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The paper "Lean Strategy Critical Evaluation" critically explores the lean strategy and its components. It also thoroughly analyzes the literature regarding the lean strategy to evaluate and analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the lean strategy and theory…
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Lean strategy directs the company to reduce or remove waste along with whole value creation channels (Koskela, 2004). This makes operations that require less human exertion, less space, fewer assets and capital, and less time to manufacture items and deliver services (OReilly, & Pfeffer, 2000).
Lean Strategy is consistently adding to its strengths. For instance, consistent evolution for compatibility with different industries (Sun, 2011), competitive edge (Bell, 2005), improvement in the quality of product (ASQ, n.d.), reduction in the labor or workforce required (Floyd, 2010), ease in management of systems (Gîfu, Ionescu, and Teodorescu, 2014), improved environment (EPA, n.d). etc. However, the strategy is also faced with certain limitations. Some of the major limitations with specific case example include issues related to reorganizing supply chain, limits the development of workers, variation in culture of the organization or the country while technological development is another factor that requires reassessment of the lean strategy of the organization for the maximum potential generation (Ortiz, 2008). The paper has also developed the review of the alternative models and future directions of lean strategy (Kent, and Attri, 2007).
Table of Contents
ABSTRACT 1
Table of Contents 2
INTRODUCTION 4
COMPONENTS OF LEAN STRATEGY: 6
Reorganize the Value Stream (Workflow structure and Layouts): 6
Consistency & Consistency (Quality): 7
Set-Up Reduction (SMED): 7
Total Productive Maintenance (TPM): 7
Visual Work Environment (Demonstration shows & Controls): 7
Supporting Operations of Lean (Procurement, Assembling, Scheduling, Warehousing & Shipment): 7
Ceaseless Improvement (PDCA): 8
THE STRENGTHS OF THE LEAN STRATEGY 8
CONSISTENT EVOLUTION FOR IMPROVEMENT THAT MAKES IS COMPATIBLE TO DIFFERENT INDUSTRIES 9
Early Developments 10
Competitive Advantage: 15
Enhanced quality: 16
Labor reductions: 16
Easy management: 17
Reduced Space: 18
More secure Work Environment: 18
THE WEAKNESSES OF THE THEORY: 19
Supply Chain Issues: 19
Development of Workers: 20
Cultural Issues: 20
Technological Advancements: 21
POTENTIAL IMPROVEMENT IN LEAN 21
CONCLUSION: 24
LIST OF REFERENCES 26
INTRODUCTION
As the world is turning into a global village, internationalization and globalization have taken up the majority space in the corporate world. Now business processes have developed into more efficient and effective processes. This has made the businesses more complicated and has created the vigorous competition in every industry. In such case, strategy lends a helpful thought to corporate to efficiently adjust their business operations while remain aligned with corporate mission and vision, in order to run their successfully and gain competitive edge over others. Pace, effectiveness, and client worth are basic concerns in driving productive outcomes in company (OReilly, & Pfeffer, 2000). Lean strategy is also one of the strategies that seek to manage and incorporate the operations of the different functional fields of the company so as to achieve long-term company-wide goals. It has come out as a very useful tool for the organizations all through the world which helps to attain huge monetary profits while enhancing quality, expenses and process durations (Bhuiyan, & Baghel, 2005).
Lean strategy includes an arrangement of activities or actions to reduce waste and eliminate Non Value Added (NVA) processes from manufacturing, client relations, outline of goods and services, supplier systems and production line administration and enhance the Value Added (VA) practices. A lean strategy is not a strategy that is founded on its own. It is the incorporation of Lean standards into a corporate technique or business strategy to convey leap forward changes quite a long time. It is the certainty that the structure is set up to achieve the insistent objectives without giving up the eventual fate of the organization for momentary benefits (Wang, 2010).
The central thought is to expand customers’ worth while reducing waste. Lean means making more worth for customers with fewer assets or resources. A company that incorporates lean strategy comprehends value of customers and centers its key operations to expand it persistently. The definite objective is to give perfect and ideal worth to the client through a flawless value formation that supports no waste. In order to fulfill this, the concept of lean transforms the focus of management of company from enhancing separate innovations, stakes, and vertical divisions to improving the stream of items, products and administrations through whole value creation that flow on a level plane crosswise over assets, technologies and various sectors to clients (Wang, 2010).
Reducing or removing waste along whole value creation channels, rather than at detached focuses, makes operations that require less human exertion, less space, fewer assets and capital, and less time to manufacture items and deliver services. This process undertakes fewer expenses and with much fewer discards and operational errors as compared to conventional business frameworks. Organizations can react to changing client demands and needs with extreme diversity, good quality, minimal effort, fewer expenses and with quick process cycles. Additionally, data management turns out to be much less difficult and more faultless (Wang, 2010).
Lean strategy conveys outcomes by concentrating on examining and reducing or removing non-value added practices. It additionally concentrates on actualizing and supporting enhanced methods through measurements and workforce practices. Lean strategies enhance business results and satisfaction of customers in following ways (Wang, 2010):
Increasing benefit and limit usage with accessible assets and other resources
Minimizing item lead times and stocks to the desired extent
Distributing products or items on time and complete without errors and delays
Getting rid of main drivers of failures, errors, scrap and revise the processes
In this report an attempt has been made to understand the lean strategy and its component. Along with this, the report will critically analyze the literature regarding the lean strategy in order to evaluate and analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the lean strategy and theory.
COMPONENTS OF LEAN STRATEGY:
Following are the main components of the lean strategy that help to make the process of the lean strategy more efficient and effective (Quality Training Portal, 2014):
Reorganize the Value Stream (Workflow structure and Layouts):
Discovering the ways to utilize the maps for the entire stream of value in order to create workflow of the micro-process and macro-facilities (Quality Training Portal, 2014).
Work environment in an Organization (The 5Ss):
Identifying the ways in which 5Ss create an organized methodology for putting away materials, supplies, and tools in work regions (Quality Training Portal, 2014).
Consistency & Consistency (Quality):
Recognizing how quality management strategies, for example, DOE, GR&Rs, DFA/DFM, SPC, and (particularly) mistake-proofing help to avoid issues and lead to powerful techniques (Quality Training Portal, 2014).
Set-Up Reduction (SMED):
Examining the ways to implement set-up and changes again and again and see how essential quick set-ups are to objectives of a lean strategy (Quality Training Portal, 2014).
Total Productive Maintenance (TPM):
Finding out the ways to enhance constancy and dependability of tools and equipments by incorporating Total Productive Maintenance systems (Quality Training Portal, 2014)
Visual Work Environment (Demonstration shows & Controls):
Analyzing how visual showcases and visual controls strengthen and improve a lean exertion (Quality Training Portal, 2014).
Supporting Operations of Lean (Procurement, Assembling, Scheduling, Warehousing & Shipment):
Determining how vital lean planning, lean buying, lean bookkeeping, and lean warehousing practices are to sustaining and maintaining a lean assembling exertion (Quality Training Portal, 2014).
Ceaseless Improvement (PDCA):
Ceaseless Improvement refers to exploring the choices for making a lean exertion feasible and imperative (Quality Training Portal, 2014).
In contrast to the above description of the components of the lean manufacturing, Shah, & Ward, (2007) in a paper have conducted a comprehensive discussion regarding the development of lean manufacturing its components. Also, Shah, & Ward, (2007) have stated that discussion of the components of the lean system is further complicated by fact that that there is lack of distinction defined and discussed between the leans strategy and its components.
THE STRENGTHS OF THE LEAN STRATEGY
Lean Strategy, in line with its core concept of reducing and eliminating waste, has also incorporated the same philosophy of reducing waste and improving for efficiencies in its overall growth pattern. This refers to one of the leading strengths of the strategy that is does not have defined boundaries, instead it is has defined philosophy (Goldsby, & Martichenko, 2005). The following are normal outcomes for organizations that have incorporated lean strategy in numerous varying businesses and of distinctive sizes over time of a few years. Applying these standards to the manufacturing sector has the potential for both enhanced profitability and expanded unpredictability by following proportions:
Delivery rate would increase by 26%
Stock turns would increase by 33%
Productivity would enhance by 25%
Scrap would reduce by 26%
Space would decline by 33% (LeanMan, n.d.).
Hence, some of the leading strengths of the Lean are discussed in detail in this section:
CONSISTENT EVOLUTION FOR IMPROVEMENT THAT MAKES IS COMPATIBLE TO DIFFERENT INDUSTRIES
Lean Strategy is not a new concept. It infers from the Toyota Production System or JIT (Just In Time Production), initiated by Henry Ford and different ancestors. The Japanese auto industry produced lean Strategy, mainly Toyota, after the test to re-develop the economy of Japan after World War II (Shah and Ward, 2007). Toyota understood that in the event that they were to undertake the US auto titans of Ford, Chrysler and General Motors, they would need to work more wisely (All, 2010).
Lean strategy regarding manufacturing is merely a dynamic method for creating what the client needs when they need it, at a value they are ready to pay and utilizing minimum asset. According to Berggren (1993), the advancement of Lean was not widely known outside the Japan until the 1970s. Britain picked up right on time knowledge of Lean assembling strategy from the foundation of Toyota, Honda and Nissan plants in the United Kingdom. On the other hand, Shah and Ward (2003) stated that all things considered, until the 1990s it was truly just the car business that had embraced Lean manufacturing strategy. From that point forward, it has spread into aviation and general assembling, shopper gadgets, human services, development and, all the more as of late, to nourishment assembling and meat transforming (Shah and Ward, 2003).
The extraction of Lean manufacturing strategy and Just In Time (JIT) Production retreats to Eli Whitney and the idea of tradable parts. The below chart shows the timeline that depicts the period of some major developments in the field of Lean strategy:
(Strategos, n.d.)
Early Developments
Eli Whitney is most well known as the designer of the cotton gin. In any case, the gin was a small achievement contrasted with his flawlessness of tradable parts. As stated by Hounshell (1985), Whitney created this around 1799 when he undertook an agreement from the U.S. armed force for the assembling of 10,000 black powder guns at the extraordinarily low cost of $13.40 each.
For the following 100 years makers, fundamentally worried about individual advances and technologies. Amid this time, the structure of engineering drawings was created, up-to-date and advanced machine instruments were improved and vast scale procedures, for example, the Bessemer process for the production of steel seized the attention (Emiliani, 2006).
As items moved starting with one separate process then onto the next through the logistics framework and inside processing plants, few individuals worried about:
What processes took place between techniques
How different procedures were approved and organized inside the manufacturing plant
How the chain of techniques worked as a framework
How every specialist or employee went around a job (Emiliani, 2006).
Voss (1995) further added that Frederick W. Taylor started to give special consideration on individual specialists and work systems. The outcome was Time Study and institutionalized work. He called his plans Scientific Management. Taylor was a disputable human being. Taneja, Pryor and Toombs (2011) also argued that the idea of implementing science to administration was fine however Taylor just overlooked the aspects of behavioral sciences. Likewise, he had a strange mentality towards production line specialists. While, Bernstein, I. (2010) commented that this altered in the late 1890s with the contributions of Industrial Engineers in the early period.
Importantly, the development of lean strategy continued as the implementation of the strategy managed to penetrate in different companies and industries. For instance, in the time of the development of Lean Strategy, Hines, Holweg and Rich (2004) commented that Frank Gilbreth (Cheaper By The Dozen) made some contribution by including Motion Study and developing Process Charting. According to Nightingale and Mize (2002), this new invention of process charts centered the consideration on all work components together with those non-value added components which ordinarily arise between the "authority" components.
Lillian Gilbreth studied the theories of motivation to identify the motivational factors of workers or specialists and determine the influence of workers’ behavior on the outcome of work performance. There were, obviously, numerous different contributors who studied the behavior of employees and factory workers (Mackay, 2010) . These were the individuals who began the thought of "disposing of waste," the key principle of JIT and Lean Strategy (Sun, 2011). Hence, each lean penetrated in each and every field with the objective of removal of waste in order to generate efficiencies. The development of Lean Strategy today is the result of the contribution of different aspect while each is directed by the core idea of the reducing and eliminating waste for the performance improvement.
The Ford System
Another major milestone in the improvement offered to the lean strategy is Ford System. Despite the fact that there are examples of thorough procedure thinking in assembling once more to the Arsenal in Venice in the period of 1450s, the first individual to genuinely incorporate a whole creation methodology was Henry Ford. In 1913, at Highland Park, MI, he fixed compatible parts reliably with standard work and moving transport to make what he described as stream production. General society seized this in the sensational type of the moving mechanical production system, yet from the angle of the assembling engineer, the leaps forward went a lot advanced (Dankbaar, 1997).
Henry Ford lined up creation steps in the procedure arrangement wherever conceivable by utilizing special purpose systems and go/no-go gages to create and gather the segments going into the automobile inside a couple of minutes, and carry fitting parts specifically to line-side (Sun, 2011). Holweg (2007) argued in the favor of the idea and claimed that this was a genuinely progressive break from the shop procedures of the American System. This system comprised of broadly useful machines gathered by methodology, which made parts that in the long run discovered their path into finished items after the process of fitting in subassembly and closing assembly of parts (Holweg, 2007).
The lean strategy in the developed from the Henry Ford system also faced criticism which in turn developed the more concrete and refined Lean Strategy. The issue with Fords framework was not the stream: He could turn the inventories of the whole organization each few days. Relatively it was his failure to give various collections. Sun, (2011) criticized that the model of Ford was developed and streamlined for a single product and was unable to manage the multiple products requirement of the business. However, Alukal, (2003) responded to this criticism and stated that the generation of Model T was not simply restricted to a single color. It was additionally restricted to one detail with the goal that every Model T case was indistinguishable up to the end of a generation in 1926. (The client did have alternatives of four or more different body styles, a drop-on quality and feature from an external contractor included at the very end of the manufacturing process.) In fact, it creates the impression that every machine in the Ford Motor Company dealt with a solitary part number, and there were no substitutions or exchanges (Alukal, 2003).
Ford appeared to lose his direction, at the point when the world needed assortments and innovation and counting model processes. Different automakers reacted to the requirement for some models, each with numerous alternatives, however with creation frameworks whose manufacture steps and designs moved back to process regions with any longer process times (Sun, 2011). Benton and Shin (1998) described that in due course, they populated their creation shops with bigger and bigger machines that ran speedier and quicker, clearly bringing down expenses for every procedure step, yet persistently expanding throughput times and inventories aside from the uncommon case such as motor machining lines where the greater part of the methodology steps could be joined and mechanized. Far more terrible, the time slacks between procedure steps and the complex part routings obliged everlastingly advanced data management frameworks resulting in automated Materials Requirements Planning (MRP) frameworks (Dennis, 2007). This also implies an important strength of the Lean Strategy today at work is evolved by incorporating criticisms and improvement measures.
The Toyota Manufacturing System:
The strengthened milestone of the Lean Strategy was then developed by the Toyota. Toyota is also the result of the company’s need to jump off the pressures that their environment was posing on them. Sun, (2011) referred that management at Toyota picked the idea presented by Ford and made it more conceivable to give both coherence in procedure flow and a wide assortment in item offerings. Thus, they designed the Toyota Production System which incorporates the need of Toyota Motors in developing a model that allows TM to generate efficiency that encapsulates the edge for the firm (Womack, Jones and Roos, 2008).
The framework of lean strategy at TPS encapsulates the strength that it moved the attention of the assembling designer from isolated machines and their use to the stream of the item through the aggregate methodology (Morgan and Liker, 2006). According to Green (1999), Toyota presumed that it can achieve ease, high assortment, high superiority, and extremely fast throughput times by right-measuring machines for the real volume required, presenting self-monitoring systems and machines to check quality, arranging the machines as according to the sequence of processes. Moreover, organizing fast setups so every machine could make little volumes of numerous part numbers, and having every procedure step reporting the past projects of its present requirements for materials, would also help to acquire ease, high assortment, high superiority, and extremely fast throughput times to reply to varying client demands. Additionally, data administration and management could be made much less difficult and more precise (Green, 1999).
Competitive Advantage:
Apart from decreasing expenses and enhancing the effectiveness, lean productions procedures present frameworks and create aptitudes with the staff that help changes in the working environment to increase sales. Space saved money on warehousing may be utilized to include new product offerings. The same is valid for time reserve funds. The staff can consume new work and respond rapidly to changes in customer request. Creating a work rapidly, in short cycles, without waste and conveyed on time gives an edge over others (Bell, v2005).
For example, Boeing Corporation used Lean strategies crosswise which led it to turn into an expense cutting system yet a reasoning of development. Utilizing a Lean-inferred "kaizen" methodology, Shared Services Group tape at Boeing Data Center lessened the footprint of the tape by above 90% whilst shortening the process duration of the tape (Jenkins, 2002).
The last idea the Boeing Corporation has presented is that of the bottleneck that entails the methodology that identifies the throughput of the entire procedure. Similarly, this adjusts to lean "pull" fabrication that guides the company to whether cease the production or not (in the event that there is no client pull). The company was aiming to enhance the productivity and adequacy of the entire supply chain they intended to use such strategy for the whole production network not only production unit (Jenkins, 2002). Boeing Corporation used the concept of Kanbans and their operation to guarantee FIFO must be thoroughly considered and resulted in following efficiencies:
Executing a "pull" generation framework.
Declining lead-time to the client.
Lessening stock at all processes in a methodology (Jenkins, 2002).
Enhanced quality:
A number of measures in a lean strategy are adapted towards enhancing quality. As quality issues emerge, critical thinking procedures are utilized to identify the issue. From that point, revising errors is set up to reinforce the procedure and avoid repentance. Thus, the quality or nature of the product will enhance. As an exemplar, with the combination of Lean Six Sigma and a Top-200 client center, 3M enhanced its strap manufacturing systems. The change group diminished errors and deficiencies in parts for every million by 28 times as sales expanded by 54 percent in 2010 and improved quality of production processes and products (ASQ, n.d.).
Labor reductions:
One of the real advantages of the lean strategy is accomplishing more with fewer employees. With institutionalized work and expanded efficiencies, the capability to achieve the task with fewer workers turns into a genuine opportunity. The idea of the lean strategy utilizes the workforce in performing further kaizen movement, preparing to improve expertise, or preservation of the framework once it is executed (Floyd, 2010).
Ability Building and Social Performance in the Nike Supply Chain, discovered reception of lean production strategy at NIKE contracted production lines brought about a 15% drop in genuine work infringement at more than 300 contracted manufacturing plants from 2009-2013 as a rule, the first quantitative confirmation of lean works on conveying factory-based change for laborers. HRM preparing has now been consolidated into our more extensive lean production project. Focus areas incorporate waste removal of all types and more proficient utilization of materials and workers. This methodology could put up production closer for sale to the public and make a more supportable, stable source focused on employees as a source of development, and drive beneficial progress for the organization (Nike Inc., n.d.).
Easy management:
The work guidelines and institutionalized principles let individuals comprehend what, when and why they need to do. This makes dealing with a particular sector much simpler. In any case they will be much simpler to manage in a group environment where the help supporting networks are excited to help resolve the issues (Gîfu, Ionescu, and Teodorescu, 2014).
For instance, ConMed Linvatec reported an increase in its organization-wide productivity by applying lean strategy to its system (Manning, 2010). With the help of this strategy, company successfully linked its operations and increased the employees’ productivity at the best. At Utica plant of ConMed, the assembling and manufacturing territory for liquid infusion equipments once expanded 3,300 square feet and had $93,000 worth of devices available. Presently it possesses one-fifth that space and store around $6,000 worth of devices. Yield for every employee is almost 21%. Company found much easier to manage systems, employees, company’s operations and various processes. Eventually, it enhanced its competitiveness by employing such processes (Engardio, 2010).
Reduced Space:
As a major aspect of the waste removal methodology, space will be made. Diminishment of completed and crude stock will spare space upright in your racking and in addition evenly over your floor. For instance, at the Jaguar auto manufacturing plant in Castle Bromwich, the line of production has been outlined utilizing the standards of the lean strategy. In the early days, Jaguar manufacturing area took up significantly more plant space as of the fact that a ton of supplies and stocks were kept on the production line floor. Now all stocks are kept in a different stockpiling range where they are conveyed just-in-time to sustain the manufacturing process. At the point when more stock is required, manufacturing line specialists utilize a "Kanban" indicating framework to illuminate the stores that they require more supplies (Addy, 2013).
More secure Work Environment:
Visual administration and 5s will help distinguish when things are out of the spot. At the point when unnecessary components are expelled from the operation, the work environment gets to be considerably more sorted out. Also, a composed work environment is a safe natures domain. BMW used lean strategy in the production of its new series of BMW X3 SUV (E83) The X3 (E83) in the year 2003. The company reported much safer environment than before which ultimately increase the morale of employees. This use of the lean strategy within the company results in increased efficiency in the production of automobiles (EPA, n.d).
THE WEAKNESSES OF THE THEORY:
Lean strategy depends on coordinated mechanical and technological frameworks, small labor forces of highly skilled and trained workers and radical change in the culture of the organization. All of these components can display unique complexities that must be overcome to attain a positively outcomes of lean production framework (Ndahi, 2006). Understanding these major challenges is an essential source for creating lean execution plan.
The story of air conditioning organization in the Southeastern United States that is known as X-Corp gives an incredible example of a company that strived to execute lean strategy, but could not get the desired results (Ortiz, 2008). According to the case study, following are the major challenges that X-Corp has encountered during its period of implementation and led to negative effects across the organization.
Supply Chain Issues:
Lean strategy incorporates the minimization or eradication of time capacity for storing materials and items. X-Corp failed to integrate their supply chain issues properly while executing lean strategy in the system. Executing a just-in-time ordering framework is important to guarantee that crude materials are continually coming in at the ideal rate to satisfy operational demand. This obliges close synchronization with suppliers between your two organizations. This sort of close operational synchronization can present a number of issues since management in both organizations must direction with one another while dealing with their particular side of the execution strategy. The same could be genuine on the final product end, too. Using just-in-time inventory system to serve the business clients, demands to go about as a just-in-time supplier, sending off orders regularly and repeatedly (Ortiz, 2008).
Development of Workers:
Executing lean production approaches in business develops an ability gap that must be overcome. It is essential to resolving supply chain issues by developing proper technological infrastructure, but however management of mechanized production and quality-control processes obliges well trained and skilled workforce than traditional production line systems. At X-Corp, the main issue arose was of unskilled labors who were unable to control and monitor the innovative production system of the company. Lean strategy of production obliges extremely trained and skilled workers to monitor, repair and plan the design of mechanized production technology on a regular basis. Technical workers will probably oblige certification of safety and specific licenses to work and keep up such processes, and they request much higher payments and rewards than general work force (Ortiz, 2008).
Cultural Issues:
Introducing lean strategies presents a massive change in the way work is carried out in a production company. Executing lean strategies require fewer workers to undertake a wide range of responsibilities. It includes a serious assurance of employees to reduce waste, which can lead to change workers’ formal job responsibilities. While implementing lean strategy, X-Corp did not train its employees and special workforce effectively to manage the processes which lead to great failure of this strategy. It ought to include various motivational forces and bonuses for extra work in order to rewards employees increasing efforts and ideas to cut down cost, as well as production waste and time. Implementation of lean n strategy lead to change complete set-up and employee structure at all levels of the company from senior management to production line operators. Therefore, honest commitment of employees of the organization is necessary to successfully develop and implement lean strategies across the organization (Ortiz, 2008).
Technological Advancements:
X-Corp encountered the great failure in incorporating advance technology in its processes throughout the system. This led the company to experience losses in terms of losing expertise in technical areas that were vital for the air conditioning company. While implementing lean strategy, the company is required to make considerable investments in the field of technology and engineering, from innovative production processes to appropriate monitoring and investigation programming for checking quality change on production processes. Picking the appropriate frameworks is critical for the accomplishment as a lean producer, since company will depend on its processes for the productive operations of the business. One of the fundamentals of lean business strategies is to mechanize the systems as much as it can, making the company more dependent on engineering than it may have been previously (Ortiz, 2008).
POTENTIAL IMPROVEMENT IN LEAN
According to the views of Cusumano and Nobeoka (1998) Toyota’s predominant accomplishment in increasing market shares and sales in all international markets is the result of lean strategy in the company. Lean at Toyota is more a philosophy than a mere system as the company constantly attempts to explore and exploit a newer dimension of reducing waste. For example, Toyota has recently replaced the robots with human in order to innovate ideas for the generation of greater efficiencies than ever (Trudell, Hagiwara, and Jie, 2014).
Hines, Holweg and Rich (2004) added that as lean speculation keeps on spreading to each country on the planet, pioneers are additionally adjusting the principles and standards ahead of assembling or manufacturing, to distribution and logistics, services, administrations, trade, medicinal services, development, support, and government as well. Womack and Jones (2010) also agreed with the above statement and commented that lean awareness and strategies are just starting to flourish among senior directors and managers in all areas today.
The recent developments in Lean that has further directed Lean towards the betterment of the strategy is the Supply-Chain Operations Reference (SCOR) model presented by the SCOR model. The model is depicted below:
(Ren, et. Al., 2012)
The model is dependent on the various complex steps that in turn becomes it limitation. For example, requires excessive training cost and efforts, offers limited employees learning instead required relying on metrics system only, limited direction provided for the problem resolution and increasing effectiveness of implementation (Kent, & Attri, 2007).
The open arena to develop effective lean for the maximum reduction of waste and increase in efficiency is implemented in different ways. Just In Time inventory system is assessed to be the alternative of Lean strategy. However, it is important to understand that Just In Time requires to increasing efficiency and is one way of cutting cost and reducing waste. On the other hand, Lean operations require cutting excessive operational activities that also alongside is able to increase the value for the customers and business on the whole (Slack, Betts, and Morgan, 2007). For instance, Nissan, another automaker giant has developed its own Nissan Production Way with the synchronization without any boundaries with the customers along with the unlimited coverage for the problems resolution and openness for the innovation. The model is depicted as follows:
(N.T., 2012)
Importantly, the two never endings refer that this model above will also identify its limitations in the search for consistent improvement. Kent, and Attri, (2007) have recommended that convergence of the three critical aspects that synchronizes the advantages of the Six Sigma, Lean and the SCOR model as presented below:
(Kent, and Attri, 2007)
Importantly the adaptability of the plan also increases the potential to incorporate elements to overcome the challenges posed to the strategy and defined in weakness (Kent, and Attri, 2007).
CONCLUSION:
Lean strategy is simply a production based framework that helps an organization to utilize its resources in such a way that reduces the waste of resources and increase the efficiency in production. This strategy ultimately helps to achieve the optimum production level in the best possible manner (Slack, Betts, and Morgan, 2007). From discussion it has been found the Lean strategy is faced with many limitation in addition to the benefits its offers to its businesses during implementation. However, the fact that makes Lean effective today is the adaptability of lean by incorporating various ideas and business compatibility measures. Hence, the concept of Lean can be safely stated to retain its sustenance than being outdated with the development of new theories.
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