Centro Educativo Municipal La Caldera, Sede Principal de Pasto”, desarrollada en el año 2012. En él se contemplan los aportes de las ciencias del lenguaje y la comunicación, la teoría de la argumentación, la didáctica de la lengua escrita y los géneros discursivos, que dan cuenta de la necesidad de desarrollar la capacidad crítica en los estudiantes a través de la argumentación, lo cual implica transformar las prácticas pedagógicas para que se alejen de la transmisión de conocimientos y den paso a la comunicación, para que la palabra escrita sea apropiada de manera significativa

Requirements analysis in the implementation of integrated PLM, ERP and CAD systems

Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) system implementation is a major investment when the technology is used in manufacturing companies. This paper provides an analysis of the requirements for the integration of PLM systems with Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems incorporating the design aspects of Computer Aided Design and Manufacturing (CAD/CAM) within the product development process. PLM implementation deals with various existing product data and information generated over years both from CAD and ERP systems. Data integration is very challenging and has important impact on future decisions while creating new processes. The information management plays very important role not only in PLM implementation but also in the way this will be used in future production. Therefore it is very important to analyse how product information is transferred to PLM system. It also need to be investigated that what, when and how the data will flow from and to PLM systems

Enabling the Twin Transitions: Digital Technologies Support Environmental Sustainability through Lean Principles

Manufacturing companies seek innovative approaches to achieve successful Green and Digital transitions, where adopting lean production is one alternative. However, further investigation is required to formulate the approach with empirical inputs and identify what digital technologies could be applied with which lean principles for environmental benefits. Therefore, this study first conducted a case study in three companies to collect empirical data. A complementary literature review was then carried out, investigating the existing frameworks, and complementing practices of digitalized lean implementations and the resulting environmental impact. Consequently, the Internet of Things and related connection-level technologies were identified as the key facilitators in lean implementations, specifically in visualization, communication, and poka-yoke, leading to environmental benefits. Furthermore, a framework of DIgitalization Supports Environmental sustainability through Lean principles (DISEL) was proposed to help manufacturing companies identify the opportunities of digitalizing lean principles for Environmental sustainability, thus enabling the twin transitions and being resilient

Addressing information flow in lean production management and control in construction

Traditionally, production control on construction sites has been a challenging area, where the ad-hoc production control methods foster uncertainty - one of the biggest enemies of efficiency and smooth production flow. Lean construction methods such as the Last Planner System have partially tackled this problem by addressing the flow aspect through means such as constraints analysis and commitment planning. However, such systems have relatively long planning cycles to respond to the dynamic production requirements of construction, where almost daily if not hourly control is needed. New solutions have been designed by researchers to improve this aspect such as VisiLean, but again these types of software systems require the proximity and availability of computer devices to workers. Given this observation, there is a need for a communication system between the field and site office that is highly interoperable and provides real-time task status information. A High-level communication framework (using VisiLean) is presented in this paper, which aims to overcome the problems of system integration and improve the flow of information within the production system. The framework provides, among other things, generic and standardized interfaces to simplify the “push” and “pull” of the right (production) information, whenever needed, wherever needed, by whoever needs it. Overall, it is anticipated that the reliability of the production control will be improve

Evaluating demand driven MRP: a case based simulated study

This study evaluates the assumption underpinning Material Requirements Planning (MRP), buffer management and DDMRP before analysing the case company and evaluating the potential benefits, utilizing simulated data from the existing ERP system. The purpose of this research is to evaluate DDMRP in the context of improving the performance of a printing ink manufacturing company. The main issues the company is facing using a traditional MRP system include poor due-date performance, stock levels not corresponding to the actual market needs and overall system instability leading to inefficiencies. The findings indicate the potential of DDMRP to improve system stability and product availability

Lean Management of IT Organizations: A Literature Review

Lean Management has been successfully applied by companies around the world, mainly in production/manufacturing functions. Recently, the interest to investigate a wider application of Lean Management especially in service functions increased. However, it is not clear how Lean Management can be applied to IT organizations. Therefore, this study aims to provide an overview on common characteristics and future research directions. A literature review on existing scholarly research from January 2004 to June 2014 is conducted. Using a database-driven search approach, a total of 1,206 re-search contributions are found of which 49 were identified as relevant. Results indicate a low theory grounding of mostly formulative and interpretative research items. This implies that research on Lean Management of IT organizations is still at its nascent state. Content-wise, five research themes emerge. The majority of research investigates IT organizations in a role to support Lean Management in production/manufacturing functions (determining “what to work on”), therefore more research on how Lean Management can be applied to IT organizations themselves (determining “how to work”) could be beneficial. Future research could also try to build on Change Management theories, as the implementation of Lean Management is of transformational character