Lean Software Development: Two Case Studies

This paper shows how the concepts of lean manufacturing can be successfully transferred from the manufacture of cars and electrical goods to software development. The key lean concept is to minimize work in progress, so quickly forcing any production problems into the open. Production is then halted to allow each problem with the system producing the goods, to be permanently corrected. While frustrating at first, the end result is very high levels of productivity and quality.Large industrial companies are beginning to transfer their lean production expertise to their in-house software development projects. The two case studies reported here confirm that lean software development can produce rapid quality and productivity gains. A major implementation issue is that lean software development may require deep changes in the way an organization is managed.     

Human‐computer interaction and lean production: The shop floor example

The approach in industrial engineering to computer‐integrated manufacturing (CIM) proved not to be the concept needed for the majority of German companies. At the moment, lean production is the focal point of discussion about production engineering. It tries to combine concepts such as human‐centered organization, internationalization of business, decentralization of decisions, increased development times, total quality management, and process‐oriented business management. There are a variety of implementation areas for lean production. One implementation has been the shop floor‐oriented production support concept as developed by the Fraunhofer Institute IAO in Stuttgart. It focuses on functions such as Computer Numeric Control (CNC) machine tool programming, shop floor control, quality assurance, and resource management, and it aims at decentralized work organization, comprehensive work contents, and support for highly skilled workers on the shop floor. This support is provided by Information Technology (IT) systems that follow the ideas of work enrichment and work enlargement, and use a so‐called shop floor metaphor and graphical user interfaces with standard tool kits. In this way, the shop floor‐oriented production support concept represents a future concept that takes into consideration particularly human factors and human‐computer interaction.     

Lean Production—An Evaluation of the Possibilities for an Employee Supportive Lean Practice

Lean is a contested concept. It has been praised for empowering employees, and it has been criticized for intensifying work and impairing the health and well‐being of employees. This article is reviewing the literature on the relations between lean and employees, and suggests ways for the development of an employee‐supportive lean practice. There is good evidence of lean's adverse consequences for low‐skilled employees in the auto industry and other assembly type manufacturing work, but there are also examples of more positive outcomes. It is important to emphasize that, not only lean thinking, but also the context and implementation of lean have consequences for employee outcomes. Research is still needed to demonstrate it in real life, but this analysis of lean thinking, context, and implementation suggests possibilities for developing a lean practice that is genuinely employee‐supportive. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Lean job design and musculoskeletal disorder risk: A two plant comparison

This study examined the relationship between lean job design and work‐related musculoskeletal disorder (WMSD) risk factors. Repetition, force, and posture were assessed for a sample of 56 production jobs across departments at a lean automobile‐manufacturing plant and compared to 56 similar jobs at a traditional automobile‐manufacturing plant. The results showed greater productivity in the lean plant: less waiting (p = .006) and walking (p < .001); and greater repetition exposure (p = .001). The mean rating for repetition was 5.5 in the lean plant, compared to 5.0 in the traditional plant based on the Latko (1997) hand activity level scale. However, the lean plant had significantly lower peak hand force ratings (p = .01). When examining force and repetition combined, the lean plant had a lower percentage of jobs above the American Conference for Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH)‐recommended Threshold Limit Value (TLV^®). The findings suggest that lean manufacturing does not necessarily increase workers' risk for WMSD injuries. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Simultaneous engineering for self-directed work teams implementation: A case study in the electronics industry

Simultaneous engineering is based on the interaction between different disciplines and parallel consideration of design with production. This is usually taken as embracing product design and the manufacturing process (for instance in design for manufacturability), or product, manufacturing process and maintenance strategies (in design for maintainability) etc. A simultaneous engineering approach can also be of great value, however, for work organisation change, and vice versa. This paper describes a case study where problems with the product design and manufacturing process meant that these were redesigned in parallel with the implementation of self-directed work teams. In fact, the involvement of the first pilot team in this redesign enabled them to gain much of the confidence, skills and knowledge they required to operate successfully, and early decisions on the form and management of the team structure were supported.

Relevance to industry

Team work is an increasingly common choice of manufacturing and other companies to organise their production and assembly activities. The case study in this paper illustrates lessons in implementation of self-directed work teams. Moreover, it is emphasised that such implementation can be a fundamental part of simultaneous engineering, and also that teams themselves can contribute to concurrent product and process development.     

Working Together Apart? Building a Knowledge‐Sharing Culture for Global Virtual Teams

A new impetus for greater knowledge‐sharing among team members needs to be emphasized due to the emergence of a significant new form of working known as ‘global virtual teams’. As information and communication technologies permeate every aspect of organizational life and impact the way teams communicate, work and structure relationships, global virtual teams require innovative communication and learning capabilities for different team members to effectively work together across cultural, organizational and geographical boundaries. Whereas information technology‐facilitated communication processes rely on technologically advanced systems to succeed, the ability to create a knowledge‐sharing culture within a global virtual team rests on the existence (and maintenance) of intra‐team respect, mutual trust, reciprocity and positive individual and group relationships. Thus, some of the inherent questions we address in our paper are: (1) what are the cross‐cultural challenges faced by global virtual teams?; (2) how do organizations develop a knowledge sharing culture to promote effective organizational learning among culturally‐diverse team members? and; (3) what are some of the practices that can help maximize the performance of global virtual teams? We conclude by examining ways that global virtual teams can be more effectively managed in order to reach their potential in this new interconnected world and put forward suggestions for further research.     

Equipment replacement decisions and lean manufacturing

Traditional manufacturing systems are built on the principle of economies of scale. Here, the large fixed costs of production are depreciation-intensive because of huge capital investments made in high-volume operations. These fixed costs are spread over large production batch sizes in an effort to minimize the total unit costs of owning and operating the manufacturing system. As an alternative to “batch-and-queue,” high-volume, and inflexible operations, the principles of the Toyota Production System (TPS) and lean manufacturing have been widely adopted in recent years in the US [1, 2, 3 and 4]. In this paper, we illustrate an equipment replacement decision problem within the context of lean manufacturing implementation. In particular, we demonstrate how the value stream mapping (VSM) suite of tools can be used to map the current state of a production line and design a desired future state. Further, we provide a roadmap for how VSM can provide necessary information for analysis of equipment replacement decision problems encountered in lean manufacturing implementation.     

Psychophysical Demands and Perceived Workload—An Ergonomics Standpoint for Lean Production in Assembly Cells

The adoption of a lean production model means a systematic implementation of various management methods and practices. Such a model presents the human element as a key factor in continuous improvement efforts, influencing workers’ job content and the quality of work. However, there are few evidences regarding research on quantitative assessment of the work demand, either psychological or physical, in a lean production environment. Therefore, this study aims to analyze from an ergonomics perspective the psychophysical demand and workers’ perceived workload within assembly cells undergoing a lean production implementation. The proposed method integrates complementary concepts of widely known techniques, enabling the consolidation of several assessment criteria into one particular index for both psychological and physical demands. Such a diagnostic method is illustrated in a case study from the automotive parts manufacturing sector, whose application is performed in three critical assembly cells selected by senior management. Our findings show systemic gaps between work demand and employees’ profile, indicating improvement opportunities in order to provide a better work environment.     

Impact of Lean Production on Perceived Job Autonomy and Job Satisfaction: An Experimental Study

Previous studies have indicated positive and negative effects of lean production on employees’ perceived work characteristics and job attitudes. The most detrimental consequence of lean production is a decrease in the perceived job autonomy of workshop employees. To reduce these negative consequences, we propose human resource practices for integration with lean production. Drawing on the job characteristics model, we hypothesized that the implementation of lean production combined with human resource practices would enhance perceived job autonomy, job satisfaction, and operational performance. To evaluate our hypotheses, we used an experimental design consisting of a simulation game that mimics a manufacturing company. We implemented lean production combined with human resource practices in this simulated company. The results indicated a significant increase in perceived job autonomy, job satisfaction, and operational performance. Moreover, the results revealed a positive relationship between job satisfaction and operational performance.     

A study of creative tension of engineering students in Korea

The aim of this research was to study the nature of creative tension of engineering students in South Korea. The creative tension was analyzed according to relevant competences in project managers' work role. Most of the subjects who participated in this study were part‐time students who worked as managers in manufacturing and industrial companies. The application used for collecting and analyzing data was the project managers' work‐role–based competence application, Cycloid. Data were collected on the Internet by self‐evaluation. The constructed competence model of the Cycloid application was added into the Evolute self‐evaluation system utilizing fuzzy logic. The application was able to identify students' current state and personal aims and the creative tension essential for their personal development. The Cycloid application can be utilized in developing the professional competencies of individuals, teams, and organizations. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Hum Factors Man 17: 511–520, 2007.     

The moderating role of just‐in‐time on sociotechnical practices' effect over quality and workers' health

Sociotechnical (ST) theory emphasizes the notion that the design and performance of new systems can be improved, and can only work satisfactorily within an organization if the social and the technical aspects are brought together and treated as interdependent aspects of a work system. The implementation of lean manufacturing (LM) principles and practices has become popular, despite increasing demand on the current and emerging workforce to achieve higher levels of quality and flexibility with lower costs. Exploratory studies that investigate how LM practices influence the effect of ST practices on performance are still scarce, and a holistic view of such a relationship is needed. In this context, this study aims at verifying the moderating effect of just‐in‐time (JIT) practices on the relationship between ST practices and the performance of quality and workers' health. We carried out a survey with 144 different companies from Southern Brazil that are undergoing a lean implementation. Results indicate that ST practices have a positive significant relationship with such performance, and the concurrent adoption of JIT does not undermine quality and workers' health.     

Evaluation of mixed‐model U‐line operational designs

Often in lean manufacturing, multiple products are produced in U‐shaped manufacturing cells to simultaneously achieve product variety and production efficiency. We examine two design issues for mixed‐model U‐lines: work rules (a first‐come‐first‐serve rule and a crossover‐and‐return rule) and inventory flow choices (direct flow and buffered flow). Simulation results indicated that throughput and labor utilization can be improved by implementing a “buffer” with the first‐come‐first‐serve rule. Interestingly, the effectiveness of an inventory flow choice was dependent on the work rule (interaction effect), and relationships among performance dimensions differed across the designs.     

Improving performance and quality of working life: A model for organizational health assessment in emerging enterprises

The organization of work has been addressed through numerous perspectives by a diverse set of disciplines. While job stress research has focused on the promotion of worker well‐being, contemporary business‐improvement initiatives (e.g., lean manufacturing, six sigma) have sought to optimize effectiveness through work processes. However, these two aims, although traditionally viewed as contradictory, are actually interdependent variables in the determination of long‐term profitability. The concept of organizational health blends the pursuit of individual wellness with organizational effectiveness to yield a strategy for economic resilience. This article introduces a novel model for organizational health assessment using a systemic approach that addresses work factors at the individual, job, process, and organizational levels. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Hum Factors Man 14: 81–95, 2004.     

Developing a lean and agile work force

This article examines the contribution that human factors practitioners can make to improve work force capabilities in the lean and agile manufacturing environments. The article addresses the demands that lean and agile manufacturing initiatives will place on the current and emerging work force to achieve increasing levels of quality and flexibility with lower costs and shorter product life cycles. The issues of worker selection, continuous skill development, work place design, equipment maintenance, process improvement, mistake proofing, and process reconfiguration for new products are discussed from a human factors perspective. The article concludes that a new production system where human factors play a central role will be needed to help work force members achieve greater success in meeting these demands. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Teamwork in production: Implementation,its determinants,and estimates for German manufacturing

The progressive use of teamwork as an element of workplace practices orients researchers to dedicate important efforts to study the phenomenon and its depths. Although team research has focused on a large variety of aspects—human, psychological, positional, technical, and economico‐strategic—less is known about the factors influencing or determining the incidence of such concepts. Implementation rates and the degree of spreading, as well as variables mentioned by previous studies as determinants, were tested on a sample of 1,298 manufacturing firms located in Germany. The results show that almost 2/3 of manufacturing establishments use teamwork in production and, on average, more than 50% of employees are involved in normally four‐ to nine‐person teams. The results of this study also sustain the initial hypothesis on the positive relationship among flexibility, complexity, new products, organizational concepts, and teamwork implementation in production. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

How do employees perceive their organization and job when companies adopt principles of lean production?

The concept of lean production originally emerged in the beginning of the 1990s in the automobile industry, but its principles were adopted in other industries as well. According to the literature, the principles of lean production are controversial from the point of view of human well being. This study examined: 1) the extent to which lean production and related technologies were adopted in four Finnish manufacturing companies; 2) the way different occupational groups experienced their organization and work when principles of lean production had been implemented; and 3) which factors in the organization and change processes were associated with the employees' positive or negative perceptions of production, job satisfaction, and stress. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Hum Factors Man 14: 157–180, 2004.     

Cost performance dynamics in lean production leveling

Balancing of production systems is one of the main lean manufacturing principles as it reduces in-process storage and related forms of waste. A dynamic systems approach is proposed to investigate challenges of implementing production leveling and associated costs. A lean cell producing at takt time is modeled using system dynamics. The model captures various lean tools influencing production leveling and their implications. Comparative cost analysis between various leveling implementation policies for stochastic demand with multiple products is conducted. Results showed that determining the most feasible leveling policy is highly dictated by both the cost and limitations of capacity scalability. In addition, delivery sequence plans of different products/parts needed to achieve mix leveling and lot sizes affect the feasible production leveling policy while implementing lean principles. The developed model and insights gained from the results can help lean manufacturing practitioners to better decide when and how to implement production leveling as well as determine both production lots sizes and sequence. They also emphasize the importance of cost analysis as assisting decision support tool in the trade-off required between the benefits of different levels of lean policies and their associated cost.     

Implementation of self-managed teams in manufacturing: More of a marathon than a sprint

During the past decade teamwork in manufacturing, as in other sectors, has become the organisational form of choice. In contrast to earlier manifestations such as autonomous workgroups some 30 years earlier, this appears to have been largely for business and production reasons rather than being directly aimed at improving the quality of work life. Taken from part of a larger study of teamworking in several different manufacturing companies this paper draws upon a retrospective analysis of cases of self-managed team implementation in UK manufacturing. Examples of good and bad practice and consequent guidance have been identified where the weight of evidence gives confidence in their general applicability. A basis for benchmarking is provided, related to preparation, implementation and maintenance of self-managed teams in manufacturing. Key gaps identified are for tools to assist in early functional analysis, leadership decisions and boundary setting, and appropriate team performance measurement and reward systems.     

Fuzzy logic based method to measure degree of lean activity in manufacturing industry

Lean manufacturing is gaining popularity as an approach that can achieve significant performance improvement in the industry. However, the application of lean manufacturing is not an easy process. To reach the level of full implementation of lean manufacturing takes a long time and during that time the continuous improvement must be made. In the process of continuous improvement, lean manufacturing assessment is required. One form of assessment is to measure the degree of lean implementation. However, it is the complexity involved in the measure of degree of leanness. This complexity arises due to (a) the inherent multi-dimensional concept of leanness (b) unavailability manufacturing practice database that can be used as a benchmark in assessing the degree of leanness and (c) the necessity for the application of subjective human judgement on lean practices which involve vagueness and bias due to variation of evaluator's knowledge and experience. In this paper a method to deal with the multi-dimensional concept, unavailability benchmark and uncertainty, which arises from the subjective and vague human judgement for the measurement of degree of leanness, is proposed. The multi-dimensional concept involving a variety of components of lean practices is measured in order to arrive at a measure for the lean activity of a given organization. It is constructed from primary and secondary data involving a comprehensive literature review and validated with interviews with a set of sample organizations representing the entire spectrum of the industry. The vagueness of subjective human judgement on degree of application of lean practices is modelled by fuzzy number in conjunction with an additional consideration related to the length of lean practice implementation and the use of multi-evaluators. Value stream mapping is used in scoring the degree of implementation of lean so the use of benchmark is not necessary. Some results from an initial survey from a sample of respondents from the manufacturing industry in Indonesia are presented to illustrate the applicability and potential strength of the proposed method.