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The practice of lean management (LM) principles has given firms, from a variety of sectors, quantum jumps in productivity and performance. India is at the cusp of a major leap in economic growth, and adoption of LM is a must for ramping up the rate of growth of the GDP speedily, if the government is really intent on achieving its objective of becoming the third or fourth largest economy soon. This paper aims to study the status of implementation of LM in the LM Leaders (LML’s) in the Indian industry, to understand if they are ready to accept the challenges ahead.

This is an exploratory research study. To study the level of maturity of LM in Indian industry, the authors selected the LM Leaders in the Indian industry (LMLII). By using a well-known survey instrument – the Lean Self -Assessment Tool (LESAT), Version 2.0 – designed and developed by MIT, the authors conducted a longitudinal survey over the period 2013 to 2016, a four-year duration. Surveys were conducted every year.

Survey results show an improvement in the overall average of “current state” scores between the years 2013 and 2016, indicating that LMLII’s have improved upon their LM adoption during these years. However, there is a striking gap between “where the industry wants to be” and “where it currently is”. This could drive future improvements. Based on the survey results, this paper draws lessons and proposes action points on how to improve the adoption and diffusion of LM principles and practices in the LMLII. Factors which need to be addressed to reinvigorate the practice of LM have been identified and classified as urgent, immediate and short term.

While many “snapshot” studies have been done to study LM in Indian industry, a longitudinal study has not been done. Moreover, previous studies administer questionnaires to one company (case study method) or a group of companies in a sector of the industry. Thus, there was a research gap. A longitudinal study will help us take a holistic approach. In addition, studying LMLII will provide data from the most serious adopters of LM. Both these will add value to the current research on LM in Indian industry. The results will also help the LMLII’s to further improve the practice of LM in a systematic and rigorous way. However, as the study is limited to the LMLII, it would not be possible to apply the knowledge to the Indian industry as a whole. For doing so, one would need a larger, more representative sample.

Using this paper, LMLII’s can develop practices which will improve customer satisfaction and reduce waste in manufacturing. They can ramp up LM intensity to make further quantum jumps in performance.

LM, in addition to improving the output/input ratio (producing more for less), also emphasises waste reduction, customer satisfaction and efficient operations. All these three factors are essential for sustainable and happy society.

The work is original. This is the first longitudinal survey of lean practices in the Indian industry to study cross-sectional practices, and the results will propel the Indian industry to intensify the practice of LM.

The purpose of this paper is to identify important factors those which constrain implementation and sustenance of lean strategies in aviation sector and ways to avoid slow attrition within annals of lean.

This research is exploratory in nature and survey methodology is used for assessing the post lean management implementation environment. The focus of study is cross-sectional, within aircraft industry based on the information collected through survey and a case study.

The reasons for the weak sustenance of lean initiative have been identified. The measures as undertaken in the case study implied a successful turnaround of specific department. Comparison with automobile industry indicates suggestions and pitfalls to be avoided with suitable illustration.

The target of the study is the aircraft manufacturer and hence it has the limitation in terms of the scope. However, overall results are encouraging with the survey generating expected inputs and underline the need for similar research in the aerospace sector. The study has implications for managers in all types of industrial environment, especially in aviation, in the era of globalized lean supply chain establishment.

Inputs obtained are from both industrial research in a live environment and a case study which impacts lean management in industries.

This paper presents novel inputs regarding post lean implementation scenario in aviation sector, which has complicated internal processes. It also tries to establish factors relevant for any organization in assessing lean initiatives.

The purpose of this paper is to present the “Assessment Model of Lean Effect” (AMLE), a theoretical model that measures Lean manufacturing implementation effect over the global performance of a company.

AMLE model is divided in two criteria types: the “Facilitators criteria” and the “Results criteria”. “Results criteria” are inspired from the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM), Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and ISO 26000. The “Facilitators criteria” are based on the main philosophy of the Lean manufacturing, which is the total elimination of all types of waste. The development of the scoring scale was based on the results, approach, deployment, assessment and review (RADAR) philosophy and the experience of nine consultants from the automotive field; the choice of the consultants was based on three conditions. Furthermore, each consultant has his\her own weight according to its expertise. Lastly, the AMLE was validated via a case study set in an automotive industry company called FEBA. The validation process is divided in two different steps: the first step is related to Facilitators assessment and scoring; via the evaluation of the different projects implemented by FEBA to eliminate the different types of waste. The second step concerns Results assessment and scoring, via the evaluation of the performance measurements used by FEBA to assess the effect of the Facilitators' implementation.

The developed model (AMLE) enabled the Lean manufacturing effect assessment on the global performance of a firm from the automotive field. The case study results reveal that the aforementioned firm does not give priority to social measurements. Consequently, the performance of the firm was negatively impacted.

The criteria of AMLE are inspired from the definition of the Lean manufacturing given by Taiichi Ohno, from ISO 26000 and from GRI; meaning that these criteria could be adjusted if other references existed or developed. In addition, the scoring rules are established according to the experience of a limited number of consultants from the automotive field. The scoring rules establishment would lead to meaningful outcomes, if the number of participants was increased. During the assessment of the global performance, the perception of the auditor plays an important role in terms of scoring because the scoring rules allow the possibility to the auditor to give from the minimum to the maximum of the score, according to his perception and experience. For the case study, the validation of the developed model requires starting with the “Facilitators” implementation process and then measure the generated global performance. However, due to time constraints and limited opportunities for new projects, the validation was based only on existing projects managed by the firm. To address the study limitations, it is envisaged to detail and explain the scoring rules while extending the number of consultants. Furthermore, the assessment of Lean manufacturing global performance through the AMLE model may be subjective and requires a mathematical modeling. In fact, the Lean manufacturing performance assessment via the developed model could have a degree of subjectivity; that is why the design of a mathematical model seems required.

The research findings may direct practitioners and decision makers to the importance of assessing the global effect of the Lean manufacturing on the overall performance of the firm. The AMLE model is a tool allowing the assessment of Lean manufacturing effect over economic, environmental and social performances.

The developed model is the first one assessing the global performance generated by the elimination of waste via the application of the Lean manufacturing.

Japanese companies, particularly Toyota, first began building quality into their products and becoming lean. Consequently, researchers associated with the international motor vehicle industry initially identified the “lean” manufacturing paradigm in the US automobile industry. Building upon their successes, the US aerospace industry initiated a study to ascertain whether a similar initiative focused on launch vehicles and spacecraft would bring value to military and commercial aerospace stakeholders in their ongoing efforts to be lean. This paper presents the findings of this investigation. It explores the relevance and value of the lean concepts to the US defense launch vehicle, spacecraft, and space operations industries, and it ascertains if there is interest within space industry firms in establishing a lean initiative similar to that of the automotive industry. Further, the relevance of lean manufacturing to other industries is considered.

Assessing the outcome of lean transformation journey has been of interest to both researchers and practitioners. Various qualitative and quantitative assessment methodologies have been proposed in literature to track and measure the degree of leanness attained. The purpose of this paper is to understand the evolution of this leanness assessment literature over different attributes and identify gaps for future research.

A detailed literature review of peer-reviewed journal articles and conference papers addressing leanness assessment was performed. Content analysis methodology involving a four-step process suggested by Mayring (2004) was adopted for this study.

The number of studies in literature on leanness assessment is low when compared to that in the area of lean implementation. Assessment methodologies developed are of wide range, varying from simple qualitative checklist to complex quantitative mathematical models. Following the trend of lean implementation literature, lean thinking assessment literature is also getting transformed from process-level monitoring to enterprise-level monitoring. Finally, based on this review, a simplified leanness assessment framework is proposed for future validation.

Only peer-reviewed journals and conference papers were analyzed, while excluding the manuals, reports, and white papers from practice. Clustering of leanness assessment literature revealed that future studies in this domain would fall into two major categories, namely manufacturing leanness assessment and service leanness assessment.

Practitioners can use this review study to choose a suitable methodology for assessing the leanness attained in their organization by controlling for the structural attributes identified.

This is the first paper to review the topic “leanness assessment.” The review analyzes the entire literature available on leanness assessment to summarize its current status and identify potential future directions.

The purpose of this research work is to propose an assessment framework to evaluate businesses in terms of the implementation of a green and lean organization’s supply chain.

A conceptual framework was developed for the assessment of green and lean implementation. The framework was designed using key criteria to identify green and lean initiatives. This led to the development of guidelines for each criterion, and the development of a scoring method. A multiple case study of five different organizations in the automotive industry was conducted to validate the conceptual framework.

The study reveals that high scores are derived from a good interaction between green and lean implementation in these companies. The results confirm that the initiatives considered in the conceptual framework were appropriate to represent the green and lean assessment framework.

The case study was developed in five organizations. Validation of the model is not based on quantitative techniques. The sample size is too small. More study is need in different industry sectors.

The proposed model can be the basis for further research on green and lean concepts, contributing to the understanding of green and lean implementation. With this assessment method, managers can evaluate their business in relation to the implementation of green and lean supply chain initiatives.

To the author’s knowledge, this paper is the first to provide an assessment framework to evaluate an organization’s supply chain in terms of green and lean implementation.

This study aims to investigate how measuring the lean practices–performance relationship could add value to businesses.

Case-study methodology was used for the quantitative analysis of self-assessed lean capability scores and key manufacturing performance indicators from a global consumer goods company. Up to 80 sites over 3 years were analysed. Partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) is used to analyse the lean implementation–performance relationship.

Results show that different performance areas may be affected differently and suggest that the measured relationship may depend on the reliability of the self-assessment.

The research is based on the manufacturing sites of a single company, implementing the same lean methodology, producing similar products and using similar process technologies. This helps to control confounding variables but may limit the generalisability of the findings.

Practitioners can use the measurement method to improve lean-based performance-improvement projects. The study suggests that the PLS-SEM technique could improve the calibration of lean-practice self-assessment and could identify further areas for improvement.

Very few papers developed measurement methods for the effectiveness of lean-practice implementation using objective manufacturing performance data within a single multinational company.

The purpose of this paper is to present the findings of an empirical research on the leanness of the home services sector in the Czech Republic. The automotive sector provides reference to argue the numerical outcomes.

The research uses a specifically designed assessment tool (Lean Index – LI) to determine the sector’s leanness level. Referring to the results from both sectors, the paper draws conclusions about the current leanness level of home services providers.

The proposed LI indicates a value of 69.50 per cent for home services providers, whereas the LI for the automotive industry suppliers is 82.88 per cent. This suggests that there are large opportunities for the implementation of lean management in the home services sector. However, the main challenge is to introduce a continuous improvement approach to these companies.

The sample size limits the generalisation of the research results. However, this paper represents the first empirical attempt to implement a large-scale survey. The results are limited to the Czech Republic. However, parties from other countries have indicated interest to replicate the research.

This research provides first empirical findings on the possibilities of implementing lean in the home services sector. Future research projects in other sectors will have the opportunity to make use of the LI assessment tool.

The paper presents the first approach of lean management into the home services sector. It provides valuable information to specialised institutions in the sector about the possibilities of lean management in the sector. It also provides an overview of the sector for practitioners and academics willing to pioneer lean in the sector.

This study aims to develop and implement an initial framework for assessing progress in lean implementation within an higher education institution (HEI). It includes developing preliminary findings regarding the impacts of lean implementation in the HEI case organization and comparing outcomes from this assessment to outcomes from other published sources.

Existing literature on lean, particularly in an HEI context, was used to develop a preliminary lean assessment framework for HEIs. Quality and continuous improvement literature were also compared to the proposed assessment framework to further validate the approach. This assessment framework was then utilized to evaluate lean implementation at a large public university (LPU) in the U.S.

The paper presents the framework as well as the major findings from the Large Public University (LPU)’s assessment. The assessment findings are further compared to other HEI quality measures and lean assessments done in other industries. Overall, the findings suggest that the assessment framework provides valuable insight to HEI organizations implementing lean.

The research intends to support lean assessment standardization efforts by proposing a preliminary lean assessment framework for the HEI, grounded in research trends, research findings, identified gaps in the research, and case study outcomes. To the research team's knowledge, this is the first lean assessment framework proposed for HEIs and also contributes to research gaps related to service industry frameworks and those containing both practices and outcomes. The framework can be used by other researchers as a foundation for additional conceptual and empirical developments on the topic and by researchers and practitioners seeking to understand and assess lean implementation progress in the HEI.

The objective of this study is to investigate how country risk, different political actions from the government and bureaucratic behavior influence the activities in industry supply chains (SCs) in emerging markets. The main objective of this study is to investigate the influence of these external stakeholders’ elements to the demand-side and supply-side drivers and barriers for improving competitiveness of Ready-Made Garment (RMG) industry in the way of analyzing supply chain. Considering the phenomenon of recent change in the RMG business environment and the competitiveness issues this study uses the principles of stakeholder and resource dependence theory and aims to find out some factors which influence to make an efficient supply chain for improving competitiveness. The RMG industry of Bangladesh is the case application of this study. Following a positivist paradigm, this study adopts a two phase sequential mixed-method research design consisting of qualitative and quantitative approaches. A tentative research model is developed first based on extensive literature review. Qualitative field study is then carried out to fine tune the initial research model. Findings from the qualitative method are also used to develop measures and instruments for the next phase of quantitative method. A survey is carried out with sample of top and middle level executives of different garment companies of Dhaka city in Bangladesh and the collected quantitative data are analyzed by partial least square-based structural equation modeling. The findings support eight hypotheses. From the analysis the external stakeholders’ elements like bureaucratic behavior and country risk have significant influence to the barriers. From the internal stakeholders’ point of view the manufacturers’ and buyers’ drivers have significant influence on the competitiveness. Therefore, stakeholders need to take proper action to reduce the barriers and increase the drivers, as the drivers have positive influence to improve competitiveness.

This study has both theoretical and practical contributions. This study represents an important contribution to the theory by integrating two theoretical perceptions to identify factors of the RMG industry’s SC that affect the competitiveness of the RMG industry. This research study contributes to the understanding of both external and internal stakeholders of national and international perspectives in the RMG (textile and clothing) business. It combines the insights of stakeholder and resource dependence theories along with the concept of the SC in improving effectiveness. In a practical sense, this study certainly contributes to the Bangladeshi RMG industry. In accordance with the desire of the RMG manufacturers, the research has shown that some influential constructs of the RMG industry’s SC affect the competitiveness of the RMG industry. The outcome of the study is useful for various stakeholders of the Bangladeshi RMG industry sector ranging from the government to various private organizations. The applications of this study are extendable through further adaptation in other industries and various geographic contexts.