Prioritizing the solutions of lean implementation in SMEs to overcome its barriers

Abstract

Purpose The implementation of lean production in small manufacturing enterprises (SMEs) harbors a great deal of barriers on practical, theoretical, financial and organizational sides. In view of this, the purpose of this paper is to explore and prioritize the solutions to overcome these barriers and pitfalls in order to identify a list of the most feasible and efficient solutions on which SMEs must focus to success their lean journey. Design/methodology/approach First, a review of the published articles along with the interview of some lean experts have allowed to identify 20 barriers grouped into five categories along with 17 solutions proposed to overcome these barriers. Afterwards, an integrated fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process-Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (AHP-TOPSIS) was proposed to evaluate and rank the solutions of lean implementation in SMEs and overcome its barriers. The AHP is used to determine weights of the barriers as criteria, and the fuzzy TOPSIS method is used to determine the final ranking of the solutions of lean adoption in SMEs. Findings The top five barriers of lean implementation in SMEs were found to be: lack of management involvement, lack of adapted methodology of lean implementation, short-term vision, fear and resistance to change and lack of understanding of lean. Moreover, the top five solutions to overcome the barriers of lean adoption in SMEs are as follows: commitment and participation of management, adoption of simple measurement and KPIs, development of organizational learning culture, early deployment of lean culture through training and allocation of sufficient time and resources for change. Originality/value The findings of this study can provide a basis for researchers and practitioners in order to understand the real reasons of lean failure in SMEs and develop improvement plans to increase its success rate. Moreover, it proposes a more reliable, robust and systematic decision support tool for stepwise implementation of the solutions of lean adoption in SMEs since they lack sufficient resources to address all the solutions simultaneously.

Productivity Improvement Through the Implementation of Lean Manufacturing in a Medium-Sized Furniture Industry: A Case Study

“… Lean manufacturing implementation in SMEs: there are several examples of research on LM implementation in SMEs [13][14][15][37][38][39][40][41], but no specific research was identified for the furniture sector. Therefore, this research contributes when it presents in detail the initiative of the partial implementation of LM specifically in the furniture sector.…”

Lean Implementation in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises in Less Developed Countries: Some Empirical Evidences From North Africa

“…Namely, many SMEs in less developed countries have either willingly or have been compelled to apply lean to find ways of raising their productivity and improving the quality of their products (Panizzolo et al ; Sajan et al ). However, authors on this subject argue that the lack of studies regarding lean in SMEs presents a real handicap facing the promotion of lean transformation in SMEs (Belhadi, Touriki, and El Fezazi ; Zhou ), particularly in less developed countries (Lawrence and Lewis ; Salaheldin ; Saxena and Sahay ).…”

A combined AHP and TOPSIS approach for prioritizing the attributes for successful implementation of agile manufacturing

“…Decision-makers in industry need to analyze different alternatives to provide the best results for customer delight. Priority setting among a set of attributes is sometimes referred to as a generic process of decisionmaking on the rank ordering of these attributes, but, in reality, covers a wide variety of questions at multiple dimensions (Belhadi et al, 2017). Add to that the broad variety and the complexity of the interrelationships among the attributes, and the decision-making problem of priority setting becomes extremely complicated.…”

“…In response to these decision-making challenges, some researchers and practitioners have moved toward more integrative decision analytic processes, such as MCDM. These processes are designed to ensure greater awareness of the compromises that must be made among competing attributes, help compare alternatives that are dramatically different in their potential impacts or outcomes, and synthesize a wider variety of information (Belhadi et al, 2017). Owing to the aforementioned considerations, the MCDM approach is felt to be the best way for solving the problem under study of prioritizing the attributes for successful implementation of agile manufacturing.…”

“…Jain et al (2016) have studied the selection of headlamp supplier using integrated fuzzy AHP and TOPSIS. Belhadi et al (2017) employed fuzzy AHP-TOPSIS approach to prioritize the solutions of lean implementation in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to overcome its barriers.…”