PurposeA review of benchmarking literature revealed that there are different types of benchmarking and a plethora of benchmarking process models. In some cases, a model has been uniquely developed for performing a particular type of benchmarking. This poses the following problems: it can create confusion among the users as to whether they should use only the unique benchmarking model that has been developed for particular type or they can use any model for any type of benchmarking; a user may find it difficult when it becomes necessary to choose a best model from the available models, as each model varies in terms of the number of phases involved, number of steps involved, application, etc. Hence, this paper aims to question the fundamental classification scheme of benchmarking and thereby the unique benchmarking models that are developed for each type of benchmarking. Further it aims to propose a universal benchmarking model, which can be applied for all types of benchmarking.Design/methodology/approachThe fundamental benchmarking model developed by Camp has been used to benchmark the existing models, irrespective of the type of benchmarking, to identify the best practices in benchmarking.FindingsBenchmarking the benchmarking models revealed about 71 steps in which around 13 steps have been addressed by many researchers. The remaining unique steps were considered to be the best practices in benchmarking.Research limitations/implicationsThe proposed model is highly conceptual and it requires validation by implementing the same in an organization to understand its effectiveness.Originality/valueThough some of the methodologies used in this paper are already available in the literature, their context of application in the field of benchmarking is new. For example, utilizing the benchmarking process itself to improve the existing benchmarking process is an original concept.

Purpose Assessing the outcome of lean transformation journey has been of interest to both researchers and practitioners. Various qualitative and quantitative assessment methodologies have been proposed in literature to track and measure the degree of leanness attained. The purpose of this paper is to understand the evolution of this leanness assessment literature over different attributes and identify gaps for future research. Design/methodology/approach A detailed literature review of peer-reviewed journal articles and conference papers addressing leanness assessment was performed. Content analysis methodology involving a four-step process suggested by Mayring (2004) was adopted for this study. Findings The number of studies in literature on leanness assessment is low when compared to that in the area of lean implementation. Assessment methodologies developed are of wide range, varying from simple qualitative checklist to complex quantitative mathematical models. Following the trend of lean implementation literature, lean thinking assessment literature is also getting transformed from process-level monitoring to enterprise-level monitoring. Finally, based on this review, a simplified leanness assessment framework is proposed for future validation. Research limitations/implications Only peer-reviewed journals and conference papers were analyzed, while excluding the manuals, reports, and white papers from practice. Clustering of leanness assessment literature revealed that future studies in this domain would fall into two major categories, namely manufacturing leanness assessment and service leanness assessment. Practical implications Practitioners can use this review study to choose a suitable methodology for assessing the leanness attained in their organization by controlling for the structural attributes identified. Originality/value This is the first paper to review the topic “leanness assessment.” The review analyzes the entire literature available on leanness assessment to summarize its current status and identify potential future directions.

We develop a lean readiness framework and an assessment methodology to quantify the readiness of healthcare institutions for implementing lean. We use stakeholder theory and work with a lean implementation team responsible for process improvement in a healthcare group to develop the framework. The framework uses fuzzy based input derived from the stakeholders of the healthcare institution to generate an overall ranking through ideal solution technique. The assessment method derives input from the readiness scores shared by various stakeholders. The ranking suggests future improvement areas to prepare the healthcare institution for a lean implementation project. We provide an alternative perspective of assessing the lean readiness of healthcare institutions before beginning a lean implementation project for both researchers and practitioners. Our research is the first to develop a lean readiness framework for healthcare institutions and demonstrate it using an assessment technique.

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Purpose -Generally, the implementation of lean manufacturing (LM) starts with the development of value stream maps. However, it has been found that value stream mapping (VSM) suffers from various shortcomings. Hence, researchers have suggested the use of simulation along with VSM. The purpose of this paper is to present an application of VSM with simulation during the design of lean manufacturing systems (LMS) using a case study of an organisation following a job shop production system to manufacture doors and windows. Design/methodology/approach -Simulation models were developed using QUeuing Event Simulation Tool for the case organisation to demonstrate how the case organisation will be changed after implementing various LM elements, apart from analysing the impact of implementing these LM elements on the organisation's performance. Findings -Simulation studies were carried out for different scenarios such as "before LM" (current state VSM) and "after LM" (future state VSM). It was found that the case organisation can achieve significant improvement in performance and can meet the increasing demand without any additional resources. Practical implications -It is believed that this paper will enable practitioners to appreciate the role of simulation in helping them understand how the operations department of the case organisation will be transformed during the design of LMS. Originality/value -According to the authors' knowledge, no case study exists in the literature that discusses the application of VSM with simulation in an organisation that manufactures doors and windows using a job shop production system. Furthermore, the paper simulates the impact of those LM elements which were not considered by other researchers on the performance measure of the case organisation.