This paper presents an exploratory study of lean manufacturing implementation in Malaysian automotive industries. A questionnaire survey is used to explore the extent of lean manufacturing implementation. This paper also examines the drivers and barriers that influence the implementation of lean manufacturing. The survey was performed on sixty Malaysian automotive components manufacturing firms. The respondents were chosen from those who are directly involved with lean manufacturing practices such as production and quality personnel. The findings show that most of the respondent firms are classified as in-transition towards lean manufacturing practice. These in-transition firms have moderate mean values for each of the five lean manufacturing practice categories. It is also found that these firms spend more attentions and resources in internal areas such as firms' operation and management, compared to external relationships with suppliers and customers. These firms believe that the factors that urged the implementation of lean manufacturing are the desire to focus on customers and to achieve the organisation's continuous improvement. The results from this survey also revealed the main barriers that prevent or delay the lean implementation. The main barriers to implement lean manufacturing system are the lack of understanding lean concepts and shop floor employees' attitude.

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Lean manufacturing is a proven approach for success in manufacturing industry. However, several organisations failed in their attempt to implement lean manufacturing system. The transition to lean manufacturing requires radical change which involves a total reshaping of purpose, system and culture of the organisation. Therefore, a lean manufacturing implementation framework was developed. This framework is intended to provide practitioners with a better understanding of lean transition and minimize the conflicts of implementing lean manufacturing system. The purpose of this paper is to validate the proposed lean manufacturing implementation framework using Delphi technique. This technique is a process of gathering opinions of experts, which designed to achieve a convergence of opinions on a specific real–world issue. The work continued over two iterative rounds until consensus or stability is reached. Comments and suggestions given by the experts help to further improve and validate the framework. As conclusion, the final framework of lean manufacturing implementation is presented.

Manual material handling (MMH) is the most common cause of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) and low back pain (LBP). It involves manual lifting, lowering, carrying, pushing and pulling loads. This study has three main objectives, first: to identify ergonomics awareness towards MMH activities amongst the workers; second, to identify the body discomfort or body pain of the workers using Body Parts Symptom Survey (BPSS); and third to study the LBP and MSDs risk exposure in reference to MMH practiced by the workers using RULA. The respondents for the study were selected from the production area. There were 32 respondents who answered questionnaires regarding ergonomics awareness and reported their body pains through Body Parts Symptom Survey (BPSS) included in the 5-scale Likert questionnaires. Based on the self-reported survey, 7 subjects were chosen to be observed through Rapid Upper Limb Assessment (RULA). Evaluation of ergonomic awareness on MMH amongst workers on research area shows that they possess a moderate ergonomics awareness level (mean score 2.97). The BPSS used in this research provides the insight of discomfort issue amongst workers. Nine workers who are working at loading and collection bay were detected to have LBP and MSD problem symptoms. Based on RULA observations on work stations and MMH motions, it was found that the MMH methods used is on level 4. This means that the current method employed should be investigated and immediate changes should be applied. It is recommended that the management should put more effort to increase workers ergonomics awareness especially during MMH activities, to re-examine the MMH activities and redesign the work flow or the workstations.

Challenging and competitive business environment has prompted the automotive industry to restructure its manufacturing practices. Nowadays, Lean Manufacturing (LM) has been widely implemented in the automotive industry. LM supported the manufacturing companies, particularly automotive manufacturers in becoming world class manufacturers through various lean practices. However, lean implementation faced various obstacles such as the lack of management commitment and support, the absence of organizational communication, employees’ attitude and many more. It is also indicated that lean implementation success factors are not merely due to technical practices but also with the integration of non-technical aspects such as human-related practices. This paper aims to investigate the Soft Lean Practices that are necessary for the successful implementation of the Lean Production System (LPS) in the Malaysian Automotive SMEs. The result of this paper will provide a detailed review of Soft Lean Practices within the LM literature that should be considered by the organizations when implementing lean. A framework was also developed through an extensive review of Soft Lean literature.

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