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A literature review of lean manufacturing

a a
Shaman Gupta & Sanjiv Kumar Jain
a
Department of Mechanical Engineering , Ambala College of Engineering and Applied
Research, Devsthali , Ambala , India , 133101
Published online: 27 Aug 2013.

To cite this article: Shaman Gupta & Sanjiv Kumar Jain (2013) A literature review of lean manufacturing, International
Journal of Management Science and Engineering Management, 8:4, 241-249, DOI: 10.1080/17509653.2013.825074

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 International Journal of Management Science and Engineering Management, 2013
Vol. 8, No. 4, 241–249, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17509653.2013.825074

A literature review of lean manufacturing

Shaman Gupta and Sanjiv Kumar Jain*
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Ambala College of Engineering and Applied Research, Devsthali, Ambala, India 133101

Objective: The objective of this article is to understand the concept of lean manufacturing, its philosophy, various tools and
techniques, lean implementation benefits and barrier towards lean implementation. Main concepts: Lean manufacturing by
now is a widely discussed and applied manufacturing philosophy, in a variety of industries across the globe. The
fundamental concept of lean manufacturing is to provide a quality product while also ensuring that the product does not cost
too much to the customer. Most organizations today are going through a stage where there is a necessity to respond the
rapidly changing customer needs. To sustain their place in the market, many organizations have started following the lean
manufacturing concept. Methodology of the research: This article presents a review of the literature and attempts to identify
the important and useful contributions to this subject. Results: Lean manufacturing utilizes a wide range of tools and
techniques; the choice of tools is situation specific. Many factors contribute to lean success; not only is it mandatory to
implement most of the lean tools, but an organization’s culture needs transforming too. Companies following lean
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manufacturing have better flexibility and a good market share. Moreover, lean manufacturing produces an operational and
cultural environment that is highly conducive to waste minimization.
Keywords: lean manufacturing; wastes; continuous improvement; manufacturing industry

JEL Classification: D2; L21; L22; L23; M11

1. Introduction eliminating wastes within the organization (Upadhye,

The concept of lean manufacturing was introduced in
Japan, and the Toyota production system was the first to use
lean practices. Lean manufacturing helps in enhancing
production processes and boosting up the employees job
satisfaction (Singh, Garg, Sharma, & Grewal, 2010c). Lean
manufacturing is different from traditional manufacturing.
The traditional manufacturing concept focuses on the
inventory of the system, whereas lean manufacturing
opposes this concept. The ‘Lean’ concept considers
inventory as a waste in the organization. Understanding
the differences between traditional manufacturing and lean
manufacturing is very important for organizations if they
want to follow lean practices (Andrew, 2006). The market
is becoming more volatile day by day, so understanding
market dynamics is a crucial factor if one wants to design
manufacturing systems better (Gadalla, 2010). Lean
manufacturing believes the simple fact that customers
will pay for the value of services they receive, but will not
pay for mistakes (Rawabdeh, 2005).
Introducing lean manufacturing in any type of industry
has a straightforward impact on manufacturing processes.
Today people have a different perspective on manufactur-
ing processes. They understand that the value of a product is
defined from the customer’s point of view, not from an
internal manufacturing point of view. Lean manufacturing
focuses on the elimination of wastes from the organization.
A waste is defined as anything that does not add value to the
product. Lean tool techniques when combined with SWOT
(strength, weakness, opportunity, threats) analysis help in
*Corresponding author. Email: sk.jain117@yahoo.com
q 2013 International Society of Management Science and Engineering Management
Deshmukh, & Garg, 2010). Lean manufacturing when
implemented successfully results in an increase in
production output per person and a reduction in the finished
goods inventory and work in process (Seth & Gupta, 2005).
The ultimate goal of a lean manufacturing system is to
eliminate all wastes from the organization. A lean system
is represented as two pillars: the first is ‘jidoka’ and the
second is ‘just-in-time’. The main goal of a lean
manufacturing system is to produce products of higher
quality at the lowest possible cost and in the least time by
eliminating wastes (Dennis, 2007).
Steps of lean manufacturing implementation
. Identification of wastes in the system. Many
organizations need to know that they have many
hidden and unhidden wastes in their systems.
. Wastes present in the organization can be of
different types. There is a need to recognize the
types of waste and their causes. Lean manufacturing
believes in treating the causes and curing the
problems permanently. There are various tools and
techniques that are quite helpful in reducing or
eliminating these types of waste.
. The next step is to find the solution for the root
causes. One must stick to basic lean concepts and
identify the root causes. Looking at causes might not
help properly, so there is a need to identify the
effects of the solution on the entire system.
. The final step in the lean implementation process is
to find the solutions and test the solutions first. Once
 242
solutions are tested then they should be
implemented. Training and following up are
important in each and every step explained above.
One needs to be patient because the implementation
process might take a long time. (Figure 1)
Industries in many developing countries are working on
old and obsolete techniques of manufacturing. Mahapatra
and Mohanty (2007) in their study found that Indian
companies were using workers only physically but not
intellectually. There had been no suggestion system in the
organizations. Singh, Garg, and Sharma (2010a) conducted
a survey in the Indian automobile, machine tools and
manufacturing industries. They created five groups as a
parameter of evaluation. These groups were called
organizational, supplier, customer, market focus and top
management. They found that, for companies to implement
lean, they have to focus on management and market issues.
Sharma, Gupta, Kumar, and Singh (2011) found that
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supplier issues are crucial for the successful implementation
of lean. Many big companies like Tata motors, HCL and
Wipro have successfully implemented lean manufacturing
principles. Thara Engineering and Gold Seal Engineering
Products Ltd are some small scale industries that have
improved their processes by the implementation of lean
manufacturing. More companies, like Bharat Forge, Bajaj,
L&T and Boyce, have become more globally competitive.
Sundaram-Clayton Ltd cut down their costs by using lean
manufacturing concepts.
Why is this article relevant? This article is relevant
because it focuses and describes the meaning of lean, its
principles and benefits, and also the barriers to
implementing lean manufacturing. Lean manufacturing
techniques have become necessary for today’s manufac-
Goal
Highest quality at the lowest cost
in the least time by eliminating waste
Jidoka, Automation Just-In-Time
with a Human Touch Elimination of All Waste
Pillar Pillar
Foundation for Continuous Improvement is
Stability through Standardization
The Seven Wastes
Delay Motion, Over processing, Conveyance, Inventory,
Correction and Overproduction
Figure 1. Basic lean concepts and methods. [Source: Dennis
(2007).
S. Gupta and S.K. Jain
turer as lean can be a survival strategy for them. Lean also
provides organizations with a competitive edge against
companies not using lean. So this article will be useful to
practioners but also it will be helpful to academics who
want to learn and implement lean manufacturing concepts.
2. Methodology
This research article is based on a systematic literature
review. The source of the literature is the Web of knowledge,
identified as providing access to the leading citation
databases covering thousands of journals worldwide, as
well as conference proceedings. As a starting point, some
books also proved helpful in the research process. A set of
key findings has been identified from this review. This article
would help in establishing a better understanding of lean
manufacturing practices and the challenges that companies
face during the implementation of lean manufacturing.
In the initial search, there appeared a list of over 20,000
research papers associated with the topic of lean. This list
was then narrowed by using different keywords that were
related only to the main research topic. According to
different combinations of keywords, this step reduced the
resulting list to about 180 papers for ‘lean implementation’,
about 120 papers for the search combining ‘lean
implementation’ and ‘lean surveys’, about 83 for ‘lean
concept’ and approximately 48 papers for ‘lean and
challenges’. The target articles considered for this review
were those published after the year 2000, but apart from
these some important articles published before 2000 were
also taken into consideration. Papers selected from various
journals and conferences have been scanned thoroughly
and key findings and issues are summarized.
3. Literature review
The literature on lean manufacturing is divided into three
sections, namely lean philosophy, lean surveys and lean
case studies (Figure 2, Table 1).
3.1. Lean philosophy
The definition of lean, its principles and main concepts,
come under lean philosphy. According to Womack and
Jones (1996), lean is defined as a process that includes five
steps: the first step is defining customer value, then defining
value stream, making it ‘flow’, establish pull, and the last
step is striving for excellence. According to Wong et al.
(2009), lean manufacturing can be characterized by a
collective set of key factors or key areas. These key factors
are believed to be very important for its implementation. In
the 1980s, changing plant to lean production from mass
production was considered to be very difficult. Workers did
not take responsibility for the quality of the product. They
responded only when they knew that management actually
valued their skills. The quote ‘do it right the first time’,
encourages workers to feel accountable for the products.
Womack et al. (1990) explained how the movement of
 International Journal of Management Science and Engineering Management
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Figure 2. Methodology flowchart.
automobile manufacturing took place from craft production
to mass production and then to lean production. The
standardization of automobile parts and assembly tech-
niques was done by Henry Ford. It takes a revolution, and as
a result low skilled workers and specialized machines made
the cars cheap for the people. (Figure 3)
From the point of view of Bhasin and Burcher (2006),
lean is viewed more as a philosophy than a strategy.
Supplier involvement is a must if an organization is to reap
the rewards of lean practices. Moreover, lean manufactur-
ing should be considered as a continuous improvement
process for better results. Bhuiyan and Baghel (2005)
overviewed the continuous improvement process from the
past to the present scenario. Continuous Improvement (CI)
uses different methodologies to get better results in an
organization. These methodologies include lean manufac-
turing, six-sigma, lean six-sigma and the balance score
card. Hopp and Spearman (2004) found that continuous
improvement efforts are means to achieve high levels of
pull production (production is based on actual daily
demand) through eliminating variability in the system and
thereby reducing defects in the organization.
Clarity of the term waste must be understood. There are
two types of waste, the first type is obvious waste and the
second type is less obvious waste. Obvious wastes result
from overproduction, waiting, transportation, inappropriate
243
processing, excessive inventory, excess motion and defects.
Less obvious wastes result from variability. Dhamija et al.
(2011), in his publication stated lean organizations are those
which utilize less material to create their work, less human
efforts to perform the work, less time to design and develop
less energy and space. Lean organizations focus on
customer demand and thereby producing high quality
products and services in most the effective and economical
manner. Rose et al. (2011) purposed 17 lean practices which
are considered to be best feasible and relevant to small and
medium scale characteristics. They suggested that
implementation of lean practices should be done in a
consistent way. Inconsistency in the efforts may not lead
any organization to avail full benefits from lean practices.
3.2. Lean surveys
Yan-jiang et al. (2006) did a survey and found that there
had been certain interna motivation factors which were
responsible for popularization of continuous improvement
activities. Malik et al. (2007), compare continuous
improvement activities in two leading Asian countries.
Results found from surveying were that both countries
showed good continuous improvement methodologies but
with different proportions. Mahapatra and Mohanty
 244 S. Gupta and S.K. Jain

Table 1. Classification of the literature. difference lean manufacturing and manufacturing per-
formance. They found some factors to be performance
Focus area Chronological lists of publications
enhancing. These factors include internal management,
Lean philosophy Womack, Jones, and Roos (1990) supplies involvement, customer relationship, aspect and
Womack and Jones (1996) means of supplier chain management. Ferdousi and
Bhasin and Burcher (2006) Ahmed (2009), advance their research in Bangladesh
Hopp and Spearman (2004)
garment industry for performance improvement through
Bhuiyan and Baghel (2005)
Wong, Wong, and Ali (2009) lean manufacturing techniques.
Dhamija, Srivastava, Khanduja, and Wong et al. (2009) through their research found that
Agarwal (2011) waste education and continuous improvement tools of lean
Rose, Deros, Rahman, and Nordin (2011) manufacturing are most versatile tools and these tools are
Lean surveys Yan-jiang, Dan, and Lang (2006)
easily understood by all the manufacturers. The top most
Malik, Lu, Tian, and Sun (2007)
Mahapatra and Mohanty (2007) benefit achieved from it was found to be cost reduction.
Kuo, Shen, and Chen (2008) They also found that 5S and kaizen had been other lean
Ferdousi and Ahmed (2009) tools for achieving many other benefits in the organization.
Wong et al. (2009) They compared large scale and small scale industry and
Lyonnet, Pillet, and Pralus (2010)
found that lean manufacturing practices were better done
Nordin, Deros, and Wahab (2010)
Eroglu and Hofer (2011) by large scale industries. Lyonnet et al. (2010), developed
Case studies Karlsson and Ahlstrom (1996) a set of methodologies and calculated the maturity level in
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Gunasekaran and Lyu (1997) different companies regarding their understanding lean
Rother and Shook (1999) manufacturing concept and its main applications. They
Petroni (2002)
found some tools like pull system, value stream mapping
Shah and Ward (2003)
Rawabdeh (2005) and single piece flow which were least used by the
Abdulmalek and Rajgopal (2007) organizations. Nordin et al. (2010), did their research in
Chandrasekaran, Kannan, and Malaysian automotive industries. They found 5S and
Pandiaraj (2008) kaizen had been two lean tools which were driving force in
Ramesh, Prasad, and Srinivas (2008)
getting results from lean manufacturing implementation.
Rajeev (2008)
Alvarez, Calvo, Pena, and Domingo (2009) Eroglu and Hofer (2011), in their research concentrated in
Pattanaik and Sharma (2009) effect of inventory in the performance of the organization.
Singh and Singh (2009) They found that there were 33% of industries which
Singh et al. (2010c) exhibit no significant effect of inventory leanness in
Simmons, Holt, Dennis, and Walden (2010)
organization performance.
Upadhye et al. (2010)
Wijngaard, Pool, and van der Zee (2011)
Gupta, Garg, and Gupta (2011)
Goriwondo, Mhlanga, and Marecha (2011)
Paranitharan, Begam, Abuthakeer, and 3.3. Case studies
Subha (2011)
Rajenthirakumar, Mohanram, and Lean manufacturing is the name given to a team-based
Harikaarthik (2011) systematic approach for discovering and eliminating
various types of waste (Upadhye et al., 2010).This section
(2007), survey the adoption of concepts of lean composed of various case studies of lean manufacturing.
manufacturing in some small and medium sized There are various tools which are effectively used for
organizations of India. Kuo et al. (2008), listed the elimination of wastes in the organization. These tools
include just-in-time, value stream mapping (VSM), kaizen,
material requirement planning, kanban, 5s, etc. (Table 2)

(a) Just-In-Time (JIT)

It is a tool of lean manufacturing that stands on the pillars
of successful planning and the execution of events
necessary to produce a final product. Karlsson and
Ahlstrom (1996) have stated that each event and process
should be processed in the right form, in the right necessity
to produce goods and with the right timing. The ultimate
objective is to provide every process with one part at a
time, exactly when there is a need for that part, which is
the principle of JIT. Reducing lot sizes, reducing buffer
sizes, and reducing order lead times are indicated as the
important components of JIT by these authors. Size of the
plant, age of plant and status inside the unions are three
Figure 3. Lean manufacturing publications. important factors that have been discussed by Shah and
 International Journal of Management Science and Engineering Management
Table 2. Function of the various lean tools.
Lean tools Function
JIT Products are pulled through the
production process by demand.
Kaizen Continuous change towards
improvement
VSM Waste reduction from Value Stream
Mapping (lead time reduction)
Material Requirement Detailed schedule of inputs from
planning final outputs
Kanban Movement of parts based on cards
5S Sorting, Set in order, Shine, Stan-
dardize and Sustain
Waste elimination Elimination of what does not add
value to the end product
Ward (2003). JIT and common infrastructural practices
have been found by them to have a positive effect on
efficiency, whereas TQM has had no considerable effect.
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The implementation of JIT in a small scale industry in
Taiwan had been carried out by Gunasekaran and Lyu
(1997). They started their journey by training the workers,
and then the 5S tool (Seiri (Sorting), Seito (Set in Order),
Seize (Shine), Seiketsu (Standardize) and Shitsuke
(Sustain)) was implemented to improve security in the
workplace, the quality of products and the production of the
company. Worker training was given in the preventive
maintenance of their equipment and machines. The
traditionally adopted ‘push’ (based on forecast demand)
system was replaced with a ‘pull’ (based on actual demand)
system for obtaining a smooth and synchronized system, so
that products were to be produced with the right timing and
in the right quantity. Barriers faced by the Small and
Medium Enterprises to implementing JIT had been
analysed by Gupta et al. (2011). The largest barrier to
implementing JIT was the lack of bargaining power of the
SME with the outside world.
(b) Kaizen
Kaizen is a Japanese term which is used for continuous
improvement; the continuing involvment of everyone –
whether managers or employees. Finding, targeting and
removing waste (muda) in machinery, labor or production
methods refers to kaizen in manufacturing companies. The
JIT approach can be further molded in an approach that is
called the continuous improvement or kaizen approach.
According to Rawabdeh (2005), housekeeping, standardiz-
ation and waste elimination are the three pillars on which the
kaizen approach is based. Kai stands for change and Zen
stands for the better, so kaizen means ‘to change
continuously for the better involving every single person in
the company’ (Singh & Singh, 2009). Chandrasekaran et al.
(2008) have implemented the kaizen approach to find a
solution to the problem of ‘part mismatching’ in the
assembly line of an automobile company. The kaizen
approach has been utilized to eliminate problems step by step
by the collection of data, the analysis of root causes, the
discovery and selection of one best solution from various
possible solutions, implementation and proper documen-
245
tation. The various benefits experienced by them after
implementing kaizen were the complete elimination of
wastes such as lack of quality, rejects, reworking of products
and a considerable amount of expenditure was saved.
(c) Value Stream Mapping (VSM)
VSM is a world-famous graphical tool which helps to
enlighten and analyse the work-flow and to find the value-
added and non-value-added activities contributing to the
final product. Lean concepts and techniques are used
collectively in VSM. Rother and Shook (1999) have
discussed VSM in which analyses of the current state of the
value stream of a product are carried out. After this
redesign, an improved future state of the value stream of the
product is developed which is mainly focused on the
reduction of wastes, the decrease in lead times, and
improvement in the material-flow. Only one map is required
to show the flow of both material and information, which
are found to be important characteristics of VSM when
comparison is made with other such types of technique.
Pattanaik and Sharma (2009) stated that processes should be
analysed in order to reduce non-value-added activities,
which will contribute in reducing waiting time, queuing
time, moving time, and other similar wastes.
Goriwondo et al. (2011) have implemented VSM and
brought benefit to a bread making manufacturing company
successfully. Defects have been reduced by 20%, unnecess-
ary inventory by 18% and unnecessary motions by 37%.
Ramesh et al. (2008) have drawn a current state value stream
map, and found that some processes are unnecessary and can
be eliminated. Singh et al. (2010c) demonstrated the
outcomes in a production company after the successful
implementation of VSM benefited the firm. In process
inventory reduction, work was found to be decreased by
89.47%, the finished goods inventory was reduced by
17.65%, the product lead time was deceased by 83.14% and
the output per operator was found to be increased by 42.86%.
Rajenthirakumar et al. (2011) implemented lean on the
assembly line of a paint shop in a manufacturing company.
During the study, various processes were found that were not
adding value to the activities of the paint shop. Current
mapping showed that 72.85% non-value-adding activities
were present. The drying process was found to cause a
bottleneck that had been contributing a cycle time increment.
Further, it was found that an improvement could be made if
warm water was used for the drying process.
Paranitharan et al. (2011) have analysed and
reformatted an assembly line in the automobile industry.
Bottleneck times of 155 seconds in machining and 78
seconds in the assembly process were found by analysing
the current state map. The current layout showed that there
was a separate station for ram assembly and the cylinder
greasing operation. The layout was modified and the idea
of a single modular trolley was introduced for the
elimination of this problem.
(d) Material Requirement Planning (MRP)
MRP is a powerful tool that converts the requirements for
end products into a detailed schedule of raw materials.
 246 S. Gupta and S.K. Jain
Inaccuracies in material planning create many problems,
including a decrease in productivity, the production of
non-required inventories and frustration. MRP helps to
estimate correctly the requirements for inventories and
raw materials and to decrease the chances of making
unattainable manufacturing plans (Rajeev, 2008). Petroni
(2002) found that there are many problems involved in the
proper execution of MRP systems. Wijngaard et al. (2011)
found that lean manufacturing has a great effect in the field
of operation management.
(e) Kanban
Kanban is a simple parts-movement system in which
material movement between workstations in a production
line is based on cards. A supplier should only deliver parts
to the production line as and when they are required, so
that there is no storage of parts in the production area,
which is the basic need of the kanban system. VSM along
with the kanban system was used by Alvarez et al. (2009)
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to implement lean manufacturing on an assembly line. A
current state map was prepared and analysed in order to
note down the cycle time of various activities involved in
the production of the component. It had been clearly
highlighted that a push system was usually adopted on
manufacturing lines, which was a big problem for the
assembly line process. A kanban system was generated to
replace the push system with a pull system. Abdulmalek
and Rajgopal (2007) developed a simulation model to
show conditions before and after implementing a kanban
system. Large amount of the work in process inventories,
lower value added time were major weaknesses which had
been visualized during analysis. The kanban system
played a vital role in making a better product flow.
(f) 5S
5S is a methodology for sorting, organizing, cleaning,
standardizing and sustaining a productive work environ-
ment. Increase in safety levels, cleaning of workspace,
enhanced productivity and preventive maintenance are
some of the results of a 5S program. 5S has been
implemented by Gunasekaran and Lyu (1997) in a small
Taiwan company that produces a variety of automobile
lamps. Simmons et al. (2010) have found large lead times,
low quality and low efficiency to be big problems in scale
industries. 5S is the basic starting tool used to make
companies neat and standardized. Bottlenecks can be
found by the line balancing tool.
(g) Waste elimination
A target of lean manufacturing is the total elimination of
waste. From a customer’s point of view, anything that does
not add any value to the final product is termed a waste.
These wastes can be identified and reduced/eliminated by
using lean tools and methods. Upadhye et al. (2010) have
successfully implemented the lean philosophy in a north
Indian company. In its earlier stages, the lean manufactur-
ing approach was considered appropriate only in medium
size industries. Flow process charts were used to analyse
product flows. This study provides information on
different forms of wastages that are supposed to show
their presence in manufacturing systems. Lean tools like
kaizen, JIT, VSM, 5S, preventive maintenance schedules
and Single-Minute Exchange of Die (SMED) have been
found successful in finding and eliminating wastes in
medium-sized industries.
4. Barriers to lean implementation
The concept of lean manufacturing might look easy but its
implementation is not an easy task. The introduction of lean
manufacturing into an organization tends to change its
working culture. Such changes are considered to be barriers
to the implementation process of lean manufacturing.
Changes occurring in the organization tend to change the
workers in the organization. Much hard work has to be done
to recognise these changes in the organization (Barker,
1998; Stanleigh, 2008). Responding and adapting become
difficult when a worker sees a change in the environment of
the organization. This barrier can be overcome by adopting
a culture of proper communication and training for
everyone in the organization. Communication and training
will raise the level of understanding and thereby there will
be a motivation culture in the organization (Puvanasvaran,
Megat, Hong, & Muhamad, 2009). According to Crute,
Ward, Brown, and Graves (2003) and James (2006), there
are three main barriers to implementing lean manufactur-
ing. These barriers are lack of commitment from senior and
middle management, and poor understanding of lean
manufacturing concepts. Employees’ attitudes are the main
obstacle for companies who are in a state of transition
implementing lean manufacturing. Achanga, Shehab, Roy,
and Nelder (2006) and Salaheldin (2005) also considered
when top management support is not adequate it becomes a
barrier to the implementation of lean.
Achanga et al. (2006) have identified a lack of financial
resources as a barrier to implementing lean in small scale
industries. Inman and Mehra (1990) also supported this
thesis and stated that lack of financial resources causes
deficiency in influence training and prevents organizations
from setting lean practices. Abdul-Nour, Lambert, and
Drolet (1998) and Salaheldin (2005) found a lack of skilled
resources to be a barrier to the lean implementation
process. Chong (2007) stated that lack of time is also a
barrier factor in the implementation process. Production
schedule (Most of the customer do not commit to long-
term production schedules) inability is another barrier
factor that makes it hard to carry out lean practices
(Golhar, Stamm, & Smith, 1990; Golhar & Stamm, 1991).
Large product variety also creates difficulty for the
organization to sustain a lean implementation process
(Cusumano, 1994).
5. Competitive benefits of lean manufacturing
The implementation of lean manufacturing tries to make
value flow at the pull of customer demand (JIT) and
eliminates waste in processes. Waste is categorized into
the seven component wastes: Transport, Inventory,
 International Journal of Management Science and Engineering Management
Motion, Waiting, Overprocessing, Overproduction, and
Defects. All of these wastes have a direct impact on
performance, quality and costs, and these are all non-
value-adding operations for which customers do not
want to pay. Many studies and research show that we
only add value around 5% of the time during operations;
the remaining 95% is waste. Lean manufacturing
implementation tries to remove that 95% wasted time
and effort.
Many authors have contended that lean aids compe-
tiveness (Billesbach, 1994; Nystuen, 2002; Oliver, 1996;
Parker, 2003; Siekman, 2000; Taylor & Brunt, 2001;
Vasilash, 2001). According to Sohal and Eggleston (1994),
two-thirds of companies believed strategic advantages had
been generated with bigger improvements coming from
customer relationships, quality constraints and market
competitive positioning. Lathin (2001) stated that
traditional mass producers could expect a reduction of
90% in inventory, 90% in cost of quality, 90% in lead time
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and a 50% increase in labor productivity. Claudius
Consulting (2004) insisted that lean manufacturing can
help organizations to cut costs by between 15 and 70%,
reduce waste by 40%, push productivity up by between 15
and 40%, and decrease space and inventory requirements
by 60%. Nystuen (2002) stated that product travel time can
be reduced by 90%, inventory by 82% and product lead
time by 11% by applying lean manufacturing concepts in
the organization. Bicheno (1999), Hines (1999), Liker
(2004) and Womack and Jones (2003) in their published
research found that lean manufacturing concepts are quite
popular and followed in the automobile sector as
compared to other sectors.
If lean manufacturing is implemented in a proper way
it can lead to various positive improvements in the
organization. Besides these benefits, lean manufacturing
also has many hidden benefits that play a vital role in
industrial success stories. These benefits have no direct
role in the success stories of lean manufacturing
techniques but have the following very significant indirect
roles that cannot be neglected.
. Improvements in quality and safety. Lean manu-
facturing techniques improve the quality of
production. They also improve working area safety
for everyone. They even eliminate minor chances of
mistakes in the processes and methodology adopted
for working.
. Time reduction for traceability. By applying 5S
techniques and store management, each and every
item, such as tools, raw materials, etc., is easily
traceable in the industry. There is visual control of
each and every thing in the factory.
. Culture change. A change in work culture is started
in the industry with lean. Communication increases
with the workforce and they have a feeling of
responsibility in the industry.
. Reduction of fatigue and stress. With work motion
study, we can reduce workers’ effort and stress.
247
6. Conclusion
There is a vast literature available on lean manufactur-
ing, which gives a wide view of previous practices and
research across the world. But, as lean manufacturing is
a broadly accepted philosophy in manufacturing
industries, more research is required. Success stories
demonstrate that it requires team spirit involving each
and every employee in an organization to implement
lean in the system. However, awareness among
employees about different strategies of lean philosophy,
various principles behind these strategies and the use of
these strategies in different circumstances play an
important role. Lean tools and techniques represented
through case studies show benefits that are categorized
as typical and hidden benefits. The reduction of fatigue
and stress, culture change and reduced time for
traceability are some of the hidden benefits, whereas
waste elimination, financial benefits, reduction in
reworking, lower inventory levels and lead time
reduction are typical benefits. Lean surveys have been
performed to discover the level of understanding of lean
tools and techniques in organizations. In spite of the fact
that lean offers many benefits, there are still some
barriers making it possible to oppose its implementation.
Poor psychology, lack of responsibility, financial
problems, lack of education and training, and demand
volatility are some of the major drawbacks which fall as
barriers to implementing lean. It has been established
beyond doubt that to remain in business it has now become
a necessity for all industries to adopt the tools of lean
principles. Now every industry has to shed conservative
attitudes and reform their working practices with lean
tools. The attitudes of the work-force in industry also
require much cultural change in order to save their
livelihoods.
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