Purpose - This paper aims to investigate the definition of Lean Production and the methods and goals associated with the concept as well as how it differs from other popular management concepts. Methodology/Approach - The paper is based on a review of the contemporary literature on Lean Production, both journal articles and books. Findings - It is shown in the paper that there is no consensus on a definition of Lean Production between the examined authors. The authors also seem to have different opinions on which characteristics that should be associated with the concept. Overall it can be concluded that Lean Production is not clearly defined in the reviewed literature. This divergence can cause some confusion on a theoretical level, but is probably more problematic on a practical level when organizations aim to implement the concept. This paper argues that it is important for an organization to acknowledge the different variations, and to raise the awareness of the input in the implementation process. It is further argued that the organization should not accept any random variant of Lean, but make active choices and adapt the concept to suit the organization-s needs. Through this process of adaptation, the organization will be able to increase the odds of performing a predictable and successful implementation. Originality/Value - This paper provides a critical perspective on the discourse surrounding Lean Production, and gives an input to the discussion of the implementation of management models. Keywords - Lean Production, Definition, Construct Validity, Total Quality Management Paper type - Conceptual paper

https://www.ep.liu.se/ecp/033/025/ecp0803325.pdf

Defining Lean Production : Some conceptual and practical issues

Lean and green – a systematic review of the state of the art literature

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to critically review the green lean approach and highlight its limitations; examine the compatibility of the green, lean and Six Sigma concepts; and propose Six Sigma, and specially its problem-solving methodology DMAIC, as an approach to help enhancing the effectiveness of green lean initiatives. Historically, profitability and efficiency, and more recently customer satisfaction, quality and responsiveness objectives have been the prevailing interest for organisations. However, the move towards greener operations and products has forced companies to seek alternatives to combine these with green objectives and initiatives. Green lean is the result of this combination. Thus, the paper conceptually proposes Green Lean Six Sigma. Design/methodology/approach – To do this, a systematic literature review (SLR) of the subjects under investigation was conducted. Findings – The SLR indicated that the green lean integration may have inherited the same limitations as the indivi...

Green lean and the need for six sigma.

Although many firms report large benefits from lean implementation, a lot of scepticism still remains regarding attainable results and the possibility to apply Lean approach outside high-volume manufacturing and stable context. In this work, combining field interviews with literature review, theoretical connections have been developed among Lean manufacturing techniques, operational responsiveness and company growth performances. A conceptual model has been proposed for investigating the network of influences among lean practices (supplier management, human resource management, just-in-time and total quality management practices), operational responsiveness (Product mix variety, Product innovation and Time effectiveness) and company growth performances in Italian companies. Using structural equation modelling, a second-order confirmatory factor analysis has been used to test the hypothesised relationships in the structural models. This study highlights that the operational responsiveness is only partially...

Lean practices implementation and their relationships with operational responsiveness and company performance: an Italian study

Globalisation has created both drivers and pressure for Chinese organisations to enhance their business performance as well as environmental performance. Green and lean practice is emerging as a critical approach for Chinese organisations to achieve sustainable development and improve organisational performance. By conducting empirical studies from 172 respondents on green and lean practice in different Chinese organisations, this research shows how green and lean practice affects organisational performance and how this association is affected by guanxi. The findings explain that guanxi between organisational partners improves the positive effect of green and lean practice on organisational performance. The results of this paper offer helpful insights into how managers should enhance their guanxi initiatives, in order to improve environmental and business performance over their supply chains. The paper also suggests the limitations of this research, as well as directions for future research.

/pdf/green-and-lean-sustainable-development-path-in-china-guanxi-54217d8mpi.pdf

Green and lean sustainable development path in China: Guanxi, practices and performance

https://isiarticles.com/bundles/Article/pre/pdf/12404.pdf

A Conceptual Model of Lean Manufacturing Dimensions

Beyond Fifth Generation (B5G) networks are expected to be the most efficient cellular wireless networks with greater capacity, lower latency, and higher speed than the current networks. Key enabling technologies, such as millimeter-wave (mm-wave), beamforming, Massive Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (M-MIMO), Device-to-Device (D2D), Relay Node (RN), and Heterogeneous Networks (HetNets) are essential to enable the new network to keep growing. In the forthcoming wireless networks with massive random deployment, frequency re-use strategies and multiple low power nodes, severe interference issues will impact the system. Consequently, interference management represents the main challenge for future wireless networks, commonly referred to as B5G. This paper provides an overview of the interference issues relating to the B5G networks from the perspective of HetNets, D2D, Ultra-Dense Networks (UDNs), and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). Furthermore, the existing interference mitigation techniques are discussed by reviewing the latest relevant studies with a focus on their methods, advantages, limitations, and future directions. Moreover, the open issues and future directions to reduce the effects of interference are also presented. The findings of this work can act as a guide to better understand the current and developing methodologies to mitigate the interference issues in B5G networks.

/pdf/interference-challenges-and-management-in-b5g-network-design-3mbh6163.pdf

Interference Challenges and Management in B5G Network Design: A Comprehensive Review

TRIZ contradiction matrix was built after years of study on patent information. Designers using TRIZ contradiction matrix have to identify the improving and worsening features of their design problems and determine the inventive principles to solve their design problems. It is common to identify multiple improving and worsening features and with some features more important than the others. With the updated 2003 and 2010 TRIZ contradiction matrix introduced, more features have been added and hence, there is a need for a software tool based on these TRIZ matrices. This paper presents an engineering design support tool based on TRIZ that allows considerations for multiple improving and worsening features and allows designers to prioritise these features using weights to solve their design problems as well as the option to choose the version of TRIZ they prefer.

An Engineering Design Support Tool Based on TRIZ

The increasing cost of energy especially with the recent electricity tariff hike in Malaysia has made home owners to be mindful of ways to reduce energy consumption. There are many ways to cut energy consumption at home, fundamentally they can be grouped into two types of approach namely technological and behavioural approach. Both approaches are not easy to implement as the technological one requires replacement of old devices and the behavioural one requires change of lifestyle. In view of this, this research work attempts to apply the theory of inventive problem-solving, TRIZ to solve the problem of increasing consumption of electricity at home. The aim of this research is to derive potential conceptual solutions to help home owners to reduce their energy consumption. The reduction in energy used will also contribute to costsaving for household and the reduction of carbon footprint.

Reducing Home Energy Usage based on TRIZ Concept

“Muda” is a term in the Toyota Production System (TPS), which refers to waste that occurs in the manufacturing process. Waste is removed from the production process by eliminating activity that does not add value to the customer through a continuous improvement activities. This is the basis concept for TPS in order to produce products that meet customers’s demand and requirements which then indirectly reduce the cost of production. Lean production concept has been implemented in various types of organizations. However, a low success rate for the implementation of lean production has become the attention of practitioners and researchers in the industry. Among the issues that contribute to this situation are confusion about the definition of lean and lack of knowledge on how to implement lean, which caused misunderstanding. In addition, there are no strategic planning and lack of support from the top management. Thus, the objective of this study is to develop a definition of lean from Malaysian context. The study is expected to help organizations implementing lean concepts with success and thus increasing the organizational competitiveness .

Amelia Natasya Abdul Wahab

Papers

A Conceptual Model of Lean Manufacturing Dimensions

Interference Challenges and Management in B5G Network Design: A Comprehensive Review

An Engineering Design Support Tool Based on TRIZ

Reducing Home Energy Usage based on TRIZ Concept

Lean Production System Definition from the Perspective of Malaysian Industry