Search results

The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, a case study on applying lean principles in manufacturing operations to redesign and optimize an electronic device assembly process and its impact on performance and second, introducing cardboard prototyping as a Kaizen tool offering a novel approach to testing and simulating improvement scenarios.

The study employs value stream mapping, root cause analysis, and brainstorming tools to identify root causes of poor performance, followed by deploying a Kaizen event to redesign and optimize an electronic device assembly process. Using physical models, bottlenecks and opportunities for improvement were identified by the Kaizen approach at the workstations and assembly lines, enabling the testing of various scenarios and ideas. Changes in lead times, throughput, work in process inventory and assembly performance were analyzed and documented.

Pre- and post-improvement measures are provided to demonstrate the impact of the Kaizen event on the performance of the assembly cell. The study reveals that implementing lean tools and techniques reduced costs and increased throughput by reducing assembly cycle times, manufacturing lead time, space utilization, labor overtime and work-in-process inventory requirements.

This paper adds a new dimension to applying the Kaizen methodology in manufacturing processes by introducing cardboard prototyping, which offers a novel way of testing and simulating different scenarios for improvement. The paper describes the process implementation in detail, including the techniques and data utilized to improve the process.

Lean manufacturing, a philosophy that revolutionized the manufacturing industry, is often linked to the Toyota Production System (TPS). At the core of a lean company, one can observe proper implementation of lean manufacturing tools and practices such as just-in-time, work teams, cellular manufacturing, lean layout, etc. The goal of lean production is to minimize the waste producing activities while offering the same or enhanced quality to customers.

The aim of this research is to investigate the implementation degree of lean manufacturing and its tools and practices focusing on the case of an SME in Albania as a concrete example. Higher attention is given to some of the pillars of lean manufacturing such as just-in-time and cellular manufacturing.

In this case study, researchers observed a variety of features of lean production. Just-in-time was implemented to a certain extent and cellular manufacturing at a more surprising level, which was facilitated especially by the U-shaped facility layout designs observed during the site visits. The value stream mapping showed a proper group technology in place and the management displayed signs of engagement and future advancement desire regarding this philosophy.

Lean manufacturing (LM) concepts have been widely adopted in diverse industrial sectors. However, no literature review focusing on case studies describing LM implementation is available. Case studies represent the actual implementation and provide secondary data for further analysis. This study aims to review the same to understand the pathways of LM implementation. In addition, it aims to analyse other related review questions, such as how implementing LM impacts manufacturing capabilities and the maturity level of manufacturing organisations that implemented LM, to name a few.

A literature review of case studies that discuss the implementation of LM during the last decade (from 2010 to 2020) is carried out. These studies were synthesised, and content analyses were performed to reveal critical insights.

The implementation pattern of LM significantly varies across manufacturing organisations. The findings show simultaneous improvement in manufacturing capabilities. Towards the end of the last decade, organisations implemented LM with radio frequency identification, e-kanban, simulation, etc.

Reviewing the case studies documenting LM implementation to comprehend the various nuances is a novel attempt. Furthermore, potential future research directions are identified for advancing the research in the domain of LM.

Organizations have released the importance of lean manufacturing practices (LMPs) and total quality management (TQM) in enhancing competitiveness. However, the implementation of LMPs and TQM becomes more complex when discerning the environmental sustainability position. The complexity stems from the fact that LMPs and TQM are more intricate because of cultural differences. Thus, this study aims to tackle the aforementioned phenomenon by investigating the impact of LMPs and TQM on environmental sustainability moderated by quality culture.

A survey was distributed among small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Jordan; thus, 315 valid responses were received. Partial least square structural equation modelling was used to analyze the data and test hypotheses.

The findings showed that environmental sustainability was significantly impacted by all the LMP practices except Kanban and all the TQM practices except statistical process control. Moreover, quality culture significantly and negatively moderated the relationship between TQM and environmental sustainability. However, the influence of LMPs on environmental sustainability was not significantly moderated by quality culture.

This study has implications for policymakers in SMEs, supply chain managers and academics regarding the importance of LMPs and TQM systems for implementing environmental sustainability and the role of quality culture.

This study provides guidelines for decision-makers on the pathways that enable them to sustain the environment to safeguard the natural ecosystem and natural resources for upcoming generations.

The originality of this study stems from the alignment of LMPs and TQM in enhancing environmental sustainability, taking into consideration the role of quality culture in SMEs, where previous studies failed short to investigate this phenomenon.

The advent of Industry 4.0 (I4.0) and the requirements imposed on companies still need to be clarified. Companies still strive to understand I4.0 requirements and technological, organizational, operational and management challenges. Current literature on I4.0 underlies the importance of a roadmap with structured steps to achieve the benefits of I4.0, mainly focused on augmenting operational performance. Therefore, this paper proposes a roadmap to implement I4.0 focused on operational management concepts, mainly aiming to augment operational performance and bridge the gap between theory and practice regarding roadmaps focused on the operational management dimension.

This paper follows a research approach divided into the following stages: a literature review to analyze the I4.0 roadmaps and identify the main components of I4.0; development of the proposed I4.0 roadmap presented; field research to test the roadmap by collecting data from a manufacturing company in the automotive industry; validation of the roadmap through modeling and simulation.

The authors presented a production line design with real-time control, fast response, shop floor coordination and predictive capacity. The results prove that the proposed I4.0 roadmap augments operation performance in the investigated automotive company. The main results were work in process reduction, lead time reduction, output increase, real-time control, shop floor coordination and fast response.

The main novelty of the proposed roadmap is to move toward I4.0 implementation with a focus on the operational management dimension. The roadmap has an innovative combination of the two approaches – lean manufacturing and factory physics – a straightforward roadmap with only three steps: (1) requirements, (2) real-time control and (3) predictive capacity, a structured definition of the approaches and operational management concepts fundamental in each step.

This article aims to focus on implementing Lean Six Sigma (LSS) in steel manufacturing to enhance productivity and quality in the galvanizing process line. In recent trends, manufacturing organizations have expressed strong interest in the LSS since they attempt to enhance its overall operations without imposing significant financial burdens.

This article used lean tools and Six Sigma's DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control) with Yin's case study approach. This study tried to implement the LSS for the steel galvanizing process in order to reduce the number of defects using various LSS tools, including 5S, Value stream map (VSM), Pareto chart, cause and effect diagram, Design of experiments (DoE).

Results revealed a significant reduction in nonvalue-added time in the process, which led to improved productivity and Process cycle efficiency (PCE) attributed to applying lean-Kaizen techniques. By deploying the LSS, the overall PCE improved from 22% to 62%, and lead time was reduced from 1,347 min to 501 min. DoE results showed that the optimum process parameter levels decreased defects per unit steel sheet.

This research demonstrated how successful LSS implementation eliminates waste, improves process performance and accomplishes operational distinction in steel manufacturing.

Since low-cost/high-effect improvement initiatives have not been adequately presented, further research studies on adopting LSS in manufacturing sectors are needed. The cost-effective method of process improvement can be considered as an innovation.

With hybrid simulation techniques getting popular for systems improvement in multiple fields, this study aims to provide insight on the use of hybrid simulation to assess the effect of lean manufacturing (LM) techniques on manufacturing facilities and the transition of a mass production (MP) facility to incorporating LM techniques.

In this paper, the authors apply a hybrid simulation approach to improve an educational automotive assembly line and provide guidelines for implementing different LM techniques. Specifically, the authors describe the design, development, verification and validation of a hybrid discrete-event and agent-based simulation model of a LEGO® car assembly line to analyze, improve and assess the system’s performance. The simulation approach examines the base model (MP) and an alternative scenario (just-in-time [JIT] with Heijunka).

The hybrid simulation approach effectively models the facility. The alternative simulation scenario (implementing JIT and Heijunka LM techniques) improved all examined performance metrics. In more detail, the system’s lead time was reduced by 47.37%, the throughput increased by 5.99% and the work-in-progress for workstations decreased by up to 56.73%.

This novel hybrid simulation approach provides insight and can be potentially extrapolated to model other manufacturing facilities and evaluate transition scenarios from MP to LM.

This study aims to examine the full mediating role of supply chain flexibility (SCF) between lean production (LP) and business performance (BP) found in the previous literature. This effect negates the direct LP-BP effect (the so-called “total eclipse effect”). The authors analyze the individual contributions that the different SCF dimensions (sourcing flexibility; operating system flexibility, distribution flexibility and information system [IS] flexibility) make to the “total eclipse effect” between LP and BP produced by SCF. The relational resources-based view and resource orchestration theory are used to support the theoretical framework.

Covariance-based structural equations modeling (CB-SEM) is used to test the SCF LP-BP total eclipse hypothesis and four additional mediation hypotheses, one for each of the SCF dimensions. Data obtained via a questionnaire given to 260 companies are analyzed with CB-SEM, and SPSS Process is used to evaluate the mediation effect.

Research results indicate that only one of the dimensions (operating system flexibility) has a full mediation effect between LP and BP and is, therefore, the main contributor to the eclipse effect. Two other dimensions (sourcing flexibility and distribution flexibility) have partial mediation effects, so they also contribute to developing the eclipse effect, although to a lesser extent. Finally, IS flexibility is neither a full nor a partial mediation factor and does not contribute to the eclipse effect.

These findings have some important implications. For academia, they generate new knowledge of the role that each of the SCF dimensions or components plays in the LP-BP relationship. For company management, the findings offer supply chain managers specific information on the individual effects that the different types of SCF flexibility have between LP and BP. This will allow companies to target their efforts to develop certain types of flexibility in LP contexts depending on the outcomes that senior managers want to achieve with their SCs.

This paper uses dialectical inquiry to explore tensions that arise when adopting Industry 4.0 technologies in a lean production system and their reconciliation mechanisms.

We conducted an in-depth qualitative case study over a 3-year period on an Italian division of an international electrotechnical organisation that produces electrical switches. This organisation successfully adopted Industry 4.0 technologies in a lean production system. The study is based on primary data such as observations and semi-structured interviews, along with secondary data.

We identify four empirically validated dialectic tensions arising across different Industry 4.0 adoption stages due to managers’ and workers’ contrasting interpretations of technologies. Consequently, we define the related reconciliation mechanisms that allow the effective adoption of various Industry 4.0 technologies to support a lean production system.

This is the first empirical investigation of tensions in the adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies in a lean production system. Furthermore, the paper presents four theoretical propositions and a conceptual model describing which tensions arise during the adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies in a lean production system and the reconciliation mechanisms that prevent lean production system deterioration.

Administrative processes play a crucial role in various sectors, often contributing to cost overruns and delays. While lean concept has been extensively applied in many industries, there is a recognized need for further research on the integration of lean in administrative processes. To address this research gap, this study aims to systematically analyse the implementation of lean in administrative processes, providing a sector-wise comparison to explore its prospects for the construction industry.

A systematic literature review was conducted by adapting the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses method. Eighty-six research papers are subjected to descriptive and content analysis on different tools applied in lean integrated administrative processes in health care, education, public administration and other sectors.

The research study reveals common lean tools irrespective of sector. Moreover, specific tools used for a particular sector are analysed. Out of the various lean tools and techniques, value stream mapping, 5S and Kaizen are highly acknowledged tools in every sector of lean intervention. Furthermore, ECRS is applied explicitly in the education sector. Furthermore, it is noted that Suppliers, Inputs, Process, Outputs and Customers (SIPOC), 5whys, load levelling and control charts are identical to administrative processes in lean health care. Furthermore, Spaghetti charts and Kaikaku are only adapted to administrative processes in the public administration sector, and causal loop diagrams are used explicitly in administrative processes in the construction sector.

This study contributes to research by developing a guideline to design lean intervention for a lean-integrated administrative process in any sector which still needs to be transformed into lean. Hence, this study will be a cornerstone for incorporating lean principles for administrative processes in construction sector.