Lean manufacturing (LM) is currently enjoying its second heyday. Companies in several industries are implementing lean practices to keep pace with the competition and achieve better results. In this article, we will concentrate on how companies can improve their inventory turnover performance through the use of lean practices. According to our main proposition, firms that widely apply lean practices have higher inventory turnover than those that do not rely on LM. However, there may be significant differences in inventory turnover even among lean manufacturers depending on their contingencies. Therefore, we also investigate how various contingency factors (production systems, order types, product types) influence the inventory turnover of lean manufacturers. We use cluster and correlation analysis to separate manufacturers based on the extent of their leanness and to examine the effect of contingencies. We acquired the data from the International Manufacturing Strategy Survey (IMSS) in ISIC sectors 28-35.

The purpose of the study was to investigate employee perceptions during a lean transformation 1 . The combination of case study and survey methodologies was used to define elements influencing the perceived lean success of shop floor employees. According to our findings, belief, commitment, work method and communication all have a considerable direct impact on workers' perceptions of lean success. However, their effects are very different based on the scope and focus of changes that is influenced by process characteristics. Perceptions regarding successful lean transformation during a moderate reorganisation of the company's welding plant, where mainly males work, are affected only by commitment and work method, whereas the deep reorganisation of the sewing plant (populated by female employees) is only influenced by belief and communication.Keywords: lean transformation; worker perceptions; gender; work environment 1 The contribution of the authors is 60%/35%/5%, respectively. 3 1.Introduction The fierce competition in the automotive industry forces companies at all levels of the supply chain to seek more effective operations. Recent decades have proven with certainty that the best "path" to pursue is Toyota's lean strategy. Lean production, first described in detail by Womack, Jones and Roos (1990) in their revolutionary book, "The Machine that Changed the World", has its roots in the Toyota Production System (TPS) (Ohno, 1988). Today, lean manufacturing is a complex system that extends throughout a company and beyond its borders (Hines et al., 2004;Matsui, 2007; Warnecke and Hüser, 1995;Womack and Jones, 2003). Lean production is standard in the global automotive industry and is gaining ground in other manufacturing sectors (Abdulmalek and Rajgopal, 2007;Panizzolo, 1998) and even service industries (Womack and Jones, 2003).Achieving lean production is a long and practically constant process during which the participants must continuously manage (Karlsson and Ahlström, 1996) and undergo changes. Its implementation is accompanied by radical changes from the beginning. These changes have a remarkable impact on performance (e.g., lead time, quality) and also substantially affect stakeholders (e.g., managers, workers) (Womack et al., 1990). Assessments of the success of change processes (i.e., lean implementation) are usually restricted to measuring operational and financial performance. What employees actually perceive, think and feel about lean implementation, the human aspect, has received less attention.In this paper, we explore 'soft' building blocks (e.g., commitment, belief) of successful lean implementation on the shop floor level. To determine how things happen in real company settings and to provide a genuine explanation of contingency factors, decisions and behaviors, we used a combined methodology including a case study and a survey at a Hungarian-owned automotive parts supplier. Our objective is to determine which factors make workers feel that lean transformation was successful in order to r...

PurposeThe authors’ main objective is to examine the resource alteration underlying the digital manufacturing transformation. The authors rely on the adaptation aspect of dynamic capabilities (DC) theory and their analysis shows how and why a factory adapts its resources and capabilities during digital transformation.Design/methodology/approachTo grasp the change, the authors apply the longitudinal case study method within a revelatory case setting. The digital transformation is detailed from the perspective of a subsidiary that has played a key role in the division's digital transformation.FindingsAnalysing the revealed four stages of the transformation through the lenses of the DC components of adaptation (sensing capability, absorptive capacity, integrative capability, relational capability), this study suggests a sequence with unbalanced characteristics. Each stage starts with sensing capability, each component appears during each stage and each stage is dominated by a different component. Relying on the path dependency concept, the authors also present that the interplay between lean as an old resource stock and digital manufacturing as a new resource stock is rather a necessity, especially at the beginning of the transformation (at a corporation that pursues lean for years).Practical implicationsDigital strategy development is rather an intermediate element of the transformation, since committed personnel (or maybe their network) start bottom-up and coordinate initiatives as they sense the opportunities in the environment. Top managers should rely on their accumulated knowledge and involve them into the transfer coalition in the top-down phase of digitalization. The authors’ case also underlines that starting to experiment with novel technologies requires a solid (and usually expensive) technological and human basis. Finally, process improvement focussed developments at a high-performing factory might be just enough to deal with ever-demanding customer expectations.Originality/valueThis study is among the firsts in operations management that relies on the DC theory to follow up the digital transformation of a factory. A further valuable contribution is that the adaptation process is examined in a longitudinal case study.

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PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to review the literature and offer a more generalizable empirical investigation on the performance impact of implementing Industry 4.0, and the way important contingency factors (plant size, multinational status, country context) affect implementation efforts.Design/methodology/approachFollowing a systematic literature review, the empirical research is based on a large-scale survey of 705 manufacturing plants from 22 countries. Structural equation modeling is employed to discover the relationships between the main constructs of interest, complemented with subgroup analyses to offer a more detailed understanding of the main effects.FindingsWe provide evidence that technologies enabling Industry 4.0 have a positive impact on operational performance, including cost, quality, delivery and flexibility performance. Results of the analyses further indicate that (1) larger firms invest more in implementing Industry 4.0 technologies, (2) manufacturing firms in less competitive countries, especially in the South-East Asian region invest significantly more effort than competitive countries, while (3) multinational companies have no advantage over local firms.Research limitations/implicationsThe survey data employed in this study refers to the early years of companies embracing Industry 4.0 solutions, and thus does not contain the most recent advances in manufacturing technologies.Originality/valueThe paper represents one of the first studies in the literature to assess on a large-scale survey the performance impact of Industry 4.0 technologies, as well as the main contingency factors affecting the implementation of these technologies.

Purpose The purpose of this paper to examine the impact of shop floor (SF) culture (organizational culture (OC) perceived by workers) and SF subcultures assessed by the competing values framework (CVF) on the perceived use of lean production (LP) practices. Design/methodology/approach The authors analyse questionnaires completed by workers at the single case company undergoing a commonplace lean transformation. The survey items cover both LP items and CVF statements. The propositions are analysed applying cluster analysis and regression. Findings At the case company, the multidimensionality of SF culture only partially exists, and the perceived use of LP practices shows little connection to OC. The considerable differences between SF culture and SF subcultures on the one hand and among SF subcultures on the other hand indicate the existence of a special multidimensional SF culture. Altogether, SF culture’s impact on LP is weak. Practical implications Managers should rethink the usual lean implementation pathways and understand how values pervade SF culture and how culture types impact the perceived use of LP practices at the SF. Managers could face a trade-off: smoother lean transition by engaging in SF subculture-specific transitions and reinforcing it or by developing a homogenous lean SF culture. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first empirical attempt to understand the impact of SF culture on the perceived use of LP practices by adopting a validated OC measurement tool. Furthermore, the study provides insight into workers’ subcultures.

PurposeThis paper aims to identify factors that considerably impact business performance of lean manufacturers (companies with extensive use of lean tools and excellent operational performance).Design/methodology/approachIMSS IV (International Manufacturing Strategy Survey) data bank is used for statistical analysis. It contains 711 valid observations from 23 countries from the time period between 2005 February and 2006 March. Out of the 711 responding organization data of 453 firms are analyzed. Quantitative analyses are done by cluster, ANOVA, and regression analyses.FindingsMany factors influencing business performance of lean producers are outside of the scope of Operations Management (e.g. market dynamics, new entrants, and customization). Production's contribution to business performance is limited to product/service positioning, supplier and capacity management.Research limitations/implicationsThe most important limitation is that the database used in the study was created for more general purposes. Although our results do not show any difference among industries, we only consider cultural impact at regional level. The explanatory power of our model reveals that we could have overlooked many important factors (e.g. innovation capability of business unit, firm role in the supply chain), so further research (e.g. review of strategic management literature) is required to enhance the reliability of variables.Originality/valueEmpirical results regarding improvements in business performance of lean companies are ambiguous. The study highlights key areas of lean production that contribute to superior business performance. It will help managers to explore both operational and business benefits of lean implementation.

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