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.
Tranformation from conventional production system to lean production system has helped many manufacturing companies to reduce cost and ultimately improve their business performance. Unfortunately, there were also many reported cases where manufacturers failed to sustain the transformation until they achieve the ultimate result. Therefore, this article aimed to review existing Lean Transformation Sustainability (LTS) models that might help scholars and practitioners gain better insights on how to sustain lean transformation. This article compiled 37 LTS models through assistance of online bibliographic databases. The review study found that many researchers have proposed original models which involved high participation of practitioners and to some extent consultants in the development of LTS models. It was also found that a huge number of inconsistent elements were used to propose the LTS models. The study findings provided direction towards future research opportunities such as the development of LTS assessment model that encompassed standard set of elements for generalisation.
Stiff competitions, fluctuation in demand and changes in customer preferences have prompted the automotive component manufacturers worldwide to enhance their manufacturing system. Lean Production System (LPS) is a proven method used by many automotive component manufacturers to maintain their competitiveness. Although research on lean implementation has been conducted extensively, there is still a limited number of studies on the LPS implementation from the employees’ point of view. Thus, the main purpose of this study is to investigate the LPS implementation from the employees’ perspectives in an automotive component manufacturer in Malaysia. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were employed in this study. A survey questionnaire was developed from previous literature and distributed to 50 middle and lower level employees. The questionnaire was pilot-tested by the employees and also verified by the industry experts. Structured interviews with 25 employees were conducted to determine their perceptions and problems encountered during the LPS implementation. The result of the study revealed that majority of the employees in this company were only aware of 5S and Kaizen although there are many other LPS tools which are also useful to them. However, the employees agreed that the LPS give many benefits in the workplace. Another finding was Employee Involvement (EI) in the LPS was mostly in the form of sharing responsibility with their co-workers. Problems were due to the lack of knowledge and training in the LPS among the employees. Greater effort should be taken by the company to ensure successful LPS implementation and its sustainability over time.
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