Cooperation in the supply chain and lean production adoption

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to empirically examine the impact of the level of cooperation in the supply chain on lean production (LP) adoption. The effect of the level of cooperation with both suppliers and customers with regards to the intensity of LP adoption is examined, as is the joint effect of cooperation and information integration with customers.Design/methodology/approachAnalysis is carried out on a sample of 84 manufacturing plants that are first tier suppliers to original equipment manufacturers in the Spanish automotive industry. Data were gathered from plant CEOs via a combination of regular mail, e‐mail and internet‐based survey methods. Data are analyzed using exploratory factor analysis and hierarchical regression.FindingsThe results show that while greater levels of cooperation with suppliers do not impact on the intensity of LP adoption, greater levels of cooperation with customers do have a significant effect. Also, the greater the cooperation with customers and the more information integrated with them, the higher the intensity of LP adoption.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings stress the importance of having a holistic vision of the supply chain to explain the degree of LP adoption. Further developments include simultaneously studying the role of both information and physical flows along the supply chain in LP adoption, and analyzing the time lag that occurs between a company increasing cooperation with suppliers and customers, and progress being made in the intensity of LP adoption.Practical implicationsPractitioners must be mindful that a greater level of cooperation with customers creates a favourable environment for increasing the intensity of adoption of LP.Originality/valueThis paper contributes to research on the explanatory factors of LP adoption by adding new factors to explain it, including the level of cooperation between supply chain agents and the interaction of information integration and cooperation with customers.

What derives lean manufacturing effectiveness: An interpretive structural mode

“…With most of the researchers and implementers agreed with the advantages and benefits introduced by LM (Shah and Ward, 2003), it is still lacking of common literature review against key determinants of LM (MoyanoFuentes et al, 2012;Shah and Ward, 2007). From the current review it can be presumed that LM is undoubtedly a multifaceted idea that can be gathered together as different types of organizational practices (Moyano-Fuentes et al, 2012). In order to determine the key determinants of LM implementation and precedence relationship among key determinants, interpretive structural modelling is one of the suitable tools to achieve the results.…”

Exploring the Moderating Role of Lean Production on Supplier Performance: An Empirical Study of Turkish Automotive Part Suppliers

“…The lean approach aims to increase production efficiency and quality, and to reduce whole stages stock levels and all kinds of unnecessary efforts (Hicks, 2007;Haleem et al, 2012;Martínez-Jurado and Moyano-Fuentes, 2012). In this approach, materials and component suppliers should also follow the lean production principles to achieve overall system efficiency .…”

“…Li et al, 2005;Shah and Ward, 2007;Olhager and Prajogo, 2012;Bortolotti et al, 2013), only a small number of empirical studies acknowledge or consider the conjoint positive effect. These studies include those by Arkader (2001), Simpson and Power (2005), Jayaram et al, (2008) and Moyano-Fuentes et al, (2012). However, they are limited in a number of ways including very small sample sizes (e.g.…”

“…Additionally, lean production is defined in the literature as a bundle of practices "Just in Time -Total Quality Management -Human Resource Management" (e.g. Shah and Ward, 2007;Moyano-Fuentes et al, 2012). Because of the aim and constraints of this paper these antecedent factors are investigated in a narrower context without using all the aforementioned dimensions of the two constructs.…”

“…Cousins and Menguc, 2006;Swink et al, 2007;Cao et al, 2010) and information integration (e.g. Riezebos et al, 2009;Moyano-Fuentes et al, 2012;Prajogo and Olhager, 2012) there is some empirical confusion/conflation of multiple moderating factors. There is thus a need to consider more rigorously the interdependence of the key antecedents identified in the literature including lean production techniques implementation and strategic partnerships.…”