Exploring the phenomenon of company-specific production systems: one-best-way or own-best-way?

This explorative study investigates the phenomenon of the company-specific production system (XPS). It has been a strong and recent trend across many manufacturing industries to develop and deploy such a corporate improvement programme. Five propositions regarding the uniqueness of XPSs are derived from universalistic versus contingent perspectives on improvement programmes. The main XPS principles of 30 renowned multinationals are analysed for similarities and differences. In conclusion, XPSs largely represent variants of the same in content. They represent an own-best-way approach to the one-best-way paradigm. Even though a tight relationship to the Toyota Production System (TPS) and lean production is established, the findings raise a red flag that XPSs might suffer under a too rigid, path-dependent development process from what has become an overly technical understanding of the TPS. This study also questions whether modern manufacturers have sufficiently integrated other essential elements of modern operations such as the use of ERP, automation and real-time response technologies in their XPSs. These findings have direct implications for practitioners and provide interesting opportunities for further research.     

信息技术环境下中国制造业应用TPS研究

分析了丰田生产方式(TPS)的哲理、内涵和技术体系与管理体系，揭示了TPS的比较优势。对比分析中国工业化水平和制造业发展现状，指出目前中国制造业选择实施以信息技术为背景的生产方式存在的问题。从对企业的人、组织、生产系统改进和对管理累积水平提高方面，深刻阐述了中国制造业应用TPS的必要性和适应性。     

国有企业丰田生产方式本土化标准研究

以“准时生产JIT”和“自动化”作为两大支柱的丰田生产方式(TPS)凭借其完整、超常规、最具革命性的全新生产方式被称为“改变世界的机器”.精益生产、持续改善等专门用语出现在全球制造业并成为争相学习、效仿的对象.国有企业在TPS本土化的道路上由于缺乏对其本质的理解和研究,照搬全抄、形式主义的学习方式只能步履维艰.文章以史为鉴,在吸取丰田经验教训的基础上,提出国有企业学习TPS的标准与方法,为TPS本土化提供依据和方向.     

丰田生产方式和工业工程

简要分析了工业工程的特性和丰田生产方式的本质，并以图表的形式给出了两者的关系，最扣提出，当前应着重宣传和推广基础工业工程。     

Applying Value Stream Mapping to eliminate waste: a case study of an original equipment manufacturer for the automotive industry

Since its beginning, lean manufacturing has built a worldwide reputation based on results related to production improvement and cost reduction in several companies. This management philosophy focuses on customer value creation through the elimination of production wastes. Lean methods and techniques have spread their scope from the automotive industry to a wide range of industries and services. This article presents a case study that describes the use of the lean tool value stream mapping in the production process of automotive parts for a major automotive company. At the beginning of the project, relevant data from the process were collected and analysed. Subsequently, the initial process was mapped, the related wastes were identified, and then future processes were mapped and financial results were estimated. The proposals were presented on kaizen meetings, the action plan was discussed and the decision regarding which option to choose was taken. Consequently, the Cycle Time and the level of the workforce were reduced, the process was improved and savings were obtained.     

World-class manufacturing by Fiat. Comparison with Toyota Production System from a Strategic Management,Management Accounting,Operations Management and Performance Measurement dimension

Toyota Production System (TPS) and the derived lean production have cast a shadow over the models of world-class manufacturing (WCM). Yet, some groups such as Fiat have reinvented WCM. Fiat’s WCM is quickly becoming a sort of alternative to TPS-lean production. By means of semi-structured interviews and a direct observation of the documentation of Fiat’s model, this research wants to find the theoretical elements that underpin the model. The methodology is mainly based on grounded theory. The theoretical elements were coded and classified within four dimensions: strategic management, management accounting, operations management and performance measurement system. The four dimensions and their elements were compared for the first time with the same dimensions of TPS-lean production. Fiat’s WCM seems to have a ‘grand strategy’ focused on quality and cost savings where quality must be reached with no trade-off with other strategies. Safety is pursued above all else and Fiat’s WCM cannot be implemented without this first achievement. A particular system called ‘cost deployment’ measures wastes and losses on processes. The performance measurement system is structured and fosters day-by-day management as well as computer-based management. Furthermore, the performance measurement system is based on a complex and formal auditing and benchmarking process.     

Criteria for a lean organisation: development of a lean assessment tool

Lean principles have long been recognised as a competitive advantage. Although there are several measures for various aspects of lean production in the literature, there is no comprehensive measure for overall lean implementation in business firms. An appropriate measurement tool is needed to assess the effectiveness and efficiency of the lean implementation throughout the entire organisation. Based on lean research, a comprehensive tool called the leanness assessment tool (LAT) is developed, using both quantitative (directly measurable and objective) and qualitative (perceptions of individuals) approaches to assess lean implementation. The LAT measures leanness using eight quantitative performance dimensions: time effectiveness, quality, process, cost, human resources, delivery, customer and inventory. The LAT also uses five qualitative performance dimensions: quality, process, customer, human resources and delivery, with 51 evaluation items. The fuzzy method allows managers to identify improvement needs in lean implementation, and the use of radar charts allows an immediate, comprehensive view of strong areas and those needing improvement. Practical uses of the LAT are discussed in the conclusion, along with possible limitations.     

汽车工业正处于彻底变革的时期─—尝试新的规则,形成精益生产,会怎样?

德国和欧洲汽车工业处于彻底变革的时期，其推动力来自日本丰田的精益生产原则。描述了精益生产的意义和要点，强调了其核心是由富有活力的员工组成的团队，提出了对欧洲汽车工业行动要求需采取的步骤和措施，     

Toyota production system and Kanban system Materialization of just-in-time and respect-for-human system

The Toyota Production System and Kanban System introduced in this paper was developed by the Vice-President of Toyota Motor Company, Mr. Taiiohi Ohno, and it was under his guidance that these unique production systems have become deeply rooted in Toyota Motor Company in the past 20 years. There are two major distinctive features in these systems. One of these is the ‘just-in-time production ’, a specially important factor in an assembly industry such as automotive manufacturing. In this type of production, “ only the necessary products, at the necessary time, in necessary quantity ” are manufactured, and in addition, the stock on hand is held down to a minimum. Second, the System is the ‘respect-for-human’ system where the workers are allowed to display in full their capabilities through active participation in running and improving their own workshops.     

Empowering Kanban through TPS-principles – an empirical analysis of the Toyota Production System

The purpose of this paper is the empirical investigation of the Toyota Production System in order to test existing relationships as they are proposed in theory. The underlying model consists of seven factors reflecting the key practices of the Toyota Production System. Using data from 188 manufacturing plants participating in the High Performance Manufacturing research project, the model's measurement characteristics were validated through confirmatory factor analysis. Path analysis of the model showed that the majority of the relationships can be confirmed. Furthermore, a comparison of mean analysis based on a conducted cluster analysis indicates that plants with a higher implementation degree of the practices of the Toyota Production System also show a higher perceived performance in terms of the key criteria of production, i.e. time, cost, quality, and flexibility.     

Applicability of lean production with VSM to the Rioja wine sector

Lean production arose as a step towards a new era in production systems. It is a working philosophy designed to produce better products using fewer resources to obtain greater benefits. It has been applied to a wide variety of sectors different from the original automotive industry, in which it was developed. However, its application to continuous manufacturing processes of continuous products has been less, especially to the wine-production sector. The wine sector differs greatly from the automobile sector in various fundamental aspects, but it also has common fundamental aspects in its production and logistics systems. An important part of this work has consisted in studying the wineries of the Rioja region. This article analyses the applicability of lean production in the La Rioja wine sector and the results that may be obtained from its application, using value stream mapping as the main tool to identify opportunities for improvement. This piece of research shows that most of the production problems in the wine sector can be tackled using a lean production system, making certain adjustments according to the type of production. It shows the main properties of wine production from the lean viewpoint, and it improves the production and logistics systems.     

Proposition of a model for measuring adherence to lean practices: applied to Turkish automotive part suppliers

The objective of this study is to develop a model for measuring adherence to lean practices for automotive part suppliers and to assess the relationship between the firm performance and the adoption of lean principles. This model has been developed by utilising the lean practices defined in the literature. The proposed model has been successfully applied to a large number of automotive part suppliers, and has been tested for its statistical validity. To test the proposed model, data were obtained from 207 automotive part suppliers by using the Computer-aided Telephone Interview method. Validity and reliability tests of the developed model of leanness are realised through exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. Correlation analyses are used to examine the relationships between the lean applications and company performance and size. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) is applied to reveal whether there are differences in the use of lean techniques across different company categories. The study shows that, in general, Turkish automotive part suppliers are performing their internal production in compliance with the lean manufacturing principles. Furthermore, it is found that there is a significant relationship between adaptation of lean principles by the supplier firms and their performance. The proposed model of leanness can be used by companies in the automotive industry to measure their leanness levels.     

Stochastic analysis of TPS: expose and eliminate variability by highly specifying WCP

A production system is designed with three elements: works, connections and pathways (WCP), which cover how people work, how people connect and how the production line is constructed, from the point of view of a flow unit. The design principle of highly specifying WCP leads to two operations pillars that support the Toyota production system (TPS): just-in-time (JIT) and autonomation. Some stochastic models are proposed to verify the logic of highly specifying work for JIT. The stochastic models show that works are highly specified to reduce the variability whereas highly specifying connections and pathways without resource pooling expose variability in works as low inventory exposes the hidden problems in a factory. To achieve JIT, highly specifying works in each workstation is fundamental; the key solution is to reduce the variability of works. The information entropy theory is used to verify the logic of highly specifying WCP for autonomation. Highly specifying WCP can reduce the information needed by workers to identify and solve problems in the flow unit.     

Collaborative and lean new product development approach: a case study in the automotive product design

Collaboration between buyer and the supplier has been widely studied in the contemporary research to enhance the efficiency of the product development process. Early involvement of stakeholders in development leads to reduced development time and cost and enhanced quality. The current study presents an approach termed as ‘collaborative and lean’ (C&L) approach to new product development (NPD). It involves application of lean principles in a collaborative environment between an automotive component supplier and the original equipment manufacturer (OEM). The study compares the deployment of two methodologies of development – generic process and the C&L process for developing the same part by a supplier for two different OEMs. Development with one OEM was done using generic process and the other using the C&L process. The study uses value stream mapping of the various phases of the development and attempts to understand the application of the proposed approach in the automotive domain. It highlights the potential of a combined C&L approach in reducing non-value-adding activities, cycle time and effort during NPD. The study attempts to enhance the understanding of NPD in a collaborative environment and explores the possible merits of the proposed approach.     

汽车行业冲压加工生产率的研究与分析

汽车行业中冲压加工法在欧美、日本等汽车公司得到了高度重视,特别是日本丰田汽车公司经过长期的分析和不断优化改进,创立了快速换模工作法,以最少的资源投入获取最大的冲压生产效率。据此研究并掌握精益生产方式,从而大幅度提高生产效率,缩小与先进发达国家汽车行业的差距。     

Japanese New-Product Development Techniques

Yasuhiro Monden The Japanese automotive industry has already become a by-word for lean production efficiency. Recently attention has shifted to its new-product development activities, and in particular to the techniques of simultaneous engineering that generate superior performance when contrasted with the traditional linear and sequential approaches. The paper probes the cost management system that underpins the Japanese automotive product-development system, enabling a network of producers and suppliers to work cooperatively and in parallel through successive prototyping stages of the process. The core concept is the iterative development of a 'target cost' for each component of the process.     

Case Study of Lean in Hospital Admissions to Inspire Culture Change

Abstract

The hospital admissions process is a distinct experience for patients as this is where they start their journey for medical care, usually with a mix of anxiety and anticipation about what is to follow. This process also happens to be long and stressful, with numerous steps, frequent delays, and the occasional glitches along the way. In this study, we used lean thinking and discrete-event simulation to map and model the inpatient admissions process at a multi-specialty hospital in order to improve patient flow and reduce unnecessary waiting and handling by patients and staff. We found that by applying a combination of simple but complementary lean techniques, it was possible to reduce the total patient time in the system by up to 43%, without incurring additional costs or using more resources. The potential for achieving substantial improvements at low cost, combined with the approach of validation-prior-to-implementation adopted in this study, can both help process engineers and engineering managers to build support for any proposed lean initiative. This also makes it possible to sustain continuous improvement in the long term, which is at the heart of the lean approach.     

Lean versus agile production: flexibility trade-offs within the automotive supply chain

Given the recent dynamics of the automotive industry in the UK, the ability for a firm to be flexible has often taken priority over other performance indicators. Using the notion of distinct business models and trade-offs as our theoretical lens, the purpose of this study was to: (1) Distinguish lean and agile firms based upon production methods; and (2) Compare lean and agile levels of external flexibility (EF) and supply chain flexibility (SCF). Data was obtained from 140 automotive firms in the Midlands (UK) via a survey which was sent by emails. Findings supported the theoretical notion of trade-offs, as firms implementing agile production methods were found to be more flexible in comparison with firms implementing lean production methods. More importantly, the agile firms that possessed high EF levels and SCF levels were predominantly positioned at the lower end of the automotive supply chain, whereas the lean firms were largely found to be operating at the top of the supply chain. First, we provide an innovative way in which lean and agile firms can be conceptualised. Second, as flexibility levels were assessed on actual numerical values, as opposed to using opinion based Likert Scale questions, a methodological contribution is made. Third, as flexibility is in its infancy stage of theoretical development we make an empirical contribution by developing a taxonomy that distinguishes each production concept. Finally, given the supply chain position to where lean and agile firms were found, we invoked a power perspective better understand this phenomenon.     

Challenges in the transformation to lean production from different manufacturing-process choices: a path-dependent perspective

The implementation of lean production remains popular among industrial companies, and the requirement for individualised steps in its implementation is widely accepted; however, research has not yet considered the different process choices available to the companies. The conclusions drawn from the automotive industry's mass production environment may be misleading, given the different conditions of many other industries. We therefore compare case data from a craft producer with the rich, case-study based literature of mass producer companies that highlight the transformation from mass to lean production. We derive a list of specific challenges a craft producer must approach using a different strategy than a mass producer. This study adds to the lean production theory by demonstrating how different manufacturing process choices influence the lean transformation process and its successful implementation. It provides specific propositions concerning the transformation to lean by considering the different processes of craft and mass production companies. Furthermore, the case study gives an in-depth understanding of the challenges a craft-oriented company faces when becoming lean.     

A framework for System Excellence assessment of production systems,based on lean thinking,business excellence,and factory physics

This article proposes a production system framework that synthesises lean production, business excellence, and factory physics. The framework, which draws on a deep state-of-the-art understanding, consists of a performance measurement system supporting the achievement of a target condition based on variability and lead time reduction, as well as approaches of continuous improvement. Based on four types of excellence, a System Excellence value is calculated, indicating the distance from a target condition and thus displaying relevant improvement potential. As a key result, the framework proposed provides a contribution to knowledge, as it combines the aforementioned schools of thought, resulting in a holistic framework for action. The measurement system offers a high level of robustness, as it draws on diverse data sources and reflects on the dynamic behaviour over time. It has been successfully implemented in automotive manufacturing plants worldwide, which may suggest considerable practical relevance. Another key result of this research is that through applying the framework, important bottom-line indicators, such as lead time, failure costs, or productivity, could be improved. As the plants are typical automotive industry high-volume plants, it is proposed that the solutions presented offer a suitable standard for this industry and type of plant.