Identification of Lean Implementation Hurdles in Indian Industries

Authors: Bhim Singh

Abstract:

Due to increased pressure from global competitors, manufacturing organizations are switching over to lean philosophies from traditional mass production. Lean manufacturing is a manufacturing philosophy which focuses on elimination of various types of wastes and creates maximum value for the end customers. Lean thinking aims to produce high quality products and services at the lowest possible cost with maximum customer responsiveness. Indian Industry is facing lot of problems in this transformation from traditional mass production to lean production. Through this paper an attempt has been made to identify various lean implementation hurdles in Indian industries with the help of a structured survey. Identified hurdles are grouped with the help of factor analysis and rated by calculating descriptive statistics. To show the effect of lean implementation hurdles a hypothesis “Organizations having higher level of lean implementation hurdles will have poor (negative) performance” has been postulated and tested using correlation matrix between performance parameters of the organizations and identified hurdles. The findings of the paper will be helpful to prepare road map to identify and eradicate the lean implementation hurdles.

Keywords: Factor analysis, global competition, lean implementation and lean hurdles.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI): doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1124301

References:

[1] R. Shah, and P.T Ward, ‘‘Lean manufacturing: context, practice bundles, and performance’’, Journal of Operations Management, 2003, Vol. 21 No. 2, pp. 129-49.
[2] B. Dankbaar, “Lean production: denial, confirmation or extension of sociotechnical systems design?”, Human Relations, 1997, Vol. 50 No. 5.
[3] J.P. Womack, D.T. Jones, “Lean thinking: banish waste and create wealth in your corporation”. Simon & Schuster, New York, 1996.
[4] B. Singh, and S.K Sharma, “Value stream mapping a versatile tool for lean implementation: An Indian case study of a manufacturing industry”, Journal of Measuring Business Excellence, 2009, Vol. 13 No. 3, pp. 58-68
[5] B. Singh, S.K. Sharma and S.K Garg, “Development of leanness index to measure leanness: a case of an Indian auto component industry”, Journal of Measuring Business Excellence, 2010, Vol. 14 No2, pp 46-53.
[6] B. Singh, S.K. Sharma and S.K Garg, “Scope for lean implementation: A Survey of 127 Indian Industries,” International Journal of Rapid Manufacturing, 2010, Vol 1 No 3, pp, 323-333.
[7] Y.C. Wong, K.Y. Wong and A. Ali, ‘A study on lean manufacturing implementation in the Malaysian electrical and electronics industry’, European J. of Scientific Research, 2009, Vol. 38, No. 4, pp.521–535.
[8] R. Darabi, R. Moradi & U. Toomari, “Barriers to Implementation of Lean Accounting in Manufacturing Companies", International Journal of Business and Commerce, 2012, Vol. 1, No. 9, pp 38-51.
[9] Y. Pingyu and Yu, Yu, “The Barriers to SMEs’ Implementation of Lean Production and Countermeasures,” International Journal of Innovation, Management and Technology, 2010, Vol. 1, No. 2.
[10] Priti B. Khadse, Avinash D. Sarode, and R. Wasu, “Lean Manufacturing in Indian Industries: A Review", International Journal of Latest Trends in Engineering and Technology 2013, Vol. 3 NO 1, pp 175-181."
[11] B.B. Flynn, S. Sakakibara, R.G. Schroeder, K.A. Bates and J.B. Flynn, “Empirical research methods in operations management”, Journal of Operations Management, 1990, Vol. 9 No. 2, pp. 250-84.
[12] H. Nunnally, “Psychometric Theory”, McGraw-Hill, 1978, New York.