Implementation of lean supply chain: an empirical research on the effect of context

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate the effect of a set of contextual variables on the implementation of lean supply chain (LSC) practices. The authors do that by investigating one main research question: “how do the contextual variables (i.e. plant size, supply chain level, level of onshore suppliers and age of the LM initiative) influence on the degree of adoption of LSC practices?” Design/methodology/approach To this end, the authors collected data from 115 companies from different sectors located in Southern Brazil. Data collected was analyzed by means of multivariate techniques. The authors tested if the frequency of observations for each contextual variable was associated to the implementation levels of the LSC practices. Findings The evidences suggest that supply chain context significantly impacts the likelihood of implementing LSC practices. In particular, the influence of tier level, plant size and larger experience in implementing LM seems to be substantial across a wide mix of practices. On the other hand, results indicate that contexts in which companies are still beginners at the lean journey and their level of onshore suppliers appear to be less pervasive than previous empirical researches imply. Originality/value The implementation of LSC practices entails a different business model, in which improved profits arise from the cooperation rather than bargaining or imposing power over supply chain partners. However, not all organizations should implement the same set of practices, since the adoption of any specific management practice depends upon a set of contextual variables. The understanding of the relationship between the level of adoption of LSC practices and the contextual variables helps to anticipate occasional difficulties and sets the proper expectations along the implementation.

Can Lean and Agile organisations within the UK automotive supply chain be distinguished based upon contextual factors?

“…For instance, Marodin et al (2016) found that firms situated in the top tiers of an ASC, closer to the end customer, were more likely to be adopting lean practices relative to those firms located in the lower tiers of an ASC, which supports the findings of Boonsthonsatit & Jungthawan (2015). Tortorella et al (2017a) sided with this, as findings from their study revealed firms positioned closer to the customer implemented lean practices to a greater extent when compared with firms positioned lower down the ASC. On the contrary, Sezen at al.…”

“…There is limited research examining lean and agile production relative to the role of contextual factors, especially supply chain positional tier (Jasti & Kodali, 2015;Marodin et al, 2016;Tortorella et al, 2017aTortorella et al, , 2017b. Furthermore, there are inconsistent results presented in the literature Negrao et al (2017).…”

“…However, positional tier was an important and significant factor that could distinguish lean and agile organisations. With this in mind, it is important to extend the discussion (Sezen et al, 2012;Garza-Reyes et al, 2015;Marodin et al, 2016;Marodin et al, 2017aMarodin et al, , 2017bTortorella et al, 2017aTortorella et al, , 2017b…”

A comprehensive insight into Lean management: Literature review and trends

“…Includes impact of lean on organizational performance including operational performance, financial performance etc. (Bhasin, 2008;Fullerton & Wempe, 2009;Belekoukias, Garza-Reyes & Kumar, 2014;Uhrin, Bruque-Camara & Moyano-Fuentes, 2017;Negrão et al, 2017) Leanness Includes research papers that discuss leanness assessment or measurement (Papadopoulou & Özbayrak, 2005;Singh, Garg & Sharma, 2010;Vinodh & Kumar-Chintha, 2011;Ram-Matawale, Datta & Sankar-Mahapatra, 2014) Lean supply Chain Includes papers that discuss adoption of lean principles, concepts, tools and techniques throughout the entire supply chain aimed at elimination of waste and non-value-added activities from the overall value stream in the supply chain (Stentoft-Arlbjørn, Vagn-Freytag & de Haas, 2011;Ma, Wang & Xu, 2011;Jasti & Kodali, 2015a;Tortorella, Miorando & Tlapa, 2017) Lean and other value creation tools Includes papers which discuss lean and other process improvement methodologies like TQM, Six sigma, Agile (Dahlgaard & Dahlgaard Park, 2006;Naslund, 2008;De Koeijer, Paauwe & -Huijsman, 2014;Mehrsai, Thoben & Scholz-Reiter, 2014) Lean Epistemology…”

Supply chain planning: a quantitative comparison between Lean and Info-Sharing models

“…The core thrust of lean in SCP is to reduce wastes in order to create a streamlined and highly efficient system that produces at customer demand pace (Shah & Ward, 2003). Differently from single firm planning, Lean in SCP needs to consider that the different links of the SC may be far off each other and have different ownerships (Tortorella, Miorando, & Tlapa, 2017). Lamming (1996) and Liker and Wu (2000) compared operations practices used along supply chains by lean Japanese automakers and not-lean automakers (Lamming, 1996;Liker & Wu, 2000).…”