Insightful implementation of lean is necessary for high-value manufacturing and is complementary to strategic decision making regarding manufacture. However lean can be difficult to implement in specific organisations. One of the difficulties is deciding which of the many lean tools to apply and when to apply them. A complicating factor is change management. Lean implementation is a transformational process and needs to support organisational development alongside process improvement. We develop a method based on risk management to identify which lean tools are most appropriate for a specific organisational setting. This permits the situational and contingency variables to be accommodated in the lean transformation. The method is demonstrated by application to a small manufacturing organisation with a high-variety low-volume business model. Thus it is possible, given contextual knowledge of the organisation, to predict which lean methods are most important in the situation. This enables the prioritisation of organisational effort towards lean methods that are relevant to the organisation at that particular time in its development.
Problem -When lean is adopted in traditional organisations it requires a widespread organisational change and many businesses fail to sustain lean practices. Purpose -The purpose of this work was to define lean implementation based on the organisational development (OD) body of knowledge. Approach -The literature in lean and organisational change was reviewed and amalgamated to develop a novel conceptual framework. Findings -Lean implementation begins with a planned changed that is episodic. However, the ultimate goal is to develop a learning organisation where change is continuous and emergent from all levels. Respect for people, everyone in the organisations contribution, is considered key to successful implementation of lean. Implications-Practitioners should not focus on isolated improvements, but foster change from within for a sustained transformation to become a lean learning organisation. Originality -This paper provides new insights into lean implementation and its transformative effect on the organisation. A novel conceptual model is presented that frames lean transformation within the organisational development literature.
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