Key Factors of Manufacturing Operations Successfully Applying Lean Manufacturing

Abstract

The primary purpose of this study is to investigate how to apply lean manufacturing, which is necessary to eliminate waste, reduce cost, and improve efficiency in the production process to maintain the survival and growth of a company under the current trend of business competition. The relationship between production, marketing, human resources, development, finance, and the technology of manufacturing is not found in the literature, and it is the origin of this study to connect the two. The primary purpose of this study is to apply the Analytic Hierarchy Process to examine the critical factors of operational success in the research direction of production, sales, human resources, development, and financial components of precision manufacturing. In the initial step, after the literature study and surveys with experts in operation management and operation of lean manufacturing companies, the scientific management principles of production, sales, people, development, and finance were used to set up the five major categories and 20 subcomponents of this study. In the following step, the empirical results of the expert surveys, having applied the Analytic Hierarchy Process to the results, show that "people" is the essential component. According to the assessment components, the top 8 key components were "Voice of Customer (VOC)," "Organizational Planning," "Talent Development," "Quality," "Lean Management Training," "Lean Strategic Deployment," "New Product Launch," and "Succession Training." After evaluation, this research has verified the prioritization of five critical success components out of the original eight initial components derived for applying Lean Manufacturing (LM) operations as VOC, Organizational planning, Talent development, Quality, and Lean management capability training being the key to the company's application of LM.