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Research has shown that one of the reasons lean transformations fail is inadequate lean knowledge of supervisors. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the development of a lean training program for front-line manufacturing supervisors to provide them with the knowledge needed to engage their teams in daily continuous improvement.

A literature review was conducted on best practices in training design for positive transfer. Action research using qualitative methodologies was used to develop and pilot a new lean leadership training program for supervisors at one site within a case study company. The pilot was evaluated and continuously improved for future waves of training, consistent with action research, lean philosophies and training best practices.

Employee engagement has dramatically increased since the training class began and the number of lean improvements implemented in Operations at the case study company has increased 160 per cent. Manufacturing lead-time has also been reduced by more than 30 per cent. Because of the positive results from the training, it has been expanded at the pilot site and spread to other sites within the case study company.

As with any case study, one must take care when attempting to generalize findings beyond the case being examined. However, the pilot training program was successfully extended to several sites across different business segments of the case study company, increasing the likelihood that similar results may apply in other cases.

The case provides empirical evidence of the development of an effective training program to mature the lean capability of supervisors. Other companies seeking to provide training to develop front-line lean leaders can benefit from the lessons learned from the case study.

This study describes how two organisations transitioned to teaching Lean online during and post Covid-19. This study aims to establish how Lean teaching and training can be designed and delivered effectively online without adverse effects on the student’s learning experience of Lean concepts.

A case study approach was used to review the design, application and results of the transition to online Lean teaching and training. Qualitative and quantitative methods were deployed to assess the results.

Online Lean learning and application were assured via the design of practical problem-based teaching environments, aided by using the virtual classroom as an obeya room and as a kaizen environment where students worked in teams. Students were enabled to learn and apply Lean tools practically and reflect on their learnings.

This study demonstrates that effective online design can ensure. Lean methods are understood without affecting the student's learning, classroom experience and grasp of concepts.

To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is one of the first studies on implementing Lean training and education online during COVID-19 under the lens of both a training provider and university education viewpoint. The changes validated best practices for virtual Lean education and training in the organisations under study, maintained post-COVID.

The aim of this study is to investigate the outcomes of a leading Swedish truck maker (referred to as “TruckCo” for confidentiality reasons) providing lean training to its strategic suppliers.

A single in-depth case study is conducted, using on-site semi-structured interviews with representatives from TruckCo and its suppliers for data collection.

The lean training program resulted in four main outcomes. First, financially unstable suppliers were less receptive to the lean training program than financially stable suppliers. Second, the suppliers became easier to collaborate with over time, through improving their internal ways of working and thus creating more trust in terms of reliability. Third, the suppliers improved their ability to identify possible problems that could jeopardize deliveries. Fourth and finally, the suppliers improved their delivery precision.

One limitation of this study is that its findings are based on a single in-depth case study. Another limitation is that all the involved companies originate from Sweden. These limitations should be considered in attempts to replicate or further test the reported findings.

This study provides insights into how a manufacturer can teach lean management to suppliers, and how suppliers can be involved in a manufacturer's journey towards a leaner supply chain. Furthermore, the study reflects more generally on the potential outcomes of a manufacturer providing lean training to suppliers.

This study highlights both TruckCo's and the suppliers' view of the outcomes of the lean training program and discusses how different suppliers adopt the taught lean practices. Avenues for future research are proposed as well.

This paper aims to study the challenge of transferring knowledge among product development processes of an research and development department and other departments of the organization. To have a more concise focus on this broad field and having a lean perspective, this paper aims to analyse and identify how the cross-training employee lean tool affects the knowledge transfer processes in the previously mentioned departments.

This paper bases its research on a valid theoretical framework which is built to develop an explorative perspective that allows the authors to create and interpret the data collected from the companies through interviews. The paper uses a qualitative perspective by using the expertise of the companies not only to validate and draw conclusions from the studied theoretical framework but also to look beyond it.

The companies agree that the implementation of the cross-training employee lean tool will have a positive effect on the knowledge transfer processes in the organizations. Other important advantages that are detected are that this lean tool broadens the knowledge and the competences of employees, and that it helps the company to manage the tacit knowledge. However, some unexpected drawbacks such as the lack of metrics for measuring the knowledge transfer and the strictness of this lean tool were also found.

No previous research exists that analyses the effect of cross-training lean tool in knowledge transfer processes. This paper identifies such a gap in the literature and is used as the starting point to motivate the use of this tool to improve knowledge transfer processes due to the positive effects of it.

The purpose of this paper is to identify workplace factors with an impact on lean performance (LP). This can lead to better LP outcomes, thus facilitating organizations to smoothly move from the conventional to lean management.

The direct effects of training, knowledge acquisition and organizational culture are empirically investigated using data from 126 managers employed at a global company, which recently has improved its LP. Study’s hypotheses were analyzed with hierarchical regression models.

The findings suggest that not all of the aforementioned workplace factors holistically affect LP. Only organizational culture is associated to the four LP variables (i.e. continuous improvement, waste, ergonomy and product quality). Training and knowledge acquisition offer partially effects on LP with training to contribute mostly to predicting continuous improvements. Knowledge acquisition alone, has significant yet negative impact on both continuous improvement and ergonomy. Even more, when training is combined with knowledge acquisition the results are different.

As this study highlights the impact of workplace practices on LP, attributes mainly importance to the distinct effects that each of the aforementioned factors has on the four distinct LP variables. Although the study results reflect a particular case, its recommendations could facilitate practitioners to achieve better lean outcomes.

Simulation has attracted increasing attention in lean production research as a response to address the complexities of the production environment and difficulties of dealing with changes within a system. Considerable growth of using simulation to facilitate lean acceptance and implementation has been observed across different projects and sectors. However, a thorough review of the development and use of simulation in lean production research is limited.

This study aims to address this gap by reviewing 311 journal papers published in the past two decades on this specific research area and identify the state-of-the-art development and propose future research directions.

The review shows that current studies related to simulation in lean production research can be categorised into two major research streams, namely, simulation assisted lean facilitation and evaluation, and simulation-based lean education and training. Under the first research stream, a total of 19 application areas have been identified which applied both lean and simulation in their studies. The evolution of the simulation techniques used in these studies has been analysed as well. Meanwhile, four types of simulation games have been identified in the stream of simulation-based lean education and training and the impact and applicability of the different simulation and games have been discussed. A framework for engaging lean and simulation is suggested based on the review of the existing studies. The analysis in both streams also highlights the importance of stakeholder engagement and the utilisation of information technologies for future studies.

The findings of this study are expected to provide useful references for the future development and application of simulation in lean production research.

This paper conducted a broad and extensive review of simulation integrated lean production research. An in-depth examination of the retrieved papers was conducted through a structured and quantitative analysis to understand the current body of knowledge.

The purpose of this paper is to support total productive maintenance implementers by providing a roadmap for autonomous maintenance (AM) preparation phase.

The authors use the axiomatic design (AD) methodology with lean philosophy as a paradigm.

This is an exploratory research to find the most important factors in AM preparation phase. A decoupled AD design ensures an effective usage of training within industry (TWI) and the introduction of standardized work (SW). TWI provides value in importance it assigns to leaders, with its “train the trainers” approach and in preparing a training program. Besides being an effective training method, TWI job instruction (TWI JI) provides needed information infrastructure to front load operators SW and equipment trainings.

Although AD, TWI and lean artifacts are generally field proven, the research is limited due to the lack of an industrial application.

In many real-life projects, companies do not know where to start and how to proceed, which leads to costly iterations. The proposed roadmap minimizes iterations and increases the chance of project success.

The authors apply AD for the first time to AM preparation phase despite it is used in the analysis of lean manufacturing. AD permits to structure holistically the most relevant lean manufacturing solutions to obtain a risk free roadmap. TWI has emerged as a training infrastructure; TWI JI-based operator SW training and the adaptation of JI structure to equipment training are original additions.

This study aims to explore how placement of lean practices (removal of waste from all areas of an organization’s value stream) (Worley and Doolen, 2006) within different organizational strategic contexts can affect the factors that lead to lean implementation success.

The authors use empirical data to examine how strategy affects various factors that are identified as prerequisites for successful lean implementation. Specifically, this study uses Venkatraman’s (1998) measures to examine various types of strategy within organizations, how they correlate with both the workers’ mindset (perceived job security and perceived personal benefits of lean) and the processes in implementation (training on lean concepts and techniques).

Findings indicate that a relationship exists between strategy and factors needed for lean implementation success. Perceived job security had a positive relationship with all four types of strategies examined (proactiveness, defensiveness, analysis and futurity) (Venkatraman, 1998). Moreover, perceived personal benefits of lean had a positive relationship with futurity but negative relationships with proactiveness and defensiveness strategies. Finally, training on lean concepts and techniques was positively related to analysis and futurity strategies but negatively related to proactiveness strategy.

The authors’ research illustrates the positive impact of aligning lean with strategy. This topic may be of particular interest to executives, especially middle managers, looking to improve firm performance.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the possibilities for expansive learning during organisational change. It considers the introduction of “lean production” as a disturbance to the existing work practices.

The paper considers two case studies of “lean production” training with production workers in manufacturing firms. Data for the study consisted of semi-structured interviews, observations of workers during work and training. Engeström’s third-generation cultural historical activity theory was used as the key theoretical tool for analysis.

The study found that the introduction of and training for “lean production” did not lead to expansive learning. The training did not afford spaces to address the fundamental contradictions between the “earning a living” and ”productivity” motives of work.

Further research on the different kinds of “spaces” for learning could lead to greater insights into the affordances of expansive learning in workplaces. In particular, the concept of “third space” is useful in such an endeavour.

Training designed to increase productivity could integrate more discussions about what workers themselves should expect to gain from increased productivity.

The paper presents a critical perspective on recent case studies of workplace training at a time when workforce development and “lean production” are uncritically promulgated as beneficial. It highlights the opportunities that exist for critical educators to make interventions in the interests of the workers.

This study explores how Lean was deployed in several hospitals in the Apulia region in Italy over 3.5 years.

An exploratory qualitative design was drawn up based on semi-structured interviews.

The drivers of Lean in hospitals were to increase patient satisfaction and improve workplace well-being by eliminating non-value-add waste. The participants highlighted three key elements of the pivotal implementation stages of Lean: introduction, spontaneous and informal dissemination and strategic level implementation and highlighted critical success and failure factors that emerged for each of these stages. During the introduction, training and coaching from an external consultant were among the most impactful factors in the success of pilot projects, while time constraints and the adoption of process analysis tools were the main barriers to implementation. The experiences of the Lean teams strongly influence the process of spontaneous dissemination aided by the celebration of project results and the commitment of the departmental hospital heads.

Lean culture can spread to allow many projects be conducted spontaneously, but the Lean paradigm can struggle to be adopted strategically. Lean in healthcare can fail because of the lack of alignment of Lean with leadership in healthcare and with their strategic vision, a lack of employees' project management skills and crucially the absence of a Lean steering committee.

The absence of managerial expertise and a will to support Lean implementation do not allow for systemic adoption of Lean. This is one of the first and largest long-term case studies on a Lean cross-regional multi-hospital application in healthcare.