Analyzing critical factors of strategic alignment between operational excellence and Industry 4.0 technologies in smart manufacturing

Özbiltekin-Pala, Melisa; Kazançoğlu, Yiğit; Garza‐Reyes, Jose Arturo; Luthra, Sunil

doi:10.1108/tqm-07-2022-0232

Cited by 5 publications

(6 citation statements)

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“…LM is increasingly being implemented not only by food industrial or processing companies (Dora et al , 2016; Ahmed et al , 2021) but also by agricultural farms to transform their businesses and derive benefits (Melin and Barth, 2018). However, the inter-organizational aspects of LM are not easily applicable for many food industrial companies (Ozbiltekin-Pala et al , 2022), food processing companies (Dora et al , 2016) or agricultural farms (Melin and Barth, 2018). Psomas et al (2018b) studying nine Greek food manufacturing and services SMEs found that the Lean principles are adopted to a high extent; however, they concluded that there is room for further improvement in Lean adoption.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Food manufacturing industries need to attach importance to the adoption of the I4.0 technologies that empower operational excellence methodologies (such as LM) to achieve operational improvement. In other words, providing strategic alignment between LM and I4.0 technologies in the food industry is extremely important (Ozbiltekin-Pala et al , 2022). Like industry which had to go through digital technological changes, agricultural farms need to go down the same path to survive.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…So, they characterize I4.0 as an enabler of LM (Satoglu et al, 2018;Narula et al, 2023). From the above, it is apparent that the literature identifies a direct influence of I4.0 on LM (Sartal et al, 2022;Peças et al, 2022;Nedjwa et al, 2022;Ozbiltekin-Pala et al, 2022).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…Reviewing the literature, it is apparent that there is a gap with regard to the implementation of LM practices and I4.0 technologies. More specifically, many authors state that there are limited studies that address the integration of LM and I4.0 (Nunez-Merino et al , 2020; Tortorella et al , 2021b; Tortorella et al , 2021c; Ozbiltekin-Pala et al , 2022), an implementation framework considering the synergies between LM practices and I4.0 technologies (Tortorella et al , 2021b), the choice of specific I4.0 technologies and LM practices to best complement each other (Kamble et al , 2020), the adoption of I4.0 as a highly potential solution for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) wishing to implement LM strategies (Joshi et al , 2022), the relationship between LM and I4.0 identifying which is the independent variable and which is the dependent one (Shahin et al , 2020; Bittencourt et al , 2021; Sartal et al , 2022; Nedjwa et al , 2022), the direct influence of I4.0 on LM (Sartal et al , 2022; Narula et al , 2023) and finally the adoption of LM and I4.0 in a specific manufacturing sector such as the food one (Psomas, 2021), operating in any country (Tortorella et al , 2021c; Psomas, 2022).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Based on the existing literature gap, many authors make future research suggestions in terms of LM and I4.0. For example, they suggest researchers develop a framework that integrates LM and I4.0 (Nunez-Merino et al , 2020; Rosin et al , 2020; Vinodh et al , 2021; Ciccarelli et al , 2022), identify which combination of LM practices and I4.0 technologies should be applied and in which order (Pagliosa et al , 2021), determine the relationships between LM practices and I4.0 technologies (Tortorella et al , 2021b; Nedjwa et al , 2022), examine the impact of I4.0 on LM (Nunez-Merino et al , 2020; Rosin et al , 2020; Sartal et al , 2022), use large samples of companies in their research studies on LM and I4.0 (Narula et al , 2023) and study the strategic alignment between LM as an operational excellence methodology and I4.0 specifically in the food sector (Ozbiltekin-Pala et al , 2022) of any country (Tortorella et al , 2021c; Psomas, 2022).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Lean manufacturing practices and industry 4.0 technologies in food manufacturing companies: the Greek case

Psomas,

Deliou

2023

IJLSS

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Purpose Food manufacturing companies which are essential for national economies, need to attach importance to the adoption of both the lean manufacturing (LM) operational excellence methodology and the Industry I4.0 (I4.0) technologies that empower LM to achieve operational improvement. This study aims to focus on the Greek food manufacturing companies and determine the degree of implementation of LM practices and I4.0 technologies and the impact of I4.0 on LM. Design/methodology/approach A survey was conducted based on a structured questionnaire which included items reflecting LM practices and I4.0 technologies. A sample of Greek food manufacturing companies were approached and 102 of them fully completed the questionnaire. Descriptive statistics were applied to determine the degree of implementation of LM practices and I4.0 technologies, while the impact of I4.0 on LM was determined through the linear regression analysis. Findings The degree of implementation of LM practices in the responding food manufacturing companies is high, while the degree of implementation of I4.0 technologies is low to medium. The findings also support a significant and positive impact of I4.0 on LM. Research limitations/implications The small size of the sample of the responding Greek food manufacturing companies, the subjective character of the data collected and the cross-sectional nature of the study, constitute the main limitations of the study. Based on these limitations, further studies can be designed. Practical implications The present study findings can guide the managers of the food manufacturing companies to further increase the degree of implementation of LM practices through adopting I4.0 technologies. Therefore, they can improve quality, eliminate waste, survive and be more competitive in the current difficult business environment. Academics can also benefit from the present study, given that it provides the LM practices and I4.0 technologies that can be further tested and validated in the food sector. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that focuses on LM and I4.0 in the Greek food manufacturing companies operating in a business environment where the crises of finance, energy and the Covid-19 pandemic dominate.

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