Effect of Lean Practices on Organizational Performance

PurposeFirst, this study aims to examine the level of implementation of lean manufacturing (LM) practices by the small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the wooden furniture industry in Jepara. Second is to examine the impact of LM practices on operational performance (OP) and business performance (BP). Third is to examine the impact of LM practices on BP with OP as a mediating and moderating variable. OP is the quantifiable aspect of the process of an organisation, such as production cycle time, reliability and inventory turnover, whereas BP is usually related to the responsibility of the firms to their shareholders and has the goal of profit maximization.Design/methodology/approachThis study used primary data collected through an offline questionnaire. The questionnaire was intended to identify the extent of the implementation of LM practices and the level of OP and BP achieved by SMEs. The LM practices consist of 6 dimensions with 26 indicators; OP, 4 dimensions with 11 indicators; and BP, 3 dimensions with 9 indicators. The data obtained from the questionnaire were processed via partial least squares (PLS) regression using the SmartPLS software. PLS is generally used to assess the extent to which LM practices predict values in OP and BP.FindingsA total of 100 questionnaires were administered, of which 81% were properly filled, completed and returned. The result of the study confirms that LM practices should be applied collectively and comprehensively as each practice is interdependent. Moreover, it confirms that these practices have a direct effect on OP and BP and that OP can drive broader BP measures. Finally, the result confirms that these practices can improve BP indirectly with OP as a mediator variable. While the empirical evidence in this study supported the role of OP as a mediating variable between the implementation of LM practices and OB, it did not support the role of OP as a moderating variable.Research limitations/implicationsFirst, it is arguable that LM practices, OP and BP are only measured by the Likert scale, which would likely create bias and inconsistency from the owners or managers of SMEs in expressing the level of LM practices and performances achieved by the SMEs in the wooden furniture industry. Future research may help establish qualitative approaches to better measure the LM practices as well as the OP and BP through observation and probing. Second, this study was limited geographically (limited to only the SMEs in the wooden furniture industry in Jepara and did not cover all regions in Central Java as well as in Indonesia). Therefore, a wider geographical area could be considered, including the other regions in Indonesia which also produce wooden furniture.Practical implicationsThis study practically contributes to the LM body of knowledge by identifying the relationships among the LM practices, OP and BP in SMEs. Understanding these relationships will help the owner or managers of SMEs make better decisions in achieving the OP and BP. The owner or managers of SMEs who implement the LM practices individually may experience disappointing performance results as these practices should be applied collectively and comprehensively.Social implicationsThe LM practices may help the owners or managers of the SMEs to be competitive and achieve the optimum result.Originality/valueThis is the first known study that adopts the PLS framework to examine how OP measurement affects the relationship between the LM practices and BP in the case of the SMEs in Indonesia.

Abstract: Companies strive for superior results. Focusing on return, performance, and profitability is mainstream; this reasoning is constantly present in the decisions of the strategic operational management of companies. Based on this assumption, the objective of this work is to evaluate empirically whether the degree to which a company implements a combination of Just in Time (JIT) or Lean Manufacturing practices systematically affects the company's operational, financial, and/or organisational performance. For this, a meta-analysis was carried out; the final sample consisted of 28 articles, with 41 studies and 12,708 included subjects who provided the effects that explain the proposed relationship. The data were collected in the Web of Science, EBSCO, and Science Direct databases, with an open period, considering all works available until July 2020. Among the main findings, JIT practices and the company's operational performance present a positive, significant, medium effect. Lean manufacturing practices demonstrate a positive and significant relationship in operational, financial, and organisational performance, all with an average impact on the effect size. No direct relationship was found between the JIT variables and organisational performance (financial, operational, and environmental), based on the TBL. Additional research is needed regarding the relationship of JIT and Lean Manufacturing practices with the organisational performance (financial, operational, and environmental) based on the TBL, as well as an in-depth analysis of previous research related to green Lean practices and their relationship with organisational performance, based on the TBL.

Purpose of the study: Lean manufacturing is perceived to be a significant competitive advantage of firms as it removes waste from manufacturing operations with innovations in products and processes. This research aims to know the impact of lean manufacturing practices of textile firms on their operational efficiency.
 Methodology: For this study, questionnaires were electronically sent to operation/ production managers of 122 textile firms using lean manufacturing technologies in Pakistan. Based on the literature review, nine lean manufacturing practices and five operational performance measures were included in the questionnaire survey. Just 91 operation managers replied, a response rate of 74%. Multiple regression analysis was performed to test the hypotheses of the study.
 Main findings: The results of regression analysis show that lean manufacturing practices significantly impact the operational performance of textile firms. The study's findings suggest that the involvement of customers, suppliers, and employees causes an increase in the operating performance of firms. Moreover, it is established that some lean manufacturing practices such as 5S, automation (Jidoka), Justin time (JIT), equipment layout, and continuous improvement (Kaizen) have a significant and positive effect on the operational performance of firms.
 Application of the study: The lean manufacturing practices save money for businesses and increases overall productivity by reducing waste. These are also helpful in increasing consumer loyalty and employee productivity. The study's results show that lean production methods can be adopted to improve operating performance and competitiveness.
 Originality/ Novelty: This study adds a piece of first-hand evidence by establishing a significant effect of lean manufacturing practices of firms on their operational performance in Pakistan, where most of the firms so far are using traditional techniques due to lack of financial resources.

Simulation of Integrated Total Quality Management (TQM) with Lean Manufacturing (LM) Practices in Forming Process Using Delmia Quest

This paper introduces a literature review of 83 studies dealing with the degree of adoption of lean manufacturing practices around the world, and the links between those practices and organisation performance. The results of this study revealed that lean practices application still occurs in a fragmented way, disregarding the systemic linkage that is essential to lean manufacturing. Forty-one articles have suggested a positive effect of lean practices in at least one operational, financial and/or environmental performance metric. Nevertheless, five studies indicated that some lean practices had a negative effect on operational or financial performance. High demand variability, a perceived result of long-term lean manufacturing implementation, a country/company’s organisational culture and the difficulty of traditional costing production systems to measure and compare investments and economic gains from adopting lean manufacturing over time are some of the reasons to explain that negative effect of lean practice on performance.

This research article aims to examine the relationship between lean manufacturing practices and operational performance of small and medium sized manufacturing enterprises, operating in India. Using a survey questionnaire, responses were collected from 121 manufacturing firms in India. Bivariate correlation and linear regression analyses were employed to investigate the effects of lean manufacturing methods on operational performance. Overall, the results from Indian manufacturing perspective indicate that lean strategy implementation is important predictor of operational performance. By testing the effect of lean manufacturing practices on operational performance of small-medium sized manufacturing businesses, this study shows strong foundation on lean manufacturing practices as an effective way of improving operational performance.

Manufacturing industries had embraced the trend of conceiving a robust manufacturing system and enhancing business performance with the implementation of Industry 4.0 digital technologies and lean manufacturing practices. Despite multiple studies being conducted to identify the correlation between Industry 4.0 digital technologies, lean manufacturing practices, and business performance, ambiguous and conflicting statements are often being debated among researchers. Hence, this study aims to provide empirical evidence gathered from Malaysian manufacturing industries using questionnaires to investigate and model their correlation and explore the mediating influence of Industry 4.0 digital technologies on lean manufacturing practices and business performance using PLS-SEM. Consequently, the findings from 124 respondents were compared with prior studies and revealed that both Lean Manufacturing Practices and Industry 4.0 Digital Technologies are positively correlated with one another, and they positively influence business performance, which findings are coherent with prior studies and fortifying the urgency of implementing both concepts for business performance enhancement. Moreover, this study successfully revealed that Industry 4.0 digital technologies mediate lean manufacturing practices and business performance proving the importance of Industry 4.0 to solving Lean’s limitation, which is not studied in prior studies. In addition, the framework in this study is more practical in providing appropriate theoretical and managerial insights for future action and works due to its medium predictive power associated. In a nutshell, this study effectively implies the substantial roles and reinforced the pragmatisms of implementing both lean manufacturing practices and Industry 4.0 digital technologies concurrently for business excellence.

PurposeThis study aims to comparatively discuss the effect of lean manufacturing (LM) implementation in the manufacturing sectors of developing and developed countries.Design/methodology/approachAn in-depth literature review focused on previous research published between 2015 and March 2020. The papers published by the databases such as Google Scholar, Scopus, ProQuest and Web of Science were used in the study. A total of 63 studies that focused on LM application in manufacturing industries in developing and developed countries were used in the research.FindingsIt was observed that LM improves operational performance for manufacturing organizations in developing and developed countries. Small and medium-sized enterprises in both developed and developing countries have difficulties transforming their organizations into lean organizations compared to large enterprises. Furthermore, the review also found that there seems to have been no paper had reported the negative impact of implementing LM in manufacturing industries in developing and developed countries from 2015 to March 2020.Research limitations/implicationsThe study used research papers written between January 2015 and March 2020 and only considered manufacturing organizations from developed and developing nations.Practical implicationsThe study provides more insight into LM implementation in developing and developed countries. It gives the LM practices and the implications of applying these practices in manufacturing organizations for developing and developed countries.Originality/valueA preliminary review of papers indicated that this seems to be the first paper that comparatively studies how LM implementation has affected manufacturing organizations in developed and developing countries. The study also assessed the LM practices commonly used by the manufacturing industries in developing and developed countries.

Lean manufacturing is now one of the most powerful manufacturing systems in the world. Numerous plants around the world have attempted to implement or adopt it to enhance their efficiency. However, little studies regarding lean manufacturing have been done in Malaysia especially in the electrical and electronics industry. The purpose of this study is to investigate the approach of adopting lean, the tools and techniques implemented, the changes in the organizations, the problems encountered as well as the lessons learnt. This paper describes the results and findings of four industrial case studies conducted in different electrical and electronics companies in Malaysia. Interviews were conducted with the key personnel to answer some issues which were crucial in this study. Comparisons and discussion were made among the case companies. One of the key findings obtained is that people in the organization should possess the lean mindset and act in the lean way in order to make a lean initiative successful. This is perhaps the first study that investigates the actual implementation of lean manufacturing in the Malaysian electrical and electronics industry. The information presented in this paper can be used or emulated by other companies in the same industry to improve their operational performance. Key words: Lean manufacturing, implementation, case studies, electrical and electronics, Malaysia.

This article drew on the resource-based view of the firm and assessed how manufacturing firms—particularly in developing countries—can leverage their IT resources in support of lean manufacturing and agile manufacturing. The data collection was conducted via a survey of Iranian automobile manufacturers that supply international automobile makers. The result showed that IT resources are crucial to the development of lean manufacturing and agile manufacturing. The value of IT is truly transformed to performance improvement when IT resources are effectively leveraged in support of these manufacturing systems. Lean and agile manufacturing are two manufacturing strategies that can co-exist in one system and agile manufacturing may flourish under lean manufacturing circumstances. Complementarities exist among different practices of lean manufacturing as well as different dimensions of agile manufacturing. The authors' findings offer theoretical insights regarding the values of IT-enabled lean manufacturing and agile manufacturing at operation and strategic levels.

The objective of this research is to explore the challenges in sustaining lean manufacturing practices with in the automotive sector. Lean Manufacturing is widely adopted to improve quality, reduce costs and enhance operational efficiency. However, sustaining these dynamic practices remains a significant challenge. Factors such as management related barriers, workforce resistance, process related and resources related barriers has considerable impact on sustenance of Lean Manufacturing practices. The research explored the sustainability of LM practices by gathering expert insights on 24 influencing factors. A survey was conducted among over 50 automotive industries in Karachi, to examine the challenges associated with management, workforce, process and resource related issues. The collected data was analyzed on SPSS to identify the key obstacle hindering the sustainability of Lean Manufacturing Practices. Findings indicate that while Lean Manufacturing practices are implemented across organizations, sustaining these practices is difficult. The impact of Workforce related, Resource related & Process related barriers was evident but Management related barriers, including lack of leadership support were found to be most influential factor. Employee resistance often stems from inadequate managerial involvement in Lean initiatives. To enhance Lean Manufacturing Practices sustainability, organizations needs to strengthen leadership commitment, provide continuous employee trainings and integrating a mechanism of follow ups and performance tracking. Future research expands the sample size and include multiple industries to gain broader insights into sustainability challenges across various sectors.

Unlocking synergies in lean manufacturing for enhanced environmental performance: a cross-sector investigation through fuzzy DEMATEL

Purpose The objective of this work is to demonstrate how the use of a business process management (BPM) methodology reinforced with the use of lean manufacturing (LM) tools and practices enhances information and documentation flows. Design/methodology/approach For this purpose, a case study on a large wind blade manufacturing company is described, in which BPM and LM were combined to improve information and documentation flows associated to the process of quality inspections and quality controls. Findings The joint use of BPM and LM strongly contributed to the improvement of information and documentation flows. The BPM lifecycle can be used to guide the entire improvement process, while LM tools can be used to act at specific points with an emphasis in the process analysis and implementation phases. Thus, LM complements a BPM approach leading to significant process improvements. Practical implications The results show that LM can be used to support some phases of the BPM lifecycle. Furthermore, LM can contribute to identify lean waste in information and documentation flows associated to quality management processes and help in the selection of methods and tools to support process improvements. Originality/value This study is one of the first reporting the use of LM tools and practices as complementary to the BPM methodology to support the improvement of information and documentation flows associated to quality management in a large manufacturing company. This research enriches the literature by presenting empirical evidence that these two continuous improvement approaches are not incompatible in their objectives and visions and can complement each other.

This study addresses a critical gap in understanding how Lean Manufacturing (LM) practices, particularly people-centered approaches, can enhance operational performance within the unique industrial context of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 economic transformation. The concept of Lean Manufacturing involves a systematic approach and principles aimed at enhancing efficiency, minimizing inefficiencies, and boosting output in manufacturing operations. While LM principles are well-established globally, their application in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) economies remains understudied, particularly regarding the central role of workforce engagement in successful implementation. The main objective of the study is to investigate the implications of LM on the productivity of the industry sector. Specifically, this research examines how the integration of people-centered practices with traditional LM constructs (Just-in-Time, Jidoka, Stability and Standardization) influences operational outcomes in Saudi manufacturing firms. A survey was conducted among specific private and public enterprises to collect data, yielding a 55.8% response rate and 67 valuable responses from a pool of 120 contacted companies. The sample encompassed small, medium, and large enterprises across seven manufacturing sectors. SmartPLS 3 and SPSS were used to assess the structural and measurement models. Common method bias was evaluated using Harman’s single-factor test. The findings demonstrate that implementing the recommended LM structural model significantly enhances operational performance. Notably, people integration exhibited the strongest influence on operational performance (β = 0.361), suggesting that human-centered approaches may be particularly salient in the Saudi context. These findings offer practical guidance for manufacturing firms seeking to align lean initiatives with Vision 2030 objectives.

The failure to implement lean manufacturing (LM) in the food industry was caused by the overlapping application of LM tools. The application of LM in the food industry is experiencing problems in the form of confusion in the placement of QS or Quality Control (QC). This problem is the background of this research. The objective of this study is to compare two methods of the implementation of LM in improving operational performance (OP), namely (1) making quality control (QC) a part of LM practice and (2) making quality control (QC) a part of the quality system (QS). The applied analytical method was the Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) based on Partial Least Square (PLS). The research findings indicated that "making QC a part of QS" can optimally mediate increasing LM against OP. This study's originality is a comparison of the relationship between LM and OP based on the two methods with large sample sizes. The implications of the findings are expected to become recommendations for applying LM in the food industry, especially in terms of placing quality in its implementation.