Stiff business challenges and product competition faced by automotive component manufacturers has forced them to look into lean manufacturing (LM). Presently there are more than 100 LM practices. However, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are not able to implement all LM practices due to financial, expertise and skill constraints. Therefore, in this study the authors investigated the level of perception and actual practice within 24 LM practices, regarding actions believed feasible to be implemented in SMEs. In addition, the authors gathered LM information sources, reasons for implementing LM and its benefits to SMEs. A questionnaire survey was conducted in 35 SMEs involves in manufacturing automotive components. The majority of SMEs have a high perception of the importance of LM practices but in reality are not undertaking them. The SMEs mainly received their LM information from their customers, and they strongly believe that LM practices could improve their long-term business sustainability and competitiveness in the market place.
Lean manufacturing is an extended version of the Toyota Production System (TPS). It was highlighted as the best practice in the 21st century. Therefore, top and senior management in manufacturing firms are encouraged to adopt and adapt lean principles and practices in running their respective firms. The main objective of this paper is to investigate the extent of lean manufacturing perception and implementation in the Malaysian automotive component industry. A survey questionnaire was developed to collect top and senior management views with respect to their perception, judgement and opinion on twenty four lean manufacturing (LM) practices. This preliminary survey was conducted at 30 Malaysian automotive component manufacturing firms. The survey results show that a large majority of respondents have a high perception of the importance of lean manufacturing practices. However, it was found that their actual LM implementation is still on the low side. In this study, the non-parametric test was used to analyze the level of perception and implementation of the twenty four LM practices. The analysis of the survey results revealed that there are significant differences between the level of perception of the importance of LM practices and their actual implementation.
The challenges faced by automotive manufacturers had made them looked into Lean Manufacturing (LM) which was implemented by Toyota Motor a long time ago. In Malaysia, the two main car manufacturers are PROTON and PERODUA; these two manufacturers offer good opportunity to large local companies and Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to participate in the automotive component manufacturing industry. The main objective of this study is to explore and investigate the level of perceptions on the importance and extent of practice with respect to 13 Critical Success Factors (CSFs) for LM implementation. To perform this study, a survey instrument that consists of 13 CSFs and 78 items was developed and distributed to local companies. The comparison was carried out on each of these CSFs based on perception, number of years and company size. The statistical analysis using the Kruskal Wallis test had identified four basic critical success factors for both SMEs and large companies with respect to the perception on the importance and extent of practice. Further study probes into the outcomes of the exploration on feasible LM practices.
Abstract; Nowadays, manufacturing companies are striving for a better system like lean manufacturing (LM). The primary objective of LM is to identify and eliminate wastes. LM can be applied successfully in all industries providing a full understanding of lean ingredients i.e. concept, principles, and practices. There are a lot of practices which are necessary to be implemented in order to gain full benefits of LM. However, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are lack of knowledge in LM and facing difficulties to adopt all of the LM principles. Therefore, it is necessary to the researchers to come out with a simple guideline for LM implementation. The objective of this paper is to explore the journey of LM implementation including preliminary, in process and post of LM. This research was conducted through multi-case study research. There were four SMEs and two large companies. The gathered information shows that the preliminary stage of LM implementation is similar to each other including large companies. The result shows SMEs still have a potential to success in LM. This finding might give an opportunity to SMEs to prepare the basis for LM implementation effectively. As a result, SMEs able compete in the competitive global marketplace and strive for world class performance through implementation of LM.
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