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Purpose In an attempt to promote the implementation of lean in small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), the purpose of this paper is to determine and to evaluate success factors critical to the implementation of lean in SMEs. This will help SMEs to redirect and stepwise strategies for implementing lean and overcome the financial and technical limitations that are hindering smaller companies to address a large set of factors at the same time. Design/methodology/approach This research proposes the use of a two-phase research methodology. First, 28 critical success factors (CSFs) were identified and grouped into five categories: policy, leadership and management, funding, technic and process, culture, humans and competencies, market, customers and suppliers and understanding, methodology and implementation. Second, a structural model based on the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) was proposed to prioritize the identified CSFs. A practical case study is conducted in a small automotive supplier to validate the proposed model, take inputs and solve the problem under study. Findings The results show that CSFs related to “Policy, leadership and management” are found to be the most significant for SMEs to successfully implement lean production. This is followed closely by CSFs from the category of “Understanding, methodology and implementation”. CSFs of “Culture, humans and competencies” and “Funding, technique and process” are the third and fourth prominent categories. At the end of the priority list come CSFs of “Market, customers and suppliers”. Originality/value The present study has a twofold contribution that complete the existing literature. First, the study is focused on small companies which have not received sufficient attention. Second, it provides a more accurate, effective and systematic decision support tool for selecting the most prominent CSFs to redirect lean efforts in SMEs in a stepwise manner.

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Purpose The implementation of lean production in small manufacturing enterprises (SMEs) harbors a great deal of barriers on practical, theoretical, financial and organizational sides. In view of this, the purpose of this paper is to explore and prioritize the solutions to overcome these barriers and pitfalls in order to identify a list of the most feasible and efficient solutions on which SMEs must focus to success their lean journey. Design/methodology/approach First, a review of the published articles along with the interview of some lean experts have allowed to identify 20 barriers grouped into five categories along with 17 solutions proposed to overcome these barriers. Afterwards, an integrated fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process-Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (AHP-TOPSIS) was proposed to evaluate and rank the solutions of lean implementation in SMEs and overcome its barriers. The AHP is used to determine weights of the barriers as criteria, and the fuzzy TOPSIS method is used to determine the final ranking of the solutions of lean adoption in SMEs. Findings The top five barriers of lean implementation in SMEs were found to be: lack of management involvement, lack of adapted methodology of lean implementation, short-term vision, fear and resistance to change and lack of understanding of lean. Moreover, the top five solutions to overcome the barriers of lean adoption in SMEs are as follows: commitment and participation of management, adoption of simple measurement and KPIs, development of organizational learning culture, early deployment of lean culture through training and allocation of sufficient time and resources for change. Originality/value The findings of this study can provide a basis for researchers and practitioners in order to understand the real reasons of lean failure in SMEs and develop improvement plans to increase its success rate. Moreover, it proposes a more reliable, robust and systematic decision support tool for stepwise implementation of the solutions of lean adoption in SMEs since they lack sufficient resources to address all the solutions simultaneously.

Abstract:Purpose: The present paper aims at developing an effective framework including all the components required for implementing lean production properly in Small and Medium-sized Enterprises.Design/methodology/approach: The paper begins with the review of the main existing framework of lean implementation in order to highlight shortcomings in the literature through a lack of suitable framework for small companies. To overcome this literature gap, data of successful initiatives of lean implementation were collected based on a multiple case study approach. These initiatives has been juxtaposed in order to develop a new, practical and effective framework that includes all the components (process, tools, success factors) that are necessary to implement lean in Small and Medium-sized Enterprises. Findings:The proposed framework presents many significant contributions: First, it provides an overcoming for the limitations of the existing frameworks by proposing for consultants, researchers and organizations an effective framework for lean implementation in SMEs. This will allow SMEs to benefit from competitive advantages gained by lean. Second, it brings together a set of the more essential and critical elements of lean implementation commonly used by SMEs and derived from the practical experiences of them in lean implementation. Finally, it highlights -786-Journal of Industrial Engineering and Management -http://dx.doi.org/10. 3926/jiem.1907 the successful experiences of small companies in implementing lean programs and then proves that lean can give relevant results even for SMEs. Research limitations/implications: the proposed framework presents a number of limitationsand still evokes extension for further researches: Although it was derived from practical experiences of SMEs, the proposed framework is not supported by practical implementation. On the other hand and even though the elements in the proposed framework are derived from the practical experiences of four SMEs, the identified elements need to be generalized and enriched by conducting a survey to identify more elements that are also commonly used in SMEs.Practical implications: Implementing rigorously the proposed framework will help small companies' managers to improve considerably their organization's performance and benefits from lean strategies' outcomes. Researchers and practitioners in small businesses now possess an integral framework for successfully implementing lean strategies. Originality/value:To the best knowledge of the authors, this is the first work that proposes an effective lean implementation framework believed to be easy to understund, practical and suitable for small companies. In short, this study is a real quantum leap to resolve the problematic unanswered of lean implementation in SMEs.

The emerging and underdeveloped countries in Africa face numerous difficulties managing infectious waste during the SARS-CoV-2 disease, known as the COVID-19 pandemic. Hence, the main aim of this paper is to help decision-makers in African countries to select the best available waste management strategy during the COVID-19 pandemic. The present research undertakes seamless assessment and prioritization of infectious solid waste (SW) and wastewater (WW) treatment technologies based on a criteria system involving four dimensions, i.e., environment-safety, technology, economics, and sociopolitics. A combined approach that integrates the results of life-cycle assessments and life-cycle costs (LCA–LCC), analytic hierarchy process (AHP), and VIKOR method in an interval-valued fuzzy (IVF) environment is proposed. The results reveal that combined incineration and chemical disinfection approach, and combined chlorination and ultraviolet irradiation are the most sustainable technologies for managing infectious SW and WW treatment in the present context. The proposed approach, alongside the findings of the study, constitutes a reference to devise urgent planning for contagious waste management in African countries as well as developing countries worldwide.

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