Developing an understanding of lean thinking in process industries

The research described in this article has set out to determine the extent to which lean thinking is being adopted as a manufacturing philosophy by process industries. It concerns the application and examination of key lean manufacturing principles, namely, the alignment of production with demand, the elimination of waste, the integration of suppliers (IS) and the creative involvement of the workforce in improvement activities, to a range of process industry types based on Dennis and Meredith's taxonomy of process industry transformation systems [Dennis, D. and Meredith, J., 2000a. An empirical analysis of process industry transformation systems. Management Science, 46 (8), 1085–1099]. Seventy-nine process industry product streams across 62 sites were studied. In addition, a five-site investigative field study was also undertaken. The findings demonstrate that lean practices associated with the elimination of waste are consistently used for improving manufacturing performance throughout the taxonomy of process industries but practices associated with other lean principles are inconsistently applied. In addition, explanations are provided on the appropriateness of lean thinking as a manufacturing philosophy and a strategy for improving manufacturing performance in different process industry types, and on the extent to which lean principles and practices are dependent on the characteristics of process industry transformation systems.     

The impact of lean practices on operational performance – an empirical investigation of Indian process industries

In deciding to adopt lean manufacturing, it is imperative to investigate where and how lean practices are most needed to influence manufacturing and business performance. Such an investigation becomes indispensable when lean thinking is to be considered in a production arrangement different to the conventional, repetitive, high-volume, stable-demand and discrete-manufacturing environment. This study provides explanations of how performance is improved through the adoption of lean practices in process industries. This is a relatively under-researched area compared to the performance effects associated with the introduction and implementation of lean principles in traditional, discrete manufacturing. Based on a survey of Indian process industries, this study attempts to develop an empirical relationship between lean practices and performance improvement through the use of multivariate statistical analysis. The findings have led to the conclusion that lean practices are positively associated with timely deliveries, productivity, first-pass yield, elimination of waste, reduction in inventory, reduction in costs, reduction in defects and improved demand management. However, within a process-industry context, lean practices related to pull production were found to have a marginal impact on performance improvement. A detailed discussion of the findings along with their theoretical and managerial implications is provided in the paper.     

Implementing lean sigma framework in an Indian automotive valves manufacturing organisation: a case study

The manufacturing organisations have been witnessing a key transition to lean manufacturing paradigm so as to eliminate waste. Concurrently, six sigma methodology has been widely used for reducing the defects. In order to attain the combined benefits of these two approaches, the amalgamated lean sigma framework has originated. Lean sigma framework proves drawbacks, such as lack of systematic and scientific management and feeble lean anchorage. In order to overcome these deficiencies, this article contributes a refined lean sigma framework, and its effectiveness has been test implemented in an Indian automotive valves manufacturing organisation. The implementation benefits are described in this article.     

Lean Production Practices: International Comparisons in the Auto Components Industry1

In recent years the application of lean production principles has been forcefully expounded as the route to high-performance manufacturing. This paper examines the relationship between lean production and performance empirically, using data from a benchmarking study of 71 plants in the international automotive components industry. The top performing plants (and their suppliers and customers) showed consistently better process control than did the lower performing plants. UK plants did not perform very well in terms of either quality or productivity, and links between economic context and manufacturing performance are discussed in relation to the UK.     

Reviewers

This paper reports the findings of a research study into the application of lean production methods to a traditional aerospace manufacturing organization. The approach taken to lean production is described, along with what worked and what did not. Two main stumbling blocks to the application were identified the redundancy programme and a lack of employee education in the concept and principles of lean production. A number of the methods of lean production were found not to be as effective as in the motor manufacturing environment, the reasons for this included the dominant position of the company and the customer demand characteristics. In addition, both management and the industrial workers found the transition from traditional manufacture to lean production was not easy to make.     

On the adoption of lean manufacturing principles in process industries

Traditionally, the lean paradigm has been applied to discrete manufacturing of items that can be easily put together and taken apart. The process industry, on the other hand, transforms raw materials into cohesive units that are basically blended into a final product with parts that cannot be disassembled and then reassembled. The current lean literature provides numerous commendable examples of theory and practices of lean principles in discrete manufacturing. However, its application in process industry is limited. Furthermore, there is no systematic accounting of the lean literature in this sector, which may have contributed to lesser awareness in the industry. This paper provides a state-of-the-art review of lean manufacturing literature with respect to its applications in process industry. It contributes to the classification of literature in a manner which helps to identify strategies suitable for the adoption of lean concepts in process industry. The paper seeks to synthesise the literature with an emphasis on identifying the scope for lean in process industry and associated benefits. The review also presents an analysis of the lean tools and techniques that have been applied or have potential application in the process industry and the challenges to implement lean. We believe that such a comprehensive review will not only facilitate the adoption of lean in process industry but will also provide agenda for further research by exposing voids in the knowledge base.     

A practical approach to achieving Agility–a theory of constraints perspective

This article documents an action research (AR) project aimed at identifying the practical steps needed to become an agile manufacturer through a combination of the theory of constraints (TOC) and resource- based view (RBV) approaches in a small to medium enterprise (SME) in the Australian manufacturing sector. To date, lean production has been highlighted as a possible catalyst for creating an agile manufacturer, despite the evidence suggesting that lean manufacturing lacks the responsiveness and adaptability to effectively handle a rapidly changing market place and only works well in a stable environment. A more flexible system of production is required to fully encompass the agile characteristics needed to attain a competitive advantage. This research provides empirical evidence that the TOC perspective can be used as a practical approach for becoming an agile manufacturer. The study provides a workable approach for small firms to achieve ‘Agility’ in practice.     

Lean Product Development: Nothing New Under the Sun?

The concept of lean product development has attracted the attention of many scholars since its inception in the 1990s derived from practices at Toyota Motor Company. Key to this approach to new product development (NPD) are a few methods derived from lean production as well as longer established practices such as concurrent engineering. This makes one wonder whether lean product development is a new practice, a new method or an encapsulation of already existing methods at the time; this quest for the roots and tenets of lean product development, also in comparison with other methods for NPD, is the focus of this paper. This journey takes this propositional paper not only to the roots of lean product development and the context of its era of conception, but also to what this concept adds to other extant methods for NPD. In particular, this comparison draws out that other methods are trying to achieve the same objectives: the creation of products and services with value to the customer, the reduction of time‐to‐market and the efficient use of resources. This inference implies that managers of new product (and service) development can choose from a wider pallet of methods and approaches to enhance the performance of R&D and to connect better to manufacturing (including supply chains). Inevitably, this has implications for research on (lean) product and service development; hence, this paper sets out a research agenda based on the deliberations and gaps that have been uncovered in the discourse.     

Logistic Game™: learning by doing and knowledge-sharing

The aim of this article is to define a new simulation game in operation management called Logistic Game?. The main objectives are to introduce a new simulation game approach in solving the different correlated subsystems based on ‘visual interactive learning’ and to verify its positive effects on the learning process with respect to the usual simulation games. The game is based on an inside plant virtual supply chain simulation and copes with the educational challenges of teaching Industrial Logistics in a new, effective way. By applying a visual interactive simulation package, the game creates a virtual dynamic scenario directly visible by participants, with an improvement of experimentation and conceptualisation phases, and offers several logistic decisions and their strategic links from a holistic point of view. The challenge goes beyond a pure theoretical setting and students learn strategies and gain experience directly by operating in a virtual supply chain and sharing knowledge. The Logistic Game has been used to train more then 300 students since December 2006 in three different Italian workshops and has been designed to encourage the employment selection process by the companies involved.     

Supply Chain Strategy,Product Characteristics,and Performance Impact: Evidence from Chinese Manufacturers*

Supply chain management has become one of the most popular approaches to enhance the global competitiveness of business corporations today. Firms must have clear strategic thinking in order to effectively organize such complicated activities, resources, communications, and processes. An emerging body of literature offers a framework that identifies three kinds of supply chain strategies: lean strategy, agile strategy, and lean/agile strategy based on in‐depth case studies. Extant research also suggests that supply chain strategies must be matched with product characteristics in order for firms to achieve better performance. This article investigates supply chain strategies and empirically tests the supply chain strategy model that posits lean, agile, and lean/agile approaches using data collected from 604 manufacturing firms in China. Cluster analyses of the data indicate that Chinese firms are adopting a variation of lean, agile, and lean/agile supply chain strategies identified in the western literature. However, the data reveal that some firms have a traditional strategy that does not emphasize either lean or agile principles. These firms perform worse than firms that have a strategy focused on lean, agile, or lean/agile supply chain. The strategies are examined with respect to product characteristics and financial and operational performance. The article makes significant contributions to the supply chain management literature by examining the supply chain strategies used by Chinese firms. In addition, this work empirically tests the applicability of supply chain strategy models that have not been rigorously tested empirically or in the fast‐growing Chinese economy.     

A SIMULATION GAME FOR TEACHING SERVICE‐ORIENTED SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT: DOES INFORMATION SHARING HELP MANAGERS WITH SERVICE CAPACITY DECISIONS?*

For decades, the Beer Game has taught complex principles of supply chain management in a finished good inventory supply chain. However, services typically cannot hold inventory and can only manage backlogs through capacity adjustments. We propose a simulation game designed to teach service‐oriented supply chain management principles and to test whether managers use them effectively. For example, using a sample of typical student results, we determine that student managers can effectively use end‐user demand information to reduce backlog and capacity adjustment costs. The game can also demonstrate the impact of demand variability and reduced capacity adjustment time and lead times.     

Lean practices and their effect on performance: a literature review

This paper introduces a literature review of 83 studies dealing with the degree of adoption of lean manufacturing practices around the world, and the links between those practices and organisation performance. The results of this study revealed that lean practices application still occurs in a fragmented way, disregarding the systemic linkage that is essential to lean manufacturing. Forty-one articles have suggested a positive effect of lean practices in at least one operational, financial and/or environmental performance metric. Nevertheless, five studies indicated that some lean practices had a negative effect on operational or financial performance. High demand variability, a perceived result of long-term lean manufacturing implementation, a country/company’s organisational culture and the difficulty of traditional costing production systems to measure and compare investments and economic gains from adopting lean manufacturing over time are some of the reasons to explain that negative effect of lean practice on performance.     

Fuzzy integrated QFD,FMEA framework for the selection of lean tools in a manufacturing organisation

Lean Manufacturing (LM) is a well-established system to improve performance of any manufacturing industry by eliminating wastes through globally accepted tools and techniques. Industries are trying to adapt lean principles in order to optimise the resources like people, equipment, material and schedule for being efficient in the competitive market. This paper proposes an integrated approach for selecting appropriate lean tools in reliable lean perspective to enhance these critical resources. The approach exercise a hybrid model which uses fuzzy QFD to prioritise the critical resources in relation with identified wastes and fuzzy FMEA to assess the risk associated with each sub elements to address lean implementation. For waste identification, plant layout and Value Stream Mapping are considered. The model is demonstrated based on the data collected from a manufacturing industry to illustrate the application. Significant improvements are quantified with the help of future state map and plant layout.     

Measuring the leanness of manufacturing systems—A case study of Ford Motor Company and General Motors

In spite of the vast research published on lean manufacturing systems in several disciplines in the last decade, the concept remains underdeveloped for two reasons. First, it lacks a generally accepted definition. Different authors define lean in terms of its objectives, which vary, overlap and differ in different firms. Second, no study has developed a systematic and relative measure of lean production systems. With the lack of such a measure, two companies cannot be rated objectively on their progress toward becoming lean. This paper has two goals: first, to define manufacturing leanness as a unifying concept, and, second, to develop a systematic, long-term measure of leanness. Manufacturing leanness is a strategy to incur less input to better achieve the organization’s goals through producing better output. The systematic measure of leanness has seven characteristics: relative, dynamic, long-term fuzzy logical, objective, integrative and comprehensive. The leanness measure utilizes the fuzzy-logic methodology since lean is a matter of degree. Applying the measure to compare the production leanness of Ford Motor Company and General Motors, the paper selects Honda Motor Company as the benchmarking firm. Selecting just-in-time (JIT), Kaizen, and quality controls as lean attributes, the paper uses surrogates for these attributes extracted from audited financial statements over the years 2001–2003. The results show that Ford’s system is more than 17% leaner than GM’s system vis-à-vis the benchmarked company’s system.     

Determinants and barriers to lean implementation in food-processing SMEs – a multiple case analysis

This study explored contextual or determining factors and their impacts on lean manufacturing in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) operating in food-processing industries. In order to get an in-depth insight into the real situation at the work floor, this study adopted a multiple-case-study research approach. The inherent characteristics of food industries, such as mandatory quality assurance requirements, low shelf life of food products, and the extremely volatile demand and supply presented barriers to lean manufacturing adoption. In addition, the challenges of ‘change’ in an SME environment are distinct from those faced by large organizations. The small size of the plant, the traditional setup, and inflexible layout make it difficult to implement lean manufacturing in food-processing SMEs. The knowledge of contextual factors influencing lean manufacturing adoption in food processing SMEs will be a contribution to current knowledge. Many studies have explored lean constructs and tools, while far fewer have explored the crucial element of actually implementing these. The study will also help practitioners to anticipate potential obstacles and take proper measures to deal with them during lean implementation.     

Decision support tool for lean product and process development

Lean and concurrent engineering (CE) are widely acknowledged business process improvement strategies. These strategies can improve processes, reduce costs, and cut waste enabling organisations to remain competitive. Lean manufacturing offers an enterprise-wide methodology that improves reliability and flexibility while reducing lead-times and inventory carrying costs. Companies in manufacturing and service sectors are focusing on integrating lean manufacturing methodology with other applications, so that, all their systems and processes are aligned. This article proposes a CE framework based on application of information technology and object-oriented methodology for lean manufacturing. This approach expected to give manufacturing companies an extra edge in today's competitive market. A case study is presented in this article to demonstrate the effectiveness of CE framework in a machine tool manufacturing company. CE practice was adopted for new products, to align the systems and processes of the company. Product development lead-time was found to decrease by more than 50% compared to similar development projects carried out by the company. The need for rework was found to be negligible and the development cost was reduced considerably.     

The myth of aggregate planning

Abstract

Abstract. An empirical study explores the business environment, the nature of manufacturing, and the planning cycle, using a sample of enterprises with seasonally-biased sales profiles for their products. This enables both the principles and the practicalities of aggregate planning to stand comparison with the observed rubric of manufacturing management. The conclusion is that neither is germane to industry, and that, in general, practitioners develop an effective (broad) manufacturing strategy with an appropriate resources-acquisition programme. The master production schedule then strikes an acceptable balance between productivity, flexibility, and financial risk.     

Implementing lean information management: the case study of an automotive company

Worldwide modern organisation is continuously crossed by a great number of information but frequently information is not accurate, the needed information is not generated or it cannot be easily identified and, more, the information cannot flow through the whole organisation. This paper proposes the application of lean thinking in the field of information management. In the areas of manufacturing and production, the lean thinking is well known but usually the importance of a holistic approach is neglected and the improvement involves only the production and logistic areas and there is not a specific focus on the lean information management. We applied lean thinking to information management in order to improve the performance of an automotive company. We analysed the as-is company condition, we identified the present muda and we introduced the necessary changes. Then, we verified the modification efficiency through the calculation of a performance index. The paper proposes an interesting and exhaustive case of lean information management application and it highlights the possible improvement of such approach. The results of this study are not sector specific: they are not only applicable by other automotive industries, but they can also be extended to many other sectors.     

几种精益生产方式的混合应用

精益思想已逐渐被国内许多企业所接受,5S、均衡化生产、看板管理和价值流管理等精益生产方法均已被广泛使用。企业在实施精益生产过程中．如果孤立的使用某些精益生产方法,往往顾此失彼,导致实施效果不佳。本文通过某公司的实际案例,研究这几种精益生产方式的应用,并分析它们之间的相互关联和影响     

A visual planning solution to streamline the processes of hybrid cross-dockings

Cross-docking is a logistic strategy widely adopted both in manufacturing and distribution contexts. Despite the huge number of researches on this topic, most of them remain rather theoretical as they do not pay enough attention to operational aspects and daily functioning patterns of cross-dockings. This article aims at introducing a new focus for cross-docking research by proposing a visual planning solution to manage daily operation of a manufacturing cross-docking. By avoiding complex optimization algorithms and by adopting concepts belonging to the lean management theory, the article shows the potential of visual planning techniques to improve performance of cross-dockings. Starting from a specific industrial context, the shipping warehouse of an Italian company of the oil andand gas sector, a visual management methodology has been proposed to support the operation of cross-dockings. Although developed in a particular context, the proposed methodology and its underlying principles are to be considered general and potentially applicable to a wide range of cross-dockings. The methodology fully exploits an analytical tool, namely, the Safety Margin coefficientthat could be used for capacity planning purposes and to evaluate quantitatively the system performance at a given time instant.