The mediating effect of lean management on the relationship between flexibility implementation and operational metrics in US automotive manufacturing plants

The purpose of this paper is to identify the mediating effect of lean management (LM) dimensions on the relationship between flexible manufacturing systems (FMS) dimensions and operational performance metrics.,A survey questionnaire was developed based on previous literature and interviews conducted at the automotive facilities visited that identified 28 lean dimensions, 15 flexibility dimensions and 8 operational performance metrics. The survey was presented to 175 North American automotive manufacturing managers through interviews conducted at 64 automotive facilities. A total of 164 usable responses were studied.,Lean and FMS are multi-dimensional philosophies, the results demonstrate that the automotive industry in North America has implemented many dimensions of both philosophies. Each dimension is categorized based on specific organizational metrics. The 64 facilities studied use common dimensions identified by this study for lean and flexibility. Data analysis indicates a direct link between lean, flexibility and operational metrics. It shows that LM plays a critical role in improving the impact of flexibility on performance metrics. The results also indicate that specific lean and FMS dimensions or categories have higher significant roles than others in the relationship between LM, FMS and operational performance metrics.,Since the sample size only considered automotive manufacturing facilities, the results need to be considered with caution.,This research empirically develops a framework linking FMS and LM to operational performance metrics. This research addresses an area within which there is little consensus on the relationship between LM, FMS and their impact on operational performance metrics. The study is unique due to the depth and breadth of the investigation that far exceeds previous literature conducted. In addition, this research highlights the LM and FMS practices on which managers should focus on when attempting to improve operational performance metrics at their facility.

[1]  Wagner Cezar Lucato,et al.  Performance evaluation of lean manufacturing implementation in Brazil , 2014 .

[2]  M. Christopher,et al.  The Supply Chain Strategy Conundrum: To be Lean Or Agile or To be Lean And Agile? , 2002 .

[3]  Alistair R. Anderson,et al.  The evolution of agile manufacturing , 2003, Bus. Process. Manag. J..

[4]  Yoshiki Matsui,et al.  An empirical analysis of just-in-time production in Japanese manufacturing companies , 2007 .

[5]  Stanley E. Griffis,et al.  MODELING LEAN, AGILE, AND LEAGILE SUPPLY CHAIN STRATEGIES , 2006 .

[6]  T. Bortolotti,et al.  Successful lean implementation: Organizational culture and soft lean practices , 2015 .

[7]  Ikou Kaku,et al.  Lessons from seru production on manufacturing competitively in a high cost environment , 2017 .

[8]  Angappa Gunasekaran,et al.  Agile manufacturing: A framework for research and development , 1999 .

[9]  D. Challis,et al.  Impact of technological, organizational and human resource investments on employee and manufacturing performance: Australian and New Zealand evidence , 2005 .

[10]  Suresh P. Sethi,et al.  Flexibility in manufacturing: A survey , 1990 .

[11]  Mohamed Mohamed Naim,et al.  The development of a lean, agile and leagile supply network taxonomy based on differing types of flexibility , 2014 .

[12]  Hossein Sharifi,et al.  Towards Theory Building in Agile Manufacturing Strategy—A Taxonomical Approach , 2007, IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management.

[13]  Siti Norezam Othman,et al.  Impact of lean practices on operations performance and business performance , 2013 .

[14]  P. R. Shalij,et al.  Lean manufacturing practices in Indian manufacturing SMEs and their effect on sustainability performance , 2017 .

[15]  Zelong Wei,et al.  Manufacturing flexibility, business model design, and firm performance , 2017 .

[16]  G. Giménez,et al.  Development of lean supply chains: a case study of the Catalan pork sector , 2010 .

[17]  Enver Yücesan,et al.  Transshipments: An emerging inventory recourse to achieve supply chain leagility , 2002 .

[18]  R. Krishnamurthy,et al.  Leagile manufacturing: a proposed corporate infrastructure , 2007 .

[19]  Ken Kwong-Kay Wong,et al.  Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) Techniques Using SmartPLS , 2013 .

[20]  N. Slack.  Flexibility as a Manufacturing Objective , 1983 .

[21]  Paul T. Kidd,et al.  Agile Manufacturing: Forging New Frontiers , 1994 .

[22]  Vathsala Wickramasinghe,et al.  Implementation of lean production practices and manufacturing performance: The role of lean duration , 2017 .

[23]  John K. Gershenson,et al.  Classification scheme for lean manufacturing tools , 2003 .

[24]  M. Terziovski,et al.  The relationship between total quality management practices and operational performance , 1999 .

[25]  Fariborz Rahimnia,et al.  Supply chain leagility in professional services: how to apply decoupling point concept in healthcare delivery system , 2010 .

[26]  Rosemary R. Fullerton,et al.  The role of performance measures and incentive systems in relation to the degree of JIT implementation , 2002 .

[27]  Anand Nair,et al.  Relationship between just-in-time manufacturing practices and performance: A meta-analytic investigation , 2010 .

[28]  S. Spear,et al.  Decoding the DNA of the Toyota Production System , 1999 .

[29]  Ravi Shankar,et al.  Supply chain risk mitigation: modeling the enablers , 2006, Bus. Process. Manag. J..

[30]  Manoj Kumar Tiwari,et al.  Modeling the metrics of lean, agile and leagile supply chain: An ANP-based approach , 2006, Eur. J. Oper. Res..

[31]  Benjamin T. Hazen,et al.  Enterprise architecture: A competence-based approach to achieving agility and firm performance , 2017 .

[32]  Xavier Brusset,et al.  Does supply chain visibility enhance agility , 2016 .

[33]  Robert C MacCallum,et al.  Using Parcels to Convert Path Analysis Models Into Latent Variable Models , 2005, Multivariate behavioral research.

[34]  Peter T. Ward,et al.  Lean manufacturing: context, practice bundles, and performance , 2003 .

[35]  Rachna Shah,et al.  Defining and developing measures of lean production , 2007 .

[36]  Azharul Karim,et al.  A methodology for effective implementation of lean strategies and its performance evaluation in manufacturing organizations , 2013, Bus. Process. Manag. J..

[37]  Yu-Ying Huang,et al.  How to achieve leagility: A case study of a personal computer original equipment manufacturer in Taiwan , 2010 .

[38]  Nigel Slack,et al.  The changing nature of operations flexibility , 2005 .

[39]  Peter McCullen,et al.  Achieving lean supply through agile manufacturing , 2001 .

[40]  Sanjay Kumar Shukla,et al.  A leagile inventory-location model: formulation and its optimisation , 2010 .

[41]  Manoj K. Malhotra,et al.  Measuring dimensions of manufacturing flexibility , 2004 .

[42]  M. Stevenson,et al.  Flexibility from a supply chain perspective: definition and review , 2007 .

[43]  K. Lai,et al.  Responsive supply chain : A competitive strategy in a networked economy , 2008 .

[44]  Soo Wook Kim,et al.  Disentangling leanness and agility: An empirical investigation , 2006 .

[45]  Samuel H. Huang,et al.  Designing supply chains: Towards theory development , 2006 .

[46]  H. Katayama,et al.  Agility, adaptability and leanness: A comparison of concepts and a study of practice , 1999 .

[47]  Danny Berry,et al.  Leagility: Integrating the lean and agile manufacturing paradigms in the total supply chain , 1999 .

[48]  A. Harrison,et al.  From leanness to agility [manufacturing] , 1997 .

[49]  Shahram Taj,et al.  LEAN MANUFACTURING PERFORMANCE IN CHINA: ASSESSMENT OF 65 MANUFACTURING PLANTS , 2008 .

[50]  H. Saranga,et al.  Uncertainty and supply chain risk: The moderating role of supply chain flexibility in risk mitigation , 2017 .

[51]  Giovani J.C. da Silveira,et al.  The relationship between interorganizational information systems and operations performance , 2006 .

[52]  G. Anand,et al.  A conceptual framework for lean supply chain and its implementation , 2008 .

[53]  Angappa Gunasekaran,et al.  Design and implementation of agile manufacturing systems , 1999 .

[54]  C. Fornell,et al.  Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error. , 1981 .

[55]  Gunjan Soni,et al.  Performance value analysis for the justification of the leagile supply chain , 2009 .

[56]  R. Nagel,et al.  Management, technology and agility: the emergence of a new era in manufacturing. , 2014 .

[57]  David Helliwell Taylor,et al.  Strategic considerations in the development of lean agri‐food supply chains: a case study of the UK pork sector , 2006 .

[58]  Robert J. Vokurka,et al.  A review of empirical research on manufacturing flexibility , 2000 .

[59]  Rudolf R. Sinkovics,et al.  The Use of Partial Least Squares Path Modeling in International Marketing , 2009 .

[60]  Shams Rahman,et al.  Soft TQM, hard TQM, and organisational performance relationships: an empirical investigation , 2004 .

[61]  Roger G. Schroeder,et al.  Relationship Between JIT and TQM: Practices and Performance , 1995 .

[62]  Amir M. Hormozi,et al.  Agile manufacturing: the next logical step , 2001 .

[63]  R. A. Inman,et al.  Agile manufacturing: Relation to JIT, operational performance and firm performance , 2011 .

[64]  Maike Scherrer-Rathje,et al.  An empirical examination of the best practices to ensure manufacturing flexibility: Lean alignment , 2009 .

[65]  M. Christopher,et al.  An Integrated Model for the Design of Agile Supply Chains. , 2001 .

[66]  Esteban Fernández,et al.  Agility drivers, enablers and outcomes: Empirical test of an integrated agile manufacturing model , 2007 .

[67]  Richard J. Schonberger,et al.  Missing link in competitive manufacturing research and practice: Customer-responsive concurrent production , 2017 .

[68]  Rambabu Kodali,et al.  A critical review of lean supply chain management frameworks: proposed framework , 2015 .

[69]  Hansa Lysander Manohar,et al.  Lean management practices to improve supply chain performance of leather footwear industry , 2015, 2015 International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Operations Management (IEOM).

[70]  R. Schroeder,et al.  Relationships between implementation of TQM, JIT, and TPM and manufacturing performance , 2001 .

[71]  Marko Sarstedt,et al.  Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM): An emerging tool in business research , 2014 .

[72]  James P. Womack,et al.  Lean Thinking: Banish Waste and Create Wealth in Your Corporation , 1996 .

[73]  James J. Cordeiro,et al.  The strategic implications of flexibility in manufacturing systems , 2000 .

[74]  Joakim Wikner,et al.  Integrating production and engineering perspectives on the customer order decoupling point , 2005 .

[75]  Gillian H. Wright,et al.  The contribution of measurement and information infrastructure to TQM success , 2006 .

[76]  Manimay Ghosh,et al.  Lean manufacturing performance in Indian manufacturing plants , 2012 .

[77]  Nigel Slack,et al.  The Flexibility of Manufacturing Systems , 1987 .

[78]  Evangelos Psomas,et al.  The impact of “soft” and “hard” TQM elements on quality management results , 2009 .

[79]  Erik Demeulemeester,et al.  Lean Beyond Company Borders: Costs or Benefits? , 2015 .

[80]  A. Oke.  Linking manufacturing flexibility to innovation performance in manufacturing plants , 2013 .

[81]  D. Upton.  The Management of Manufacturing Flexibility , 1994 .