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1 – 10 of over 12000Leandro dos Santos, Elsebeth Holmen, Ann-Charlott Pedersen, Maria Flavia Mogos, Eirin Lodgaard and Daryl John Powell
Toyota had mature lean capabilities when developing its supplier network. This paper aims to explore how companies can develop a Toyota-style supplier network (TSN) while their…
Abstract
Purpose
Toyota had mature lean capabilities when developing its supplier network. This paper aims to explore how companies can develop a Toyota-style supplier network (TSN) while their lean capabilities are still evolving.
Design/methodology/approach
Theoretically, this paper relies on the literature on lean maturity levels and lean supplier network development. Empirically, the paper portrays a Toyota-style initiative, detailing the buyer’s efforts to develop internal lean capabilities concurrently with developing lean in its supplier network. It compares the Network for supplier innovation (NSI) initiative with TSN development regarding activities, organizations and knowledge-sharing routines.
Findings
Unlike the sequential development in the case of Toyota, NSI improved performance and capabilities in the buyer’s supplier network by implementing lean in the firm and its supplier network concurrently. Third-party involvement was the key to the initiative’s success.
Research limitations/implications
The findings are based on an in-depth single-case study which allows theoretical generalization but not statistical generalization. Furthermore, the case study concerns an initiative with Norwegian firms during a financial recession. Future studies should consider these limitations on how firms with evolving lean capabilities can develop a TSN-style supplier network and the importance of involving third parties operating in the role of lean master.
Practical implications
This study suggests what buying firms should consider when designing a TSN initiative, enrolling suppliers and engaging third parties that can take on the role of lean master.
Originality/value
Previous research has focused on how mature lean firms develop lean suppliers and networks. This paper extends this to firms whose lean capabilities are still evolving.
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Daryl John Powell and Paul Coughlan
This paper investigates developing a learning-to-learn capability as a critical success factor for sustainable lean transformation.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper investigates developing a learning-to-learn capability as a critical success factor for sustainable lean transformation.
Design/methodology/approach
This research design is guided by our research question: how can suppliers learn to learn as part of a buyer-led collaborative lean transformation? The authors adopt action learning research to generate actionable knowledge from a lean supplier development initiative over a three-year period.
Findings
Drawing on emergent insights from the initiative, the authors find that developing a learning-to-learn capability is a core and critical success factor for lean transformation. The authors also find that network action learning has a significant enabling role in buyer-led collaborative lean transformations.
Originality/value
The authors contribute to lean theory and practice by making the distinction between learning about and implementing lean best practices and adopting a learning-to-learn perspective to build organisational capabilities, consistent with lean thinking and practice. Further, the authors contribute to methodology, adopting action learning research to explore learning-to-learn as a critical success factor for sustainable lean transformation.
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The purpose of the paper is to demonstrate how Toyota deploys Lean Manufacturing and Toyota Production System (TPS) for their automotive parts’ suppliers in Philippines based on…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of the paper is to demonstrate how Toyota deploys Lean Manufacturing and Toyota Production System (TPS) for their automotive parts’ suppliers in Philippines based on the case study and the literature review.
Design/methodology/approach
The methods to better understand how Toyota donates Lean Manufacturing to develop their suppliers include to review the general Lean thinking process and tools and study in depth the selected Lean manufacturing tools that are directly related with Toyota supplier development and to show the actual implementations base in the case of the supplier of Toyota in Philippines.
Findings
The result of the case study shows how Toyota donates their Lean manufacturing (TPS) methods to the suppliers. There are several procedures and various tools for the Lean process. But one procedure within the process and only some of the Lean tools are suitable for supplier development. The case shows that all improvements (Kaizen) during the Lean implementation should be directly intertwined onsite (Genba) and just a small amount of the Lean tools is needed in real-world situations. In other words, the consultation of the Lean implementation might not require the full package of the Lean implementations. More importantly, the consultations of the Lean implementation without deeply understanding the onsite are useless.
Research limitations/implications
The project for the Lean deployment for supplier implementation is targeted to understand the full procedure from the start to the end, but the case in this paper is only covering the setup phase. As the suppliers of Toyota, there are additional parts to be implemented (i.e. shipping management), but it is not covered in this paper.
Originality/value
There are some researches about Lean implementation framework, and only few cases deal with the actual Lean implementations. But the case about the Lean implementation of supplier development initiation which aligned with the Toyota Company is unique.
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Leandro D.B. dos Santos, Elsebeth Holmen and Ann-Charlott Pedersen
The purpose of this paper is to discuss key elements of lean supply (LS) in light of core concepts in the Industrial Marketing and Purchasing Group (IMP) perspective.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to discuss key elements of lean supply (LS) in light of core concepts in the Industrial Marketing and Purchasing Group (IMP) perspective.
Design/methodology/approach
First, the authors examine the literature on LS and identify and discuss important characteristics and key elements of LS. Second, the authors present key concepts in the IMP Perspective, in particular the dyad versus network levels, and the ARA model, capturing activities, resources, and actors. Third, the authors cross-fertilize the concepts from these two streams of research.
Findings
The authors identify 12 key LS elements. Relating these to core IMP frameworks, they identify areas of LS that can be expanded. First, the authors found that key elements in LS mainly focus on the dyadic level and that the network level is addressed to a much lesser extent and primarily captures serial “chain” connections among relationships. Second, it was found that key elements in LS predominantly focus on the activity layer and pay much less attention to resources and actors.
Research limitations/implications
The authors suggest that LS theory and practice can benefit from taking a network perspective, and by paying more attention to resource and actor concepts and issues. The study is purely theoretical.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no previous studies combine LS and the IMP perspective. The authors add to LS by elaborating how 12 key elements in LS can be expanded.
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Léony Luis Lopes Negrão, Moacir Godinho Filho, Gilberto Miller Devós Ganga, Sunil Chopra, Matthias Thürer, Mário Sacomano Neto and Giuliano Almeida Marodin
The purpose of this paper is to explore the adoption of lean practices by manufacturing companies in regions of low economic and technological development and to compare findings…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the adoption of lean practices by manufacturing companies in regions of low economic and technological development and to compare findings with previous studies from more developed regions highlighting important contextual differences. The paper uses the contingency theory to explore how contextual variables and scarce resources influence the adoption of lean practices.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey of 233 manufacturing firms was conducted in the State of Pará in the Amazon Region of Brazil.
Findings
The results demonstrate that six internal lean practices (single minute exchange of dies, human resource management, continuous flow, total productive maintenance, pull and statistical process control) and two external lean practices (supplier feedback and customer involvement) are implemented. However, the two external lean practices of just-in-time delivery by suppliers and supplier development were not implemented. Furthermore, from the 36 operating items comprised in eight lean practices that are being used, 13 were not implemented. As such, compared to developed regions, there is evidence for a more fragmented implementation in less developed regions. The results reveal empirical evidence explained by the contingency perspective, such as national, geographical, strategic context and culture.
Originality/value
There is broad evidence on lean implementation in developed and developing countries in the literature. However, little is known about lean implementation in poorer regions of developing counties. This is one of the first studies mapping lean implementation in a region with low economic and technological development. This has important implications for research and practice, especially to cross-country/cultural research on operation management.
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Toyota's management system, more formally known as the Toyota production system (TPS) is one of the most benchmarked business improvement strategies in modern industry. While many…
Abstract
Purpose
Toyota's management system, more formally known as the Toyota production system (TPS) is one of the most benchmarked business improvement strategies in modern industry. While many companies try to emulate Toyota's success using a variety of different approaches, most practitioners are not aware how Toyota replicates TPS at suppliers. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the in‐house capabilities that are transferred from Toyota to suppliers as a way to more deeply understand how TPS can evolve.
Design/methodology/approach
This work studies Toyota's supplier development practices by evaluating organizational documents using latent semantic analysis (LSA). LSA is a theory and method for extracting and representing the contextual‐usage and meaning of words and phrases by statistical computation applied to text. LSA is based on singular value decomposition (SVD), which is a mathematical matrix decomposition technique using factor analysis.
Findings
This work shows that Toyota targets processes, rather than whole systems, in assisting suppliers to be more effective at abnormality management. Findings also show that Toyota's approval process doesn't necessarily support major kaizen at suppliers yet does encourage minor day‐to‐day kaizen. Finally, this work reports that the Toyota Way for suppliers does not have to be adopted by suppliers, but does represent “A Way” to interact with suppliers to drive both culture and productivity simultaneously.
Originality/value
The paper uses a new method for analyzing Toyota's supplier development practices by mathematically representing and analyzing Toyota's organizational documents. This new method allows various components and features of Toyota's supplier development process to be represented and described in a way that offers many unique insights.
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Daria Kovalevskaya, Elsebeth Holmen, Aristidis Kaloudis and Ann-Charlott Pedersen
This paper aims to develop the existing theoretical concept of a triad by informing it with the activity-resource-actor (ARA) model in a new empirical context of lean management…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to develop the existing theoretical concept of a triad by informing it with the activity-resource-actor (ARA) model in a new empirical context of lean management (LM).
Design/methodology/approach
This conceptual paper draws on the industrial marketing and purchasing (IMP) school of thought and the ARA model as theoretical lenses to inform research on triads in an LM context.
Findings
The authors find that closed buyer-supplier-supplier (BSS) and buyer-supplier-logistics service provider (BSL) triads, which we call “lean triads,” had a positive impact on LM. The authors display the drivers for closure – LM improvements (Table 2) and the properties of these “lean triads” (Figure 3).
Research limitations/implications
The paper focuses only on closed triads and is based on previous empirical studies.
Practical implications
The authors demonstrate to lean managers the drivers for connecting their partners in BSS and BSL triads and show the importance of developing relationships on three layers between all three actors in both triads to improve a firm’s lean performance.
Originality/value
The authors contribute to the discussion within the IMP school of thought on the value of triads by enriching the understanding of a triad concept with the ARA model, which compounds a concept of a multilayered triad in an LM context.
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Leopoldo Gutierrez, Bart Alex Lameijer, Gopesh Anand, Jiju Antony and Vijaya Sunder M
The purpose of this study is to theorize and test the relationships among lean operations and lean supply chain practices, learning- and innovation-oriented lean cultures and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to theorize and test the relationships among lean operations and lean supply chain practices, learning- and innovation-oriented lean cultures and dynamic capabilities (DCs) microfoundations. Further, this study aims to assess the association of DCs microfoundations with process innovation.
Design/methodology/approach
The researchers combine primary data collected from 153 manufacturing firms located in five continents using a survey designed for the purpose of this study with archival data downloaded from the Bureau Van Dijk Orbis database and test the hypothesized relationships using structural equation modelling.
Findings
Results support the contribution of lean operations and lean supply chain practices to the development of DCs microfoundations, which further lead to greater process innovation. Additionally, while a learning-oriented lean culture positively moderates the relationships between both lean operations and lean supply chain practices and DCs microfoundations, an innovation-oriented lean culture only moderates the relationship between lean operations practices and DCs microfoundations.
Practical implications
This study identifies DCs microfoundations as the key mechanisms for firms implementing lean practices to achieve greater levels of process innovation and the important role played by lean cultures. This study provides direction for managers to put in place DCs through lean implementations, enabling their firms to be ready to respond to challenges and opportunities generated by environmental changes.
Originality/value
While previous research has confirmed the positive effects of lean practices on efficiency, the role of lean practices and cultures in developing capabilities for reacting to environmental dynamism has received little attention. This study offers an empirically supported framework that highlights the potential of lean to adapt processes in response to environmental dynamics, thereby extending the lean paradigm beyond the traditional focus on operational efficiency.
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Lawrence P. Grasso and Thomas Tyson
This study investigates the relationship between lean manufacturing practices, management accounting and performance measurement (MAC & PM) practices, organizational strategy…
Abstract
This study investigates the relationship between lean manufacturing practices, management accounting and performance measurement (MAC & PM) practices, organizational strategy, structure, and culture, and facility performance. We extended past research by examining the relationships between lean manufacturing, MAC & PM practices and performance in a broader organizational context. Our study was performed using survey data provided by managers and executives at 368 facilities that had contacted the Shingo Institute for information or that had entered a Shingo Prize competition. Consistent with past research we found a significant positive association between lean manufacturing practices and lean MAC & PM practices. We found that greater employee empowerment, use of process performance measures, and use of lean accounting practices were driven primarily by lean strategy and secondarily by the extent of lean manufacturing practices. We also found that changes in organization structure to support lean are driven primarily by lean strategy and secondarily by lean manufacturing practices. Change toward lean culture, on the other hand, is driven by the extent of lean manufacturing practices. Further, we found that emphasizing process performance measures does not reduce emphasis on results performance measures and emphasizing results performance measures leads to improved financial performance. Process and results measures are being used in tandem and value stream costing has not replaced traditional accounting. The results of our study provide important insights for managers of companies engaged in lean transformation and for academics who teach or research lean accounting.
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Narpat Ram Sangwa and Kuldip Singh Sangwan
The purpose of this paper is to review various themes of leanness, leanness assessment approaches, leanness assessment areas, and their evolution by a systematic literature review…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to review various themes of leanness, leanness assessment approaches, leanness assessment areas, and their evolution by a systematic literature review (SLR).
Design/methodology/approach
The eight types of literature review methodologies are identified and compared. The SLR is selected after critically analyzing the eight types of literature reviews. A four-phased SLR (i.e. plan, do, analyze/synthesize, and propose) has been carried out based on the peer-reviewed journal and conference articles on leanness assessment.
Findings
The existing literature on leanness assessment shows the lack of review-based papers on lean assessment. This study attempts to build a two-fold contribution to the field of leanness assessment: first, various types of themes, approaches, and assessment areas are identified; second, a framework for leanness assessment is proposed. The study shows that the research on leanness assessment is mainly empirical using qualitative judgment. The paper traces the changes in scope, areas, and approaches to leanness assessment. The scope of leanness assessment broadened from manufacturing process assessment to whole supply chain assessment including manufacturing process. The focus of earlier assessment was manufacturing and financial areas which now includes human resource, administration, new product development, suppliers, and customers also. Tool and technique based assessment has given way to outcome-based assessment using non-financial and qualitative parameters.
Research limitations/implications
One of the limitations of the study is that literature search was mainly focused on peer-reviewed articles published in English language only; therefore, some papers in others languages may have been missed. Apart from this, the SLR has been conducted for the manufacturing sector only.
Practical implications
The study is expected to be useful for the lean practitioners to identify the causes of reported lean failures. Moreover, the authors also expect that the conducted SLR will provide the passage to the practitioners for not only fostering the concepts on leanness assessment but also provide the vital and significant knowledge about the leanness assessment to the managers for enhancing organizational performance.
Originality/value
As per the authors’ knowledge, this is the first SLR on leanness assessment. It is expected that this paper will help the researchers working in the area of lean manufacturing to identify new areas of research.
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