Lean readiness – the case of the European pharmaceutical manufacturing industry

Lean performance measurement system for an Indian automotive supply chain

Purpose

This paper aims to present a simple and innovative fuzzy methodology-based lean performance measurement system (L-PMS) for an Indian automotive supply chain. The paper also enlightens the influence of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on supply chains and the practical implications of the unprecedented disruptions on the performance measurement systems.

Design/methodology/approach

The L-PMS is divided into three phases. In the first phase, the key performance indicator (KPI) list, as deemed fit by the organization, is prepared using literature and suggestions from the case organization. The list contains 61 KPIs measuring 24 performance dimensions in seven functional areas of the supply chain. In the second phase, the KPI performance data (actual, best and worst) are collected using the enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. In the last phase, the leanness score of the case organization is calculated at four levels – KPI, dimension, functional area and overall organization.

Findings

The overall leanness score of the case organization is 60%. The case organization uses KPIs from all seven functional areas, but it needs to improve the number of KPIs in administration and supplier management functional areas. The case organization uses only quantitative KPIs. However, the performance dimensions at the middle level are adequate. The leanness level of the case organization in different areas is highly variable (ranges from 45% to 91%).

Research limitations/implications

The major limitation of the study is that the case study is done at a single organization.

Practical implications

The managers at the different levels of the hierarchy can use the lean performance measurement score to leverage the better performing areas/dimensions/KPIs and improve poor performing areas/dimensions/KPIs. The lean performance measurement at functional area level can help leadership to give responsibility to different people for the improvement of leanness with respect to different dimensions/functional areas. The disruptive impact of COVID-19 should clearly be understood by the managers to make appropriate decisions based on the severity as measured at different levels.

Originality/value

According to the authors' best knowledge, this is the first lean performance measurement application at the four hierarchical levels (KPI, performance dimension, functional area and overall organization).

Impact of lean principles on operational performance in high uncertainty

Purpose

The purpose of this research is to study the impact of perceived adoption of Lean principles on operational performance in Lebanese pharmaceutical industries.

Design/methodology/approach

A quantitative method was implemented using a questionnaire that targeted 253 respondents working in eight good manufacturing practices (GMP) certified Lebanese pharmaceutical companies. Reliability analysis was performed using SPSS, and the research hypotheses were tested using regression analysis.

Findings

The results demonstrated that Lean principles positively and directly affected operational performance. It also positively affected operational performance factors of quality, cost and time. However, the analysis of each of Lean principles impact on operational performance cost was analyzed perfection, value, and value stream mapping (VSM) significantly increased operational performance. In addition, pull only positively augmented the cost reduction, whereas flow did not show any effects on any of operational performance’s factors.

Practical implications

In addition to enhancing operational performance, the positive effect of the perceived adoption of Lean principles on performance is also explained by managers’ efforts in studying the flow of actions in their processes to reduce wastes. To face uncertainty, training and building a workforce that is able to implement Lean principles, equipping this workforce with needed artifacts, and promoting a high-performance culture are crucial for the successful implementation of Lean principles.

Originality/value

Lean approach has become a major pathway of improvement especially in pharmaceutical companies. Few studies analyzed the impact of each of the Lean principles on the operational performance in companies that operate in era of uncertainty. Furthermore, the perceived adoption of Lean principles is under investigated in the Middle East in general and in Lebanon in particular.

Prioritization and ranking of lean practices: a case study

Purpose

The paper aims to identify, prioritize and rank lean practices in the context of an Indian automotive component manufacturing organization using interpretive ranking process (IRP) and interpretive structural modeling (ISM) approaches.

Design/methodology/approach

Lean practices are identified from the literature. Then, two hierarchical models were are developed using two distinct modeling approaches – ISM and IRP with expert opinions from an Indian automotive component manufacturing organization to analyze the contextual relationships among the various lean practices and to prioritize and rank them with respect to performance dimensions.

Findings

In the study, the hierarchical structural models are developed using ISM and IRP approaches for an Indian automotive component manufacturing organization. In ISM-based modeling, lean practices can be categorized into five levels. Top priority should be given to the motivators followed by value chain, system/technology and organization centric practices. IRP model shows the dominance relationship among the various lean practices with respect to performance dimensions.

Practical implications

The models are constructed from the organizational standpoint to evaluate their impact to the implementation of lean manufacturing. The study leverages the organizations to prioritize limited resources as per the hierarchy. Managers get the inter-linkages and ranking of various lean practices, which leads to a better perspective for the effective implementation of lean. The structural models also assist management to assign proper roles to employees/departments for effective lean implementation.

Originality/value

There is hardly any structural model of lean practices in the literature for clustering, prioritizing and ranking of lean practices. The study fills this gap and develops the hierarchical models of lean practices through IRP and ISM approaches for an Indian automotive component manufacturing organization. The results from both approaches are compared for illustrating the benefits of one over the other.

Barriers and Enablers for Continuous Improvement Methodologies within the Irish Pharmaceutical Industry

This study aims to investigate the barriers that exist when implementing continuous improvement methodologies, such as Lean Six Sigma (LSS), within the Irish Pharma industry. The main finding of this study is that 45% of participants perceived that a highly regulated environment could be a barrier to continuous improvement implementation, while 97% of respondents utilised Continuous improvement (CI) methods, such as Lean, Six Sigma, and LSS, within their organisations. While the International Conference of Harmonisation integrates CI into its Pharmaceutical Quality Systems (PQS) regulations, the highest motivation for CI implementation amongst the Irish Pharma industry is to improve Productivity and Quality. The main obstacles highlighted for CI implementation in Pharma attributed to stringent regulatory regimes were fear of extra validation activity, a compliance versus quality culture, and a regulatory culture of being “safe”. Another relevant finding presented in this paper is that participants CI LSS tools are very strongly integrated into the pharma industries corrective and preventative action system, deviations, and internal audit systems. Limitations of the research are that all the data collected in the survey came from professionals working for multinational Pharmaceutical companies based in Ireland. The authors understand that this is the first research focused on the barriers and status of CI initiatives in the pharmaceutical industry. The results of this study represent an important step towards understanding the enablers and obstacles for the use of continuous improvement methodologies in pharmaceutical manufacturing industries on a global scale.

Individuals' psychosocial voice barriers in lean problem-solving teams

Purpose

Voice role identification and the psychosocial voice barriers represented by implicit voice theories (IVTs) affect lean team members' prosocial voice behavior and thereby lean team performance. This paper investigates how role definition and IVTs influence individual lean team-members' prosocial voice behavior during lean implementation.

Design/methodology/approach

This research was conducted in four case readymade garment (RMG) factories in Bangladesh following a mixed-method research approach dominated by a qualitative research methodology. Under the mixed-method design, this research followed multiple research strategies, including intervention-based action research and case studies.

Findings

The findings suggest that voice role perception affects the voice behavior of the individual lean team members. The findings also demonstrate that voice role definition significantly influences individually held implicit voice beliefs in lean teams.

Research limitations/implications

This research was conducted in four sewing lines in four RMG factories in Bangladesh. There is a need for a cross-sector and cross-country large-scale study that follows the quantitative research methods in different contexts.

Practical implications

This research contributes to the operations management literature, especially in lean manufacturing, by presenting the difficulties of mobilizing employee voice in lean problem-solving teams. This work provides new knowledge to managers to address challenges and opportunities to ensure decent work and to improve productivity.

Originality/value

This research raises a key issue of employee voice and its influence on lean performance which addresses two critical areas of employee voice behavior in lean teams: team-members' voice role perception and implicit voice beliefs that influence their voice behavior in the workplace, thereby influencing team performance.

Country-related future research agenda of Lean Manufacturing–A systematic literature review

Purpose

Many future research proposals of Lean Manufacturing (LM) are presented in the literature. The purpose of this paper is to determine these future research proposals of LM which are country-related and classify them.

Design/methodology/approach

A systematic literature review (SLR) of peer-reviewed journal articles in LM was conducted. A total of 145 articles published in 34 journals during 2010–2020 were collected from four major management science publishers namely, Emerald Online, Elsevier/Science Direct, Springer Link and Taylor and Francis. The country-related future research proposals of LM identified in the literature were classified according to, firstly, the continent of the country of reference, and secondly, some form of natural affinity of these proposals creating meaningful themes. The quality tool “affinity diagram” was applied to classify the country-related future research proposals of LM.

Findings

The country-related future research proposals of LM, which are increasing in the literature over time, refer mostly to studies to be conducted in several continents/countries and to multinational studies. Conducting studies specifically in Asia, Europe, South and North America, Africa and Australia–New Zealand is also suggested. The plethora of the country-related future research proposals of LM were classified, based on the affinity of their content, into 18 meaningful themes. These themes were also classified based on their affinity into two broad categories, namely “themes concerning the LM approach itself” and “themes concerning factors outside the LM approach”.

Research limitations/implications

The restricted number of the databases searched and the subjectivity of classifying the large number of the country-related future research proposals into themes are the main limitations of the present SLR. Based on these limitations, future literature review studies can be carried out.

Practical implications

Useful proposals are provided to researchers of several countries for conducting original and country-specific research studies which can enrich the knowledge of the implementation of LM under the specific circumstances of a country for the benefit of practitioners.

Originality/value

This study goes beyond previous literature review studies on LM by focusing exclusively on the LM future research agenda which is country related. The analytical presentation of the country-related future research proposals as well as the formulation of clusters of these proposals make the present SLR study substantially different from those carried out worldwide so far.

Exploring the dark side of Lean: a systematic review of the lean factors that influence social outcomes

Purpose

Lean has shifted over the years from a set of tools to implement to a human-centric approach concerning both hard and soft factors. However, there is a limited research on these soft factors and how they influence companies performance and social outcomes on the one hand and how they enable the hard factors on the other hand. Taking this as a valuable opportunity, the purpose of this paper is to present the key motivating factors and key gaps in the literature as an agenda for future research.

Design/methodology/approach

A systematic methodology to identifying the literature on social outcomes and factors in Lean is presented. Web of Science, EBSCO, Emerald, Science Direct, Google Scholar and the top journals were searched, and 158 papers were identified.

Findings

The systematic review helped the authors to identify the evolution, current trends, research gaps and an agenda for future research for exploring social outcomes in Lean and the factors mediating them. These factors are grouped and presented.

Practical implications

The implications of this work include understanding for managers and professionals how both soft and hard factors in Lean are related and that for a sustainable implementation, the whole system must be observed. This work could serve as a valuable resource that depending on the execution of Lean, either positive outcomes will emerge or even negative outcomes, referred to as “The Dark Side”.

Originality/value

This paper presents an extended survey on the factors in Lean mediating both companies’ performance and social outcomes. The authors also believe that this is possibly the most comprehensive systematic literature review on the topic and will set the foundation for various research avenues based on the key findings of this study.

Lean construction and simulation for performance improvement: a case study of reinforcement process

Purpose

This research seeks to evaluate the impact of applying lean construction principles on the performance of reinforcement operations using a discrete-event simulation (DES) approach.

Design/methodology/approach

Process mapping of reinforcements operations was first established through field observation and interviews with construction managers involved in the selected project. Subsequently, quantitative data were gathered and then used to identify the best probabilistic density functions for each activity duration based on the fit-quality tests. Upon testing the validity of the real-world model, a lean simulation model was developed, using ARENA software, to investigate the impact of lean construction principles on the performance of such processes.

Findings

Lean principles are effective in enhancing the performance of the selected construction process. Output performance measurements for real-world model and lean model revealed that lean construction principles led to 41% improvement in process productivity, 14% enhancement in process efficiency and 17% reduction in cycle time.

Research limitations/implications

The statistical findings only represent the process under study (reinforcement process) and cannot be generalized to other construction activities. In order to draw generalizable conclusions, future works are needed to extend this study to different project sizes and more complex construction processes (e.g. bricklaying process and concrete pouring operations). Moreover, there are other factors such as labor skills, rework and uncertainty, site conditions that require further analyses for leaner construction projects.

Originality/value

The methodology and the techniques presented in this work can be used for decision making by analyzing various lean construction scenarios and evaluating their impacts on performance outcomes of any construction process prior to real-world implementation.

Quality and lean practices synergies

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between investments in quality and lean practices, and their impact on factory fitness. Using concepts originating in the theory of swift even flow, this study asserts that manufacturers, in order to improve their production swiftness and evenness, must leverage the potential synergetic effects between quality and lean practices.

Design/methodology/approach

This research uses data from the Global Manufacturing Research Group (GMRG) survey project (with data collected from 922 manufacturing plants, across 18 countries). The constructs and measurement model were assessed using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and the hypotheses were tested using ordinary least square (OLS) models.

Findings

This study highlights that both investments in quality and lean practices have direct impact factory fitness. The results provide insights into the efficacy of the investments in manufacturing practices and their role in augmenting the operational performance. The investments in quality practices were found to enhance the efficacy of investments in lean practices, which in turn impact the factory fitness.

Practical implications

From a practical perspective, the study informs managers on how to leverage investment in quality practices to enhance the impact of lean practice on performance. The results provide empirical evidence to support management decision-making concerning the development of competences in quality and lean practices, which may create competitive advantage.

Originality/value

This study contributes to the quality and lean literature and provides empirical evidence of the synergetic effects between investments in quality and lean practices. The analysis offers a greater understanding of the mechanisms that can be used to maximise the impact of investments in lean practices, from a global perspective. The findings are important to the advancement of theory in operations management, as it integrates three research streams: quality practices, lean practices and swift even flow research.