Introduction
Background of the research
Organizations are changing their normal horizon of working and they are managing their routine tasks in a modernized way. However, emphasis is laid on the core principles of management. Management is basically the process of getting activities done in an effective and efficient way with and through other people (Hamel and Breen 2007). There are basically certain functions of management these functions are planning, coordinating, directing organization and etc. Organizations are usually implementing new and modernized management techniques to achieve their objectives in both the short and the long run and they are stressing on these techniques to achieve their mission. Effective use of management has helped different organizations to achieve their goals. These organizations implemented different theories of management which has helped them to achieve their strategic, tactical and operational goals. An organization that only relies on theoretical approach and doesn’t stress on practical implications of these theories suffer in the long run. That’s the reason why organization must apply these management models and they must implement them for the betterment of their organization.
However, each management model takes on management in a highly unique perspective and seeks to develop an approach that can make use of the organization’s strengths and capitalize on them. An essential factor in this regard is that management is an element that an organization cannot do without and if multiple models of management were to be implemented simultaneously, the resultant could possibly be an exponential increase in the complexity of the management of the organization and would require additional resources to counter the complexity and ensure a smooth management operation.
Organizations measure their effectiveness and devise a proper way of working with the help of management tools. Management tools helps an organization in both the short and the long run and it also assists an organization in the decision making process. These management tools include theories, strategies and measures that help organizations in achieving their tasks. Organizations heavily rely on these strategies because implementing these strategies would help them in both the short and the long run. The core management roles that these organizations manage are interpersonal roles, informational roles and decisional roles. Tools of management vary with the working criteria of organizations (Griffin 2006). There are many organizations in today’s world that manages their enterprises through classical tools of management. Tree Diagrams, Affinity Diagrams, Cause and Effect Diagrams, Pareto Charts, Control Charts and etc are examples of classic management tools. The classical tools although are quite effective but as the time passes by they are inefficient in the modern era that is the reason why modern management tools and managing the organization strategically might looks like a novel term but modernized managing techniques and modern management terminologies have fostered organizations with efficiency (Hamel and Breen 2007). Lean manufacturing and human resource management are considered as a part and parcel of nearly every organization and organizations that are associated with production and operation side are closely linked with this phenomenon. Besides these tools certain other tools are also developed which helps the organizations in the decision making process and these tools are developed by corporations to achieve their goals and all of these tools affects the performance of the organizations in both the short and the long run.
As implied by the name lean manufacturing is concerned and directly related to the production process of an organization and it helps the organization in reducing the waste and adds value in the final product which directly affects the efficiency of an organization (Kinicki and Williams 2008). All the stakeholders are same way or the other linked with the production process or they are involved in the decision making process that is also linked with the production process. In this way human resource management plays its role and depicts that both these terminologies are linked with one another. However, issues arise when an organization fails to implement proper organizational strategies and when human resource management conflicts with the aspects of lean manufacturing. Stakeholders play an important role in every stage and right from the scratch they must be managed in a proper manner (Robbins, Bergman, and Stagg 2008). Mismanagement of customers can tarnish the customer base of the organization and they might suffer losses. Similarly, if suppliers are not managed properly then proper distribution might not take place and the organization would suffer. Therefore, each and every stakeholder is of utmost importance (Nickels, McHugh, and McHugh2006). The entire supply chain and business process must be designed properly so that the flow of products or services can be delivered efficiently to the customers.
Therefore, it can be said that organizations face different complex issues in today’s world and a proper approach must be adopted by organizations to manage these issues. If these issues cannot be managed then organizations might suffer and this would tarnish their image in the market. Managing the issues of stakeholders and solving other related problems can be considered as a difficult task for organizations. That is why an appropriate approach must be used so that organizations can easily manage the wide and varied problems of stakeholders. In this entire paper we will discuss the aspects that are associated with lean manufacturing and how it is associated with human resource management.
Over time, numerous management approaches have come forth that have sought to provide a complete and comprehensive solution towards manufacturing and management practices and while some of them have withstood the evolving nature of the problems that modern day organizations face, quite a few have become redundant and outdated in their approach. This is because of the fact that as new theories, approaches and ideologies continue to come forth, so do newer problems and hurdles instigated by newer innovations and developments. This need for an evolving solution has given way to the foundation of a number of different approaches meant to serve as the solution. However, it is imperative to realize that while each new solution attempts to take a different perspective of the problem, in essence the problem remains very real and challenging and continues to have implications upon the performance of the organization.
Similarly, the issues that arise with both human resource management and lean manufacturing are also discussed in detail. Emphasis of this paper is laid on lean manufacturing and how organizations achieve sustainable competitive advantage through lean manufacturing. Different organizations and sectors are analyzed in this report and how they achieve long term and short term benefits through lean manufacturing. The purpose of choosing this topic is that both issues that arise with lean manufacturing are more related to human resource management and in today’s world a lot of transitional organizations like Ford, Phillips, Coca-Cola etc are implementing lean manufacturing in their production processes and human resource issues usually arises in this situations. Similarly, practical applications are also discussed in this paper with theoretical concepts which gives a conceptual view to this paper. In the same way the workforce reactions to lean manufacturing are also discussed in this paper and what are the factors that would lead to disappointment in the workforce. This research shall attempt to shed light on the problem that has been identified in the above paragraphs and shall seek to provide credible conclusions on the basis of this context.
Title
The title of this dissertation is “Human resource issues concerned with Lean Manufacturing”.
Objective
The objective of this is to gain an in-depth knowledge about the processes involved in Lean Manufacturing and what are the issues of human resources associated with Lean Manufacturing. Emphasis is laid on every issue of human resources that is related with Lean Manufacturing and how it affects the structure and decision making processes in an organizational structure.
Research Questions
The entire research would cover several questions which are listed below:
- What is human resource management?
- What is Lean Manufacturing?
- How lean manufacturing and human resource management can be linked together?
- What issues are associated with lean manufacturing and what are the benefits gained by an organization that implements lean manufacturing?
- What are the issues of human resource management that are associated with lean manufacturing?
Scope of the project
The scope of the current research paper is not limited because the topic is based on general management. That is the reason why all the elements that are related to human resource management and lean production are discussed in this paper. However, an attempt is made to restrict the research to human resource management and issues that are associated with lean manufacturing.
Structure of the report
The entire report consists of certain areas which are listed and discussed below:
Introduction and Background
This chapter revolves introduces the main aspects of the research. This chapter includes title, aim of the research and what is the objective of research. Besides that it also includes the scope of the research and what are the questions of research. The questions of research are designed in such a way that it gives complete information about the research and what areas are covered in this research. Besides that, this chapter gives background of business operations and how businesses achieve efficiency and effectiveness. This chapter explains the traditional and the modernized view of management and what are the implications of management methodologies in today’s world. Moreover, emphasis is laid on the terminologies like human resource management and lean manufacturing and what role do they play in an organizational structure.
Literature Review
This chapter analyses the basic concepts that are associated with human resource management and lean manufacturing and what are the relationship of both these terms. Similarly, the issues of human resource management that are directly and indirectly related with lean manufacturing are discussed in detail. Similarly, the short and the long term effects of human resource management and lean manufacturing are discussed in detail. The researches that are done on this topic are discussed and incorporated in this research paper. Furthermore, this chapter explains definitions, theories, concepts and issues that are associated with human resource management and lean manufacturing.
Research Methodologies
The research methodology that is used in the research is discussed in this chapter. Although there are different methods of doing the research but due to the limitations of this research only secondary sources are used. Secondary sources are extensively used in this paper and the entire research is based on books, peer-reviewed journals, scholarly articles etc.
Findings and Interpretations
The findings of the results are included in this chapter and all the results that are achieved are interpreted into meaningful form for further research and analysis. Examples of International organizations and multinationals those who have achieved competitive advantage through lean manufacturing are discussed in detail. The secondary sources are mainly used to cover this chapter and the entire research is completed with the help of secondary sources.
Conclusions and Recommendations
The entire research is summarized in this chapter and limitations of the research and certain recommendations are also discussed in this research paper. Besides that certain recommendations are also presented in this dissertation. Similarly, in the chapter the hypothesis of the entire dissertation is either accepted or it is rejected.
Literature Review
Introduction to Lean Manufacturing
The general perception holds that the post world war II era brought a deficiency of materials, finances and human resources in several countries across the world and Japan was one which was facing the most hardest of times. Japanese leaders realized at this point in time that they needed to develop and adopt a management philosophy that would enable them to carry out manufacturing and organizational functions while spending minimum resources of time, finance and labour. It was perceived that the ratio between American and Japanese labour outputs was nine to one (Ōno, 1988). It was therefore necessary to bring about a management technique that would decrease this difference.
Lean manufacturing, when introduced, was implemented in its initial form from 1950 to the mid 1980s by the Toyota Motor Corporation and has since evolved to incorporate and mean far more than it did in its initial form (Ōno 1988). While older forms of lean manufacturing gave non-value added activities a back seat to the value-added aspects of the organization’s productions functions, modern day lean manufacturing systems tend to focus more on non-value added activities in order to curb processing time as a priority.
However, the central philosophy of Toyota’s Production System and Lean Manufacturing in general remains centralized in the objective to ensure that every activity in the value system, no matter how seemingly minor it may appear to be, is carried out in a manner such that costs and time spent is reduced and brought down to a minimum (Conner 2001). It is essential to highlight at this point that an organization’s value stream is the combined perception of the organization’s value-added activities and non-value added activities that are brought into use during the processing of raw materials into the final product that can then be sold in the consumer market.
Traditional Lean Thinking
The central and fundamental concept behind lean manufacturing is one that is based on lean thinking. Lean thinking requires that the value chain of the organization is subjected to assessment with the objective of identifying areas that do not add value. Once these areas are identified, they are remodelled in order to acquire value from them so that productivity can be increased as rapidly as possible. generally, this approach tends to eliminate intermediary steps and intermediate time brackets that are taking place within the value chain; leaving the organization in a form such that the only remaining elements in operation are the human resource, the machinery upon which the human resource is to operate and the very activities that are carried out on the machinery by the human resource in order to generate and provide value to the customers (Poppendieck 2002).
This usually calls for the empowerment of workers who are in the front-line of the hierarchy and interact directly with the working components and machinery of the organization. The measure is supplemented by a channelling of saved resources towards responding to consumer demands and requests in order to ensure that the optimization can be transmitted to the consumer’s end all the more effectively.
However, as mentioned above, modern day lean management does not pertain entirely towards traditional methods of lean thinking but seeks to go beyond lean thinking in its implementation and regulation. The discussion to follow, while focusing on the subject of the research, shall also attempt to highlight the relevance of the manner in which modern day lean management and lean manufacturing differ from traditional lean thinking as described in the context of the above paragraphs.
Constituents of Lean manufacturing
The essence of the Lean Manufacturing lies in the philosophy according to which the management system of an organization yields maximum output levels while eliminating waste (Forrester 1995). The degree to which Lean Manufacturing is intricate can be perceived from the fact that while many organizations attempt to implement Lean Manufacturing, very few manage to establish a Lean Manufacturing based management system that fully incorporates Lean Manufacturing tools and techniques. It is essential to note that a system cannot be considered to be applying a Lean Manufacturing system unless it is making use of minimal inputs but is producing the same outputs that it would produce if it was making use of the traditional inputs.
Needless to say, lean manufacturing implementation centres on the achievement of the minimum possible cycle time in the production system of an organization and therefore actively incorporates waste reduction, increasing of value added work operations, employee motivation and certain elements that one would expect to find in manufacturing philosophies such as just-in-time manufacturing, continuous flow, world class manufacturing and the like (Forrester 1995). All these elements come together to enable the organization to carry out its functions such that the following attributes are observable in the outputs: Lower costs, shorter lead time and higher quality.
Primary Essentials and Issues of Modern Day Lean Manufacturing
Effective Lean Manufacturing incorporates a number of factors that are undeniably significant regardless of the area in which Lean Manufacturing is being implemented as a management philosophy. These five elements are “manufacturing flow, organization, process control, metrics, and logistics” (Feld 2000).
When employing lean manufacturing in an organization, it is essential to realize that there are a number of issues that need to be acknowledged and addressed since lean manufacturing tend to bring about a considerable degree of change in numerous areas of the organization. In this regard, human resource is an area of the organization that is effected directly during the course of implementation of lean manufacturing (Feld 2000). This is primarily because of the fact that lean manufacturing implementation generally incorporates a considerable degree of change and it is only natural for a resistance against change to generate when lean manufacturing is being implemented. Research has proved that it is of the utmost importance for the workforce to be in approval of the implementation of lean manufacturing. An important realization in this regard is the fact that issues related to lean manufacturing implementation with respect to human resources are not limited to any specific managerial level but can be expected to have influences on all managerial levels of the organization.
It is imperative to realize that group seminars and discussions cannot be expected to bring about a favourable attitude in the employees towards the lean manufacturing philosophy since there is a possibility that the organization may have to lay off certain people and may require certain employees to reinvent their working methodologies in the working place.
It is highly significant for the organization to realize areas where wastage is occurring in order to implement efficient lean manufacturing. There is no point in the implementation of a lean manufacturing system without establishing objectives and determining precise wastage sinks (Hobbs2003). In order to perform this evaluation, it is essential to brief the workforce in a manner such that they understand and agree with the objectives of the organization and realize their roles and assignments in the implementation of the lean manufacturing system.
There are a number of wastage areas that lean manufacturing implementation should address in order to bring about an effective management and production system (Tapping, Luyster and Shuker 2002). However, in light of the specification of the subject of this research, only factors that are present in the area of human resources shall be discussed in the following paragraphs.
There are three areas that lean manufacturing needs to address with regard to the human resource of the organization. The first is the wastage of time that takes places. Specifically, the idle time that is present between operations has to be minimized. Secondly, it has to be ensured that there is no extra effort is being spent on the processing of the product that the customer does not require (Liker 2004). thirdly and finally, it is just as essential to ensure that the number of motions taking place during the course of operation are limited to those that are mandatory and do not include ones that the final product can be produced just as well without (Tapping, Luyster and Shuker 2002).
Areas of Human Resource influenced by Lean manufacturing Application
Around a decade from now, lean manufacturing practices began to undergo a revolutionary change and it was around the same time that human resource management practices experienced a significant degree of change. As more and more organizations begin to opt for lean manufacturing as their central management approach, lean manufacturing has evolved significantly. However, the impediments that fraught the implementation of lean manufacturing techniques remain just as imperative. It is imperative to realize that the advent of human resource management was nothing less than a revolutionary step in business management and has paved the way for strategic management (Bratton and Gold 2001). Human resource management came as a management philosophy that was far more than simply an enhancement of people management but came forth as a unique integration of people management and business plan.
It is essential to note that the term, lean, used in the name of the management philosophy under consideration is used because of the fact that once the process of the organization has been reduced to the bare minimum that the production process requires there is hardly any safety net or contingency surplus left in the organization’s functioning. Lean manufacturing requires significant levels of remodelling of the organization, its structure, the communication and leadership roles and similar areas, in this regard, it is essential to note that the following paragraphs shall attempt to present a generalized discussion of the implications of Lean manufacturing application in an organization.
The application of lean manufacturing requires that the organization performs in a manner such that each individual functions to carry out a set of tasks instead of one singular task. The element that differentiates this approach from traditional management is that one the individual’s tasks are defined a preset manner is established in which the tasks are to be performed. The individual is then designated to perform solely those tasks and no others. This approach is then combined with the team approach which comes together to form a smoothly functioning mechanism that takes up the minimal amount of time and resources in the carrying out of the task.
It is essential to realize that a significant degree of responsibility is put on the shoulders of the employees by following this approach and the carrying out of the change tends to stretch not only the personnel but also the production process (Ruffa 2008). However, this serves as a positive implication because it serves to bring forth and highlight vulnerabilities that may have otherwise caused damage to the functioning of the organization. Eventually the application of lean manufacturing results in the identification of the weak links the organizations production and employee chain.
As is evident, the identification of vulnerabilities serves to bring about a considerable degree of change in the manner in which the human resource department of the organization operates. For one, a reinvention of recruitment and/or training procedures is required in order to ensure that personnel being recruited and trained are capable of fulfilling the responsibilities posed by the weak links in the organization. An example can be found in the reinvention of selection programs for departments where there are weaknesses or vulnerabilities that can lead to negative implications.
Modernization of Operations
Fundamentally, every human resource system is examined and stretched in a manner such that the problems that the system holds are identified and removed before the human resource unit can be allowed to function. The core idea in this approach is to eliminate all chances of the occurrence of error, thereby, eliminating the need for contingency plans and safety net procedures (Davis 2009). This causes the bringing about of a significant change in the roles that are fulfilled by the personnel in the organization. This change is role is strengthened by the fact that modern day implementation of lean manufacturing is more than often supplemented with introduction of automation and similar technical modernizations in the organization. Needless to say, innovations such as these increase the need for skilled personnel who can adapt to change and decrease the demand for unskilled personnel who are in-adaptive and prone to naturally resisting change.
Per-Employee Evaluation and Level Scheduling
This increased degree of significance for the role of each employee is raised because of the fact that lean manufacturing incorporates the analysis of elements such as cost of errors, speed, scope, performance sensitivity, knowledge, dynamics and pace on a per-employee basis. It is therefore evident that lean manufacturing requires changes in the human resource systems that are nothing less than phenomenal.
Lean manufacturing incorporates a change in scheduling procedures in the organization. This is performed in order to make sure that the employees have to carry out the minimum degree of specialization in performing their tasks (Zylstra 2005). Level scheduling is generally brought about by decreasing the variety of products that an employee has to be part of producing. For instance, if a company produces three different types of computer systems, level scheduling will hold that employees for the production of the first computer system are not made to take part in the production of the other two systems. This in turn will allow specified specialization amongst the employees while reducing the complexity of the production system.
Organizational Structure
With regard to organizational structure and human resource management with respect to the implementation of lean manufacturing, it is imperative to note that lean manufacturing incorporates the amalgamation of human resource policies and human resource practices in a manner such that team work is encouraged. In order for teams formed under lean manufacturing to yield the desired outcomes, each member of the team has to be fully aware of his/her responsibilities with regard to the implementation of the implementation of lean manufacturing.
The organizational structure also becomes sensitive to the application of lean manufacturing because of the fact that lean manufacturing requires the creation and establishment of an organizational structure that focuses less on hierarchal criteria and more on communication between the hierarchy levels (Liker 1997). The central aim in this regard is to ensure that there is no hierarchal relationship existing which can possibly cause delays or increased idle times between processes as the process works from department to department. In this regard, lean manufacturing tends to present a more flat organization structure than one would generally expect to be working in an organization. In a nut shell, lean manufacturing focuses on the creation of task-focused hierarchal structures in the organization that can facilitate the effective and efficient carrying out of tasks rather than allow the spending of time and resources in compliance with traditional hierarchal structures.
Transformation of Top Level Management Roles
As mentioned earlier, lean manufacturing rests on an overhaul of sorts of human resource utilization in an organization and it is because of the same reason that top level management is also considered just as important an area. The management plays an essential role in the implementation of lean manufacturing and is responsible to ensure that maximum production levels experienced continuity and production levels do not fluctuate or hit extremes of low or high. The essence of change in managerial roles under lean manufacturing lies in the empowerment of managerial personnel.
Lean manufacturing requires that a significant degree of change is brought about in the manner in which the human resource is not only addressed but is reinvented in a manner such that the roles of the employees are perceived in a completely new light. For instance, the application of lean manufacturing in the organization requires that the roles of the leaders in the organization are reformed completely (Morgan and Liker 2006). While traditional management systems may put leaders in a position such that authority rests with top level management, lean manufacturing asks for leadership to be applied and vested in the lower levels of the hierarchy so as to enable leadership that is based on the understanding of man-management rather than simply utilizing leadership in the communication of organization objectives to the employees.
In this regard, lean manufacturing requires that leadership is constituted of responsibilities that would otherwise be considered as additional if the scenario was to be considered under traditional management practices. Additional responsibilities in this regard can include all or a selected few of tool repair, housekeeping, quality control, minor maintenance and the like. As is evident, practices such as these are not attributed to general leadership practices and it is for the same reason that lean manufacturing requires to be developed in a manner such that leadership is placed into the hands of capable personnel present at the lower levels of the organization.
Reinvention of roles in such a manner calls for the identification of personnel who are well aware of the organization’s operations at the lower level and also calls for the development of job designs and job descriptions that are in compatibility with lean manufacturing practices (Hobbs 2003). It is for the same reason that lean manufacturing requires high levels of commitment, acknowledgment and understanding on a micro level and regulation, training and adjustment on the part of the organization at a macro level.
Cultural Implications of Lean manufacturing
Another area in which lean manufacturing application has implications is that which deals with cultural perceptions across the human resource of the organization. This aspect takes root from the fact that lean manufacturing incorporates a rigid and unique approach towards waste reduction; one that is rarely considered by personnel if they are not aware of lean manufacturing principles. An example can be found in the fact that while employees may be familiar to the approach of stocking raw material and making use of it as per production requirements, lean manufacturing under lean manufacturing would require that stock of only that raw material is kept in the store that is currently under demand (Davis 2009). As a result of this measure, there is a good chance that store staff can be reduced and stock ordering, handling, regulation and forwarding practices will require reinvention.
One can imagine that the mere reinvention of stock control will have vast consequences in terms of change across the organization that will span from the micro level of the organization to the macro level. It is imperative to note that this aspect has been highlighted in perspective of the fact that the reinvention of staff roles and the renovation of working relationships between departments are the sources of the generation of cultural implications of lean manufacturing. Also, the implications are not limited to those of inter-departmental nature but can be expected to be of an intra-departmental nature just as much (Ruffa 2008). Resistance across these fronts can be expected to radically undermine lean manufacturing application and has to be foreseen before lean manufacturing can be adopted in the organization.
Inter-Organizational Conflict Capitalization
As mentioned above, lean manufacturing aims to generate and encourage specific specialization across the human resource of the organization. Simultaneously, the discussion is pointing to the possible generation of conflict as an implication of lean manufacturing application as a consequence that is next to undeniable. In this regard, lean manufacturing makes use of inter organization conflict and recognizes inter organization conflict as the ideal reason to encourage specific specialization.
An example can be found in a scenario where an inter organization conflict within one department can be brought into use by breaking up the department into two separate departments so that not only friction between personnel can be decreased but the process can be given the space and margin it needs to be carried out. If a dispute in amongst employees of the engineering department of an organization is based on the submission of an appropriate design and the research that has to be carried out on it by the engineering department, the organization has the option of designating specific employees of the organization to design creation, design research and design submission (Feld 2000). This will allow the execution of all three pivotal roles while ensuring that the relevance of one does not compromise the relevance of another.
Research Methodology
Introduction
Research Methodologies are considered as an important factor as far as analysis of an element is concerned. Research has always been considered as an element of utmost importance because the results that are derived from these methodologies help the researcher in driving a proper conclusion. This thesis is related to human resource management and lean manufacturing and therefore emphasis is laid more on qualitative research and conclusions are derived from this research. In this chapter we will elaborate what are the different methodologies of research and how they are used in this paper. Moreover, emphasis is laid on the limitations of research and best possible methods of research are selected to complete the entire project. This chapter inculcates all the elements that are related to the current research.
One of the most important elements in research is the selection of an appropriate approach and the viability of that approach. This part must be dealt with extreme care and it must be implemented and confirmed during the planning and the evaluation stage of the research project. The concepts regarding the research are quite wide and varied and there are different schools of thoughts about various methods that are practiced and used in the contemporary academia. Throughout the years there have been many suggestions that pertain to different types of methods methodologies that are applied in different fields of research. These methodologies are applied to attain the short and the long term objectives of a research project. The professionals that conduct research stresses a lot on achieving their targets and objectives, ultimately they reach high quality decisions if the research is conducted in an appropriate manner (McBurney and White 2006). The research design incorporates different elements of a research and one of the most common factors is considered as the process of gathering information and it also incorporates the process of calculating and analyzing the data. The design of the research also incorporates certain elements like identifying the strategies of research and which approaches are appropriate to conduct a research. However, the various methods that are used in conducting a research have their own limitations and these limitations of the research must be gauged properly and they must be realized by the researchers that in order to make appropriate decisions a proper research approach must be used.
Research Approaches
There are two types of approaches that are widely used in the research process these approaches are quantitative approach and qualitative approach. These approaches are considered as a backbone of research. The quantitative approach is based on numbers and it revolves around the phenomenon of testing a theory which is analyzed through statistical techniques. The ultimate goal of a quantitative approach is to test the phenomenon that whether the generalizations of a theory hold true or not. On the other hand qualitative research is more towards the process of evaluating a social or a human problem and different perspectives are evaluated in this research approach.
In this research project qualitative approach is used. Qualitative research typically involves questionnaires or surveys that are standardized and the interaction with the population is also in the same way. Qualitative research is mainly applied in scientific areas such as psychology and the methods are formed to ascertain the objectivity of the data as well as the application of that data to a wider population based on the sample and the reliability of the data. However, the quantitative approach deals in numbers that is the reason why this research is entirely based on qualitative research techniques (Creswell 2008). In this research paper focus is laid on the lean manufacturing and human resource management and what are the issues related with both these terminologies. This research also focuses on the fact that how research affects the decision making process of an organization.
Deductive and Inductive Approaches
There are two broader aspects of research that are widely used by different organizations and researchers to conduct a research. These aspects are known as deductive and inductive approaches. The deductive research approach is applied by making a detailed over view of a specific hypothesis. Normally, this is done by first and foremost declaring an objective of the research and making a complete and focused statement for the purpose of the research. After the formulation of the above two criteria, the research proceeds and in the end the research hypothesis is either accepted or rejected. The topic of the research is tested and examined to ascertain the implications involved (Graziano and Raulin 2009). Similarly, the inductive approach is a classification of research which travels and covers various situations and circumstances and makes or infers ideas, theories or concepts that are relatively broader than in the deductive approach. It works in the opposite direction as compared to the deductive approach. Firstly, an observation is made about certain variables. Those observations are then conceptually broadened to apply to more situations than present in the initial observations (Graziano and Raulin 2009).
Methods of data collection
The collection of data is considered as an important aspect for every researcher and in order to analyze or evaluate a hypothesis data is collected mainly through two different sources. These methods are characterized as primary and secondary sources of data collection. Only secondary data is used in this paper which is explained below:
Secondary data
The initial step in the process of data collection is to look for data that has already been published and exists prior to the current research. This is called secondary data. This data was collected and presented for a different objective from the objectives and aims of the current research. This means that the data will differ from what the researcher actually requires for his or her research. This is one of the main disadvantages of using secondary data as a source of data. Then there is the issue of the availability of the data (Jackson 2008). For example, the data on the various behavioural tendencies and habits of certain ethnic groups such as Asians is very limited and very difficult to find. Such secondary data is rarely available and the researcher may have to conduct his or her own research to acquire the required data and information. Another very important concern with using secondary data sources is the accuracy of the given data. Accuracy is a major concern when it comes to secondary data and it is important that the data comes from a reliable and authentic source. Often the data that is received from a secondary source is faulty and it becomes really difficult for the researcher to determine the level of inaccuracy of the data and then set an appropriate margin to accommodate for the inaccuracies. A final disadvantage of secondary data sources can be that even if the secondary data is available, and useful and even accurate, it may still not be enough data for the researcher. For example, if a researcher needed data for a specific market such as Asians and found demographic properties that were up to date, useful and accurate, yet the data was not enough for the researcher to gauge the reaction of the Asian market to any new or upcoming products or services (Jackson 2008).
Despite the disadvantages mentioned above relating to the procurement of secondary data, researchers still maintain the practice of using and including secondary data in their researches as often as possible. This is because of a number of reasons which make secondary data appealing to researchers. Firstly, primary data is relatively inexpensive to gather as it can be found in a variety of places which keep published data. For example, it would not be regarded as a wise decision by many researchers or people in general if a company such as a car manufacturer to collect and disseminate information about the demographics, the lifestyles and the buying patterns of the entire population if that data already exists and can be found in a variety of sources, such as the library or the internet. Secondly, another advantage of secondary data is that it can also be accessed quickly and saves the researcher a large amount of time. In the competitive environment that exists today, time is valuable and information is required in quick time to make decisions that allow the company to gain a benefit of reaching the market earlier than the rival firms.
Limitations of the research
The methodology prescribed and implemented for this research has its limitations due to its subjectivity to certain issues which are necessary to be underlined in the following in order to define the scope of the current thesis and set out the basis for the results that this report will conclude upon.
One of the biggest limitations of this report is the generalized nature of the topic. Similarly, the limitations of primary resources in terms of participants’ responses and selection of participants need to be taken into account. In addition to the primary source, the current research will also extensively use information from secondary sources. The current research applies deductive research techniques using secondary sources to converge on the study of lean manufacturing. Another limitation of this research is that the entire research is of relative nature and it varies from organization to organizations.
Another highly significant factor pertaining to limitations is the fact that the research seeks to make use of literature. In this regard, it is imperative to note that limitations that were present at the time previous researches were being carried out may have indirect implications upon this research. This is because of the fact that if limitations that took effect and influenced former studies had influences on those researches then
Findings
Secondary Research Findings
It is evident from the above discussion that out of the key areas that lean manufacturing addresses, there are only a few that fall into the area of concern when considered in perspective of this research. Amongst the most profoundly influenced as a result of the application of lean manufacturing in an organization, maximum delegation to workers, continuous improvement, standardized work, visual control systems and team work are variables that are of primary relevance. In the following paragraphs, each one of these factors shall be shed light on individually and shall be followed by a generalized summary of the findings towards the end of the chapter.
Maximum delegation to workers
The research served to prove that one of the most pivotal and essential area where lean manufacturing has implications in terms of hr practices is the area of delegation of authority to workers. It was observed that lean manufacturing application serves to completely reinvent the manner in which an organization makes use of authority, assigns authority and recognizes authority.
In more specific terms, the approach towards authority delegation and exercising of authority was observed to be completely different from that which was observed in traditional management systems. It was observed that lean manufacturing application encouraged the delegation of authority to workers and perhaps the most essential find in this regard was the fact that lean manufacturing encouraged the delegation of authority to low level workers rather than isolating it at any one level in the organization.
“Top managers who practice Lean manufacturing must make greater efforts to ensure they understand the true meaning of kaizen – “change for the better” – and the “continuous improvement” and “respect for people” principles, in order to achieve favourable financial and non-financial outcomes that benefit all key stakeholders. The only way managers can learn and understand Lean manufacturing is through direct participation in kaizen and other process improvement activities. This will also lead to a better balance between thinking and doing” (Emiliani 2006).
Instead of letting authority remain at the top levels of the hierarchy, lean manufacturing encourages the application of lean manufacturing in a manner such that positions for the exercising of authority are created across the lower levels of the management. This allows for a direct and more active monitoring of the organization’s operations to be carried out as well as a development of leadership responsibilities across the organization. This also calls for the development of job designs in the part of the HR department and calls for a more lean-management-compatible set of job designs to be established and supplemented by training programs that encourage the same.
Another area that is related to this discussion and which merits highlighting is the fact that lean manufacturing practices require such extensive degrees of reinvention because of the fact that lean manufacturing requires the assigning of responsibilities in a manner that one would not expect to find in traditional management practices. The central idea in this regard, is to assign a set of responsibilities to personnel at the lower levels of the organization so that specific specialization can be encouraged.
Continuous improvement
Lean manufacturing was observed to be an approach that dictates a strong sense of continuity. It was observed that almost all the factors were of a nature such that once they were reinvented to comply with lean manufacturing principles, there was hardly any room left for errors or resource wastage.
It was revealed that the central aim of continuous improvement practices in lean manufacturing was one that aimed towards the establishment of an assessment system through which production and manufacturing processes could be subjected to continuous scrutiny. This was performed with regard to the objective of singling out activities that were of non-value added nature and dealing with them. The approach also incorporated the incorporation of just-in-time control systems as a supplement to continuous improvement. Also, it was revealed that elements such as continuous training and usage of score boards were also incorporated within the implementation of lean manufacturing in the organization.
Standardized work
Lean manufacturing calls for the establishment of standardized work. This approach is incorporated extensively in lean manufacturing. It was found that the very essence of reassigning of responsibilities across employees lies in the standardization of the tasks that they have to perform. Lean manufacturing is based extensively on the determination of job responsibilities that can be assigned to personnel. The difference in this regard that differentiates lean manufacturing to traditional management is the fact that lean manufacturing encourages the designation of standardized job responsibilities in employees such that each employee is responsible for only a specific set of tasks and does not have to switch between different tasks.
The idea behind this specification of sets of job responsibilities lies in the belief that an employee should acquire maximum levels of specialization in his/her field of work and should be made to work such that the employee becomes an expert in the responsibilities that are assigned to the employee. In this manner, specific specialization is meant to bring about a reduction in chances of error. In the same regard, lean manufacturing practices also incorporate that wherever required, responsibilities are to be pre-established and assigned not only across employees but also at the department level.
It was also found that wherever required, lean manufacturing principles also encourage the establishment of departments and the regulation of departments in the event that it comes about as a productive and efficiency increasing solution to a conflict that would otherwise be encountered if lean manufacturing was to be applied without the establishment of separation through the creation of new departments.
Control systems
It was observed that lean manufacturing implementation calls for enhanced control systems to be implemented in the organization. With regard to this particular area, it was observed that lean manufacturing considered control systems to be of importance only when they were administered such that the lower levels of the hierarchy were addressed. It was also observed that lean manufacturing called for control systems that were based on active monitoring rather than on forecasting. this allowed for the principle of lean manufacturing to be implemented according to which the organization functions by making the maximum possible use of currently present resources rather than to store away resources or to allow resources to go to waste.
The research proved that lean manufacturing implementation is of such a nature that it is highly critical of the utilization of resources and demands that only those resources are brought into the organization’s frame of operations that are mandatory when considered in the perspective of the current scenario. It was therefore only natural that control systems were formed by the establishment of perimeters within the lower levels of the hierarchy in order to ensure that a continuous monitoring of utilization and wastage ratios could be regulated.
Team work
It was observed that the application of lean manufacturing is based extensively on the formation of team work. The literature analysis also served to prove that lean manufacturing does not simply incorporate and encourage team based work but incorporates and encourages the same on almost all levels of the organization. It was observed that there was hardly any level of the organization where lean manufacturing did not encourage the implementation of team work. Not only was lean manufacturing being observed to encourage team based functioning within the organization between the employees, but it was also observed that lean manufacturing encouraged the increased coordination between the teams. The finding of a recent research which employed a case study analysis with regard to the relevance of communication in lean manufacturing concluded that:
“[The] evidence of poor communication could also be attributed to failings in management support, illustrating the interconnectedness of the socio-cultural variables studied” (Worley and Doolen 2006).
In this regard, it was revealed that lean manufacturing implementation requires extensive levels of clarity and trust in cross-team communication. The research also served to show that there was no doubt in the fact that unless communication lines between the organization’s teams were not seamless, the chances of successful lean manufacturing implementation became rather slim. It is therefore imperative for pre-implementation preparation to be carried out in order to ensure that once teams are formed, the functioning between them serves to acquire objective that are central to lean manufacturing such as minimal lead-time, minimal wastage of resources and the like.
Reliance
A highly important aspect revealed in the literature analysis was that lean manufacturing focused on the maintenance of only those resources that were of immediate need. In this regard, we can concur that lean manufacturing is not advisable for organizations where a large magnitude of operations carried out are based on old machinery that cannot be relied upon to perform consistently. Hardware that is old and has worn out can result in manufacturing under lean manufacturing to suffer as a result of down time brought about by maintenance and upgrade requirements. This serves to raise a question that spans well over the authority of human resource elements since scenarios where hardware maintenance is the responsibility of an external party can result in the wastage of time in the reliance on external elements to bring the working elements of the organization back into working order.
“[It] is basically reliability and reduced need for maintenance troubleshooting and repairs. Lean Maintenance comes from protecting against the real causes of equipment downtime — not just their symptoms” (Cooper 2004)
Summary of Findings
The research findings revealed that in order for lean manufacturing to be implemented in an organization, one can expect a number of areas in the human resource infrastructure of the organization to be effected by the application of lean manufacturing. The most essential finding was that not only did the implementation of lean manufacturing have influences upon different areas of the organization’s human resource infrastructure but lean manufacturing required complete overhauls of the manner in which many of these areas operated.
It was observed that team work, control systems, standardization of work, continuous improvement and maximum delegation to workers were the key areas where lean manufacturing required change to be brought about within the human resource infrastructure of the organization in order to ensure increased levels of effectiveness and efficiency.
The below figure provides a summarized view of the research findings as acquired through the research. The figure has an overlaying approach towards the five key areas that were revealed to undergo profound implications during the research in light of an attribute that was observed to be present uniformly across all of the five factors. It is essential to note that this finding is in no manner supposed to be considered as a conclusive statement on behalf of this research since the interpretation of the implications of this relationship shall be presented in the concluding chapter of the research.
It was observed that it was of the utmost importance that the five key areas of human resource infrastructure that were being affected by lean manufacturing were addressed in a centralized approach. Not only are the key areas of human resource infrastructure that were being affected by lean manufacturing to be addressed collectively but are to be implemented collectively as well. This is because of the fact that during the course of each individual key area of human resource infrastructure that was being affected by lean manufacturing, it was observed that each element incorporated a certain degree of reliance on the other factors. Therefore, it is only logical to surmise that a relationship exists between the factors that can be attributed to the fact that a singular department is under consideration as well as to the fact that lean manufacturing addresses these key areas of human resource infrastructure.
It was therefore revealed that unless the key areas of human resource infrastructure that were being effected by lean manufacturing were addressed in a manner such that their respective modifications under lean manufacturing application were carried out simultaneously, there would be certain deficiencies left in the implementation of lean manufacturing that may render the transformation from traditional management practices to lean manufacturing practices futile.
Conclusions and Recommendations
The research was carried out in order to acquire an understanding of lean manufacturing and to gain a sound knowledge of the implications of lean manufacturing on human resources and human resource management. The research aimed to take advantage of the understanding of lean manufacturing and human resource management in order to understand how lean manufacturing and human resource management can be linked together and what issues are associated with lean manufacturing and what are the benefits gained by an organization that implements lean manufacturing. The research also sought to acquire an understanding of the issues of human resource management that are associated with lean manufacturing.
The research initiated with an introduction and went on to establish key questions, aims, objectives, background to the context and the structure of the study. This was followed by the literature analysis which was the most essential part of the research. The literature review commenced by providing an insight into lean manufacturing in general and served to highlight key areas where lean manufacturing had implications. The literature review continued to put forth issues that existed with regard to the implementation of lean manufacturing in an organization and narrowed down the focus of the discussion to areas pertaining to human resources as the literature analysis progressed.
The literature analysis was made to be as thorough as possible and was meant to serve as the key element of the dissertation. This position of the literature analysis was established in the research methodology which served to determine the approach that the research would take in its data accumulation, evaluation and presentation stages. The research methodology was also used to establish the potential limitations of the research and was pivotal in defining the approach that the research took towards the subject of the research. This was followed by the findings where the findings uncovered in the literature analysis were presented and highlighted for their relevance. It is essential to highlight that during the course of the research, a large number of articles were encountered that sought to analyze the applications of lean manufacturing in an organization but a relatively small number was observed to be one that focused on the specific implications of the human resource infrastructure of the organization.
In conclusion to the research, we can surmise that lean manufacturing is a highly effective form of management which owes its origin to the post World War Two era. However, as decades old as it may be, lean manufacturing remains an approach to management that is nothing less than phenomenal in the fact that it has evolved over time and has not only become all the more effective but has also become equally intricate and broad with respect to its application over time.
In terms of the implications of the application of lean manufacturing on human resource, the research proves that the implications of lean manufacturing on the human resource of an organization are nothing less than profound and lean manufacturing has its implications on human resource in multiple areas. However, it is essential to note that while lean manufacturing has implications on a number of areas of human resources, there are only a few that give space to the generation of conflict. The general observation in this regard held that lean manufacturing application resulted in the coming forth of conflict fuelled by the desire of the organization’s personnel to challenge change. The research showed that change was an element that prevailed intensively across the lean manufacturing approach and it was therefore essential to anticipate resistance towards change when attempting to apply lean manufacturing as the central management approach in the subject organization.
Another highly relevant finding of the research was that which highlighted the very relevance of conflict in lean manufacturing. According to the research, it is evident that lean manufacturing is an approach that aims to maximize productivity through identification of conflicts. It was observed that the identification of conflicts within the human resource infrastructure is a case in which the presence of conflict can be used to the advantage of the organization. Lean manufacturing practices such as developing departments, identifying leaders for low-level leadership and separating departments on the basis of conflicting responsibilities allows the organization to evolve within the perimeters of lean manufacturing such that specific-specialization is encouraged.
It was also concluded that lean manufacturing has serious implications on the organization’s structure and authoritative composition. The research was pivotal in showing that the approach towards.
Leadership and authority incorporated in lean manufacturing is one that is highly unorthodox. This can be stated with regard to the fact that lean manufacturing focuses attention and designation of authority towards the lower levels of the hierarchy rather than limiting it to top level managerial positions.
An undeniable factor in terms of the implications of lean manufacturing application upon the area of human resource is the fact that in scenarios where human resources is engaged in the process of manufacturing and is making use of machinery and hardware equipment in doing so, it would be next to impossible for effective functioning to be carried out if the machinery or hardware equipment suffered any damage. An incident such as this one would serve to handicap the human resource of an organization and it is therefore just as imperative to ensure the smooth functioning of the tools and instruments that the human resource uses as is the functioning of the human resource itself.
In accordance with the findings, lean manufacturing comes forth as a highly rigid approach towards management and production and one that is based on the continuous gauging of an organization’s resources as well as the value of the output that the elements making use of the resources were providing to the organization. The essence of lean manufacturing was observed to remain in the idea of the utilization of the resources in hand in a manner such that maximum feasibility could be achieved. In this regard, it can be concluded that lean manufacturing attempts to make use of the human resource of the organization to the maximum possible extent and is a highly bold approach towards the manner in which the human resource of an organization can be brought into use.
This conclusion is further strengthened by the fact that lean manufacturing encourages the bold use of the hierarchy of organizations. The mere fact that the research revealed that lean manufacturing encourages the utilization of lower level staff in authority and control mechanisms can be observed as proof of the fact that lean manufacturing is not an approach that an organization can implement without first performing a thorough and in-depth analysis of its human capital.
Lean manufacturing can therefore be concluded to be a highly effective but demanding management approach when it is considered with respect to the implications it has on the human resource infrastructure of the organization. The research serves as proof of the need of extensive preparation in the human resource infrastructure of the organization before lean manufacturing can be implemented. The research served to highlight the specific areas of lean manufacturing that cause conflicts to take place and also provided recommendations in light of the potential conflicts. The recommendations presented in the following paragraphs are of the utmost importance to this research since they enable one to acquire a perception of the depth of the subject within which the research went.
Recommendations
Needless to say, once teams are made and tasks are identified, it is recommended that the employees are given a certain degree of control over one or the other area of their task queue. For instance, a team can be given liberty to establish the sequence in which they carry out their tasks or it can be given the liberty to establish an operating methodology for its operations. In this manner, the employees can be given the degree of control that they require to maintain a rational degree of authority over their positions while ensuring that the exercising of the authority does not violate the perimeters of lean manufacturing application.
The literature analysis also led to the finding that lean manufacturing is not the best choice in an organization where the organization is relying heavily on external elements and factors. This is because of the fact that manufacturing under lean manufacturing leaves hardly any room for storage of supplies or resources as contingency plans since doing so would seriously undermine and devalue other efforts of lean manufacturing. It is therefore essential to ensure that the organization’s relationship with suppliers and external maintenance staff is one that can be worked with the organization’s lean manufacturing principles such that no compromise occurs. Possible methods would include those such as the frequent visiting of maintenance staff in order to perform checks on the equipment being used in the manufacturing process in order to ensure that it does not become the cause of any unexpected and unprecedented down time.
It is also recommended that prior to the implementation of lean manufacturing, the organization channels time and resources towards the development of control systems that are based on continues evaluation and evolution such that the evaluation criteria and approach evolve as new problems come forth with the passage of time. This recommendation is given in light of the fact that it is inevitable for problems to be encountered upon and during the course of the implementation of lean managing and it is therefore essential for the organization to be prepared beforehand to cope with these problems.
However, it is essential to note that this recommendation should not be taken and adopted in a manner such that it violates the very principle of lean manufacturing which stands for the use of minimal resource usage to acquire maximum productivity. The objective of this recommendation is to encourage the development of systems, improvement processes, training programs and scoreboard measurement systems that can be applied to the organization once it has been subjected to lean manufacturing.
The research was one that was not meant to be exhaustive but was meant to be thorough in its context nevertheless. The research was carried out in a manner as appropriate as possible to the research subject and served to explore numerous aspects in relation to the subject of the research. In this regard, there were a number of areas that the research touched but which merited further research.
It is evident that leadership undergoes a significant degree of change under lean manufacturing and one can therefore infer that while human resource practices require reinvention in the application of lean manufacturing, leadership innovation is a highly sensitive area and has been established to merit further research and examination.
The research served to highlight the fact that employee motivation and training are highly essential factors that should be acknowledged and addressed before lean manufacturing is implemented in an organization. In this regard, it is recommended that specific attention is given to the development of training and adjustment programs that are meant to allow former employees to adjust to the change brought about by lean manufacturing principles.
It is further recommended that since lean manufacturing serves to bring about a change in the traditional structure of the organization, it is almost essential that the area of hierarchal authority is addressed in further researches since resistance to change when supplemented with the lower hierarchy level man-management practices may serve to give rise to a conflict within the organization.
Lean manufacturing application calls for a significant degree of reinvention of job design frameworks in order to ensure that the delegation of authority is appropriate. In this regard, it is essential for research to be carried out on the manner in which job designs should be established such that they are in compliance with lean manufacturing principles.
The research played an important role in the development of the understanding of lean manufacturing and served to enable a concrete knowledge of the implications of lean manufacturing on human resources to be developed. The research employed secondary analysis as the central approach and attempted to do justice to the subject of the research. While every effort was made by the researcher to ensure accuracy and authenticity of the research findings, it is imperative to note that further study on the subject is required and that primary research can also be incorporated within the frame of a case-study analysis if a similar or recommended research was carried out in the future.
It is essential to note that these recommendations are a significant contribution of this research in light of the fact that while this research was not exhaustive in its own context, it will serve a significant role if it is considered in the involvement it will have in case any of the suggested areas of research are subjected to study and examination.
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