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This study aims to provide a foundation for the development of subcontracts that suit takt production in construction.

This is a non-empiric conceptual study, which integrates takt production and general construction literature into new proposals for subcontract clauses suitable for takt production in construction. This study uses literature reviews, from which proposals regarding takt production viable subcontract clauses are conducted via logical reasoning.

A total of 13 proposals for takt production applicable subcontracts are provided in this study. The proposals emphasize detailed and collaborative planning, suitable payment methods and flexibility for takt plan modification.

Previous takt literature has not properly addressed the development of subcontracts for takt production, despite regular attempts to use subcontracting in takt production. This study aims to aid main contractors to create fair and suitable subcontracts, so that adhering to takt schedules could be more viable in practice. This study also acts as a foundation for further empirical studies regarding the subject.

The purpose of this study is to identify the perception of workers before, during and after the implementation of changes derived from the lean manufacturing (LM) technique called value stream mapping (VSM) analysis and the causes that lead to this perception.

A qualitative methodological research design was adopted, using individual transcribed and coded interviews as the primary method of data collection.

At the beginning of the VSM changes, this study found strong denial and resistance emotional responses from workers due to the uncertainty and stress generated. The main cause of this resistance was their lack of understanding of the VSM analysis process presenting technical concepts, due to their educational level and the lack of a pre-existing organisational culture oriented toward continuous improvement. However, in the last stage of change, it is found that the workers accepted the new improvement proposals without resignation, improving their productivity and work performance because they saw and understood the improvements as effective.

This study will enable those responsible for organisations to anticipate the negative reactions that may arise from the organisational changes stemming from the implementation of VSM improvements. In addition, it adds new knowledge bases to the literature on the emotional consequences for employees during LM changes through VSM.

This study provides a qualitative analysis of the perceived emotional impact on workers that participated in LM techniques, in this case, focused on VSM analysis. It is an exploratory study that serves as a foundation for future research in the quantitative field.

This study aims to carry out a systematic literature review (SLR) on the integration of Lean, Industry 4.0 and the supply chain or the Lean Supply Chain (LSC) 4.0. The research analyses the current research on the LSC 4.0 concept in an increasingly digitalised world. The authors present the benefits, motivations, critical success factors and challenges of integrating the LSC with Industry 4.0 technologies within this emerging area of research.

An SLR is carried out on how Lean can be integrated with Supply Chain 4.0. Using the search strings of “Lean Supply Chain 4.0,” “Lean Supply Chain Management 4.0” and “Lean Supply Chain Digitalisation,” a review of published literature was carried out via searches on academic databases.

Industry 4.0 has a synergistic effect on the LSC and, depending on the technology and sector applied in, can complement and enhance the LSC. Similarly, the LSC is a precursor for digitalisation. There are considerable implications in the LSC 4.0 for green and sustainable processes.

Organisations can use this study to understand what the LSC 4.0 means to industry, the benefits and motivating factors for implementation, the critical success factors (CSFs) to implementation and the challenges for implementation.

This study adds to state of the art around the LSC 4.0 and future directions in this nascent research area. This study will aid organisations in understanding how Lean, supply chain management and Industry 4.0 can be integrated.

This study is focused to support an ongoing development project of the case company's current state and the challenges of the order-to-cash (O2C) process. The O2C process is the most visible process to the customer, and therefore, its punctual and fluent order management is vital. It is observed that the high degree of manual work in the O2C process causes mistakes, delays and rework in the process. The purpose of this article is therefore to analyze the case company's current state of the O2C process as well as to identify the areas of development in this process by deploying the means of Lean Six Sigma tools such as value stream mapping (VSM).

The study was conducted as a mix of quantitative and qualitative analysis. Based on both the quantitative and qualitative data, a workshop on VSM was organized to analyze the current state of the O2C process of a case company, engaged in the energy and environment sector in Finland.

The results found that excessive manual work was highly connected to inadequate or incorrect data in pricing and invoicing activities, which resulted in canceled invoices. Canceled invoices are visible to the customer and have a negative impact on the customer experience. This study found that by improving the performance of the O2C process activities and improving communication among the internal and external stakeholders, the whole O2C process can perform more effectively and provide better customer value.

The O2C process is the most visible process to the customer and therefore its punctual and fluent order management is vital. To ensure that the O2C process is operating as desired, suitable process performance metrics need to be aligned and followed. The results gathered from the case company's data, questionnaire interviews, and the VSM workshop are all highlighted in this study. The main practical and managerial implications were to understand the real-time O2C process performance, which is necessary to ensure strong performance and enhance continuous improvement of the O2C process that leads to operational excellence and commercial competitiveness of the studied case company.

This study aims to propose a tailored Lean Six Sigma framework providing an accessible Lean Six Sigma methodology for compound feed manufacturers with the aim of mitigating rising costs and increasingly complex demands from customers.

A Lean Six Sigma framework was designed combining Lean value stream mapping and Six Sigma structured problem-solving with a case study in an Irish compound feed manufacturer.

The study found that the Lean Six Sigma implementation framework provided a simplified approach, which fitted the resource availability within compound feed manufacturing.

The study is limited by the constraints of a sole case study in providing empirical evidence of the effectiveness of the framework. Nevertheless, a conceptual Lean Six Sigma model is proposed, which will assist compound feed manufacturers implementing a continuous improvement approach.

This paper proposes a simplified approach to the implementation of Lean Six Sigma in agricultural compound feed manufacturers and in small and medium-sized organisations. This is the first such study in Ireland and will add to the body of work on Lean in agriculture and aid other agri-businesses and compound feed manufacturers in understanding how Lean Six Sigma can benefit.

Integration, that is, the coordination and alignment of tasks, is widely promoted as a means to improve hospital performance. A previous study examined integration and differentiation, that is, the extent to which tasks are segmented into subsystems, in a hospital's social network. The current study carries this research further, aiming to explain integration and differentiation by studying the rules and coordination mechanisms that agents in a hospital network use.

The current case study deepens the analysis of the social network in a hospital. All planning tasks and tasks for surgery performance were studied, using a naturalistic inquiry approach and a mixed method.

Of the 314 rules found, 85% predominantly exist in people's minds, 31% are in documents and 7% are in the information system. In the early planning stages for a surgery procedure, mutual adjustment based on hospital-wide rules is dominant. Closer to the day of surgery, local rules are used and open loops are closed through mutual adjustment, thus achieving integration. On the day of surgery, there is mainly standardization of work and output, based on hospital-wide rules. The authors propose topics for future research, focusing on increasing the hospital's robustness and stability.

This exploratory case study provides an overview of the rules and coordination mechanisms that are used for organizing hospital-wide logistics for surgery patients. The findings are important for future research on how integration and differentiation are effectively achieved in hospitals.

Many problems occur when assigning tasks to work centres, especially in determining the required number of workstations for line balancing which requires a minimum theoretical number of workstations. The most common problem is bottleneck. In this paper, a method is proposed to solve floating tasks problem in single-model line when the actual required number of workstations exceeds the minimum theoretical number, and the standard time of the floating task (work center) exceeds the cycle time. The floating task will represent a critical bottleneck activity in line. The proposed method depends on minimizing the standard time of critical bottleneck and non-critical activities by a minimum free-floating time depends on the average of slack times of the non-critical activities, and it will increase the line efficiency from (77%) to (88%), and balance delay is minimized from (23%) to (12%).