Lean Implementation Barriers and the duality of lean in an Organisations

Abstract

Lean strategy is all about elimination of waste and redundant process; competitive benchmarking, introducing continuous improvement programs, preventive maintenance optimization, cycle time reduction, just-in-time (JIT), new process improvement, quality management programs, value engineering, self-directed work team, total quality management. The study investigates how people and duality of lean impacts lean implementation in organizations, looking at the case of the food processing manufacturing firms in Nigeria. To achieve the objective, the study employed Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) using data collected from 340 questionnaire collected from food processing firms in Nigeria. It was discovered from the study that factors hindering implementation of lean could be in the form of poor communication strategy within organisation, organizational culture, organisational knowledge, management support, policies on human development. The paper concludes that lean implementation does not have a stand-alone methodology, but the existence or lack of the identified factors may make or hinder successful implementation of lean especially in the food processing manufacturing companies in Nigeria.

Exploring the impact of a sequential lean implementation within a micro-firm – A socio-technical perspective

“…The study contributes by presenting a roadmap to lean deployment and analysing benefits and barriers from a sociotechnical system theory perspective, specifying pragmatic guidance for practitioners. This study also makes a significant contribution by providing evidence of the social and technical duality of lean (Austin & Adebayo, 2021;Knol et al, 2019). We demonstrate how a sequential lean implementation of four techniques (5S, SMED, JIT, and TPM) can improve performance (belonging to the technical system) and transform the culture and behaviours (belonging to the social system) in a micro-firm, after overcoming technical and social barriers (Solaimani et al, 2019).…”

“…However, these must be adapted and tailored to the environment and culture of the firm; therefore, they must fit the social fabric and culture of the organisation (Bamford et al, 2015;Rymaszewska, 2014). This shows the duality of lean (Austin and Adebayo, 2021;Knol et al, 2019). For example, to successfully implement lean manufacturing, human resource capabilities (teamwork, training, multi-skilling, and employee flexibility) must be carefully considered (Samson & Terziovski 1999;Wiengarten et al, 2011).…”