Lean manufacturing performance in Indian

manufacturing plants
Manimay Ghosh, Institute of Management Technology, Nagpur, India

JournalofManufacturingTechnologyManagementVol.24No.1,2013pp.113122
http://www.emeraldinsight.com/1741-038X.htm

Introduction and structure of the paper:

Lean manufacturing, often coined as Toyota production system (TPS) in academic
literature, started in Toyota Motor Manufacturing Company after the Second World
War when most Japanese organizations including Toyota were confronted with the
challenge of managing production facilities with limited resources. This challenge
motivated Toyota managers to develop various elements of TPS aimed at reducing
waste. Thus, lean is about producing the same output with lesser resources (men,
material, space, and machinery). Application of lean is not limited to the automotive
sector only, but, it has also found acceptance in a wide range of manufacturing
industries and is being applied in big as well as small organizations. The purpose of
this paper is to examine the current state of lean adoption in Indian manufacturing
plants and its impact on operational performance.
This paper is organized with an overview of the relevant literature in the beginning
followed by the motivation behind this research and the research methodology. It also
deals with the results of the survey and presents a discussion on the research findings
and ends with a conclusion.

Research methodology used:

A survey questionnaire was developed and adapted based on work done in US
industries. The survey questionnaire was sent to 400 firms in four geographic regions
in India. The survey was to measure the current state of lean implementation in Indian
manufacturing plants located in the four regions (North, South, East, and West).
Stratified sampling was used for the survey, as automotive companies (automobiles
and auto ancillaries), the biggest users of lean system, are clustered in the Western,
Southern, and Northern regions of India. Additionally, simple random sampling was

used for manufacturing companies spanning a wide variety of sectors (e.g. metal
products, metal processing and power equipment). The survey was carried out
between May and September 2010. The total sample size used for the study was 79.
Seven questions pertaining to seven distinct dimensions of a lean system were used
supplier feedback, customer needs, pull system, setup times, total productive
maintenance, statistical process control (SPC), and cross-departmental problem
solving. Six questions were asked related to operational performance metrics
employee productivity, firstpass correct output, cost of conversion, inventory,
manufacturingleadtime,andspacerequirement. Additionally,questionsrelatedto
sizeoftheplant,ageoftheplant,producttype,yearofimplementationofleanwere
alsoasked.400 firms (small, medium, and big) were contacted by e-mail, and phone
from various industries and geographic locations over a five month period.
Descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation) were then calculated for the lean
dimensions and the operational metrics used in the study. The statistics were
calculated based on five-point Likert scale

Major findings/ results:

The study investigates the degree of lean production implementation in Indian
manufacturing plants and its impact on operational metrics. The study also indicates
the relationship between lean dimensions/practices and operational outcomes.
Sinceleanmanufacturingisamultidimensionalconstruct,theresultsdemonstrate
thatapproximately80percentoftherespondentshaveimplementedmanydimensions
ofleanfocusoncustomerneeds,pullsystem,setuptimereduction,totalproductive
maintenance,supplierperformance,statisticalprocesscontrol,andcrossdepartmental
problem solving. The operational metrics have improved on all accounts: high
productivity,reducedleadtime,improvedfirstpasscorrectoutput,reducedinventory
andspacerequirement.Interestingly,respondentshaveindicatedthatfirstpasscorrect
output, reduced manufacturing lead time, and increased productivity are the three
maindriversofleanimplementation.Also,theaveragenumberofyearsleanhasbeen
adoptedinthesamplestudiedwasfoundtobe7.6years.

Criticism:
The relevancy and quality of the subject is good and the paper offers researchers a
broader and more comprehensive view of lean adoption in Indian manufacturing
plants and its impact on operational performance. Thefindingsofthisstudyinterms
ofimprovementinoperationalmetricsseemtobeinagreementwiththefindingsof
other scholars.However, as thesamplesize forthis studywas notlarge enough,
generalizationsfromthisstudytothepopulationneedtobemadewithcaution.
TheKompassonlinebusinessdirectory(in.kompass.com)wasusedtosourcecontact
detailsofthefirmsforthisstudy.Additionally,governmentmanagedcompanieswere
contacted.Hencesomenewindustriesnotincludedinthedirectorymaybemissing
and the data collection may vary. Also the survey was conducted through
questionnaires by mail so some respondents might have ignored and may not have
filled it seriously entering random answers, which will again vary the data. Use of
personal interviews or focus group discussions to collect the data would have been
more accurate.
SubmittedBy:
KEERTHIR
1420347