TY - JOUR
T1 - Lean manufacturing in Brazilian small and medium enterprises
T2 - implementation and effect on performance
AU - Godinho Filho, Moacir
AU - Ganga, Gilberto Miller Devós
AU - Gunasekaran, Angappa
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
PY - 2016/12/16
Y1 - 2016/12/16
N2 - The main objective of this paper is to investigate the degree to which lean manufacturing (LM) practices are being implemented within Brazilian small and medium enterprises (SMEs), by defining what LM means, in the view of SMEs in Brazil. In addition, the paper investigates the relationship between LM implementation and performance of such companies. The research method used in this paper comprised of an exploratory survey using the partial least-square method with the structural equation modelling technique (PLS-SEM). The results show that the companies studied used practices in a fragmented manner, without a holistic view of LM, which is considered to be one of the most important parts of this approach. Only the constructs of statistical process control, total productive maintenance and employee involvement are being implemented as an integrated approach for Brazilian SMEs. These companies do not take other important constructs such as customer involvement, continuous flow, pull production, set-up time reduction, supplier development and supplier feedback into consideration as part of LM systems, despite using some practices in a dispersed manner. Concerning performance, the present study shows that even in a fragmented way, the implementation of these LM practices help these companies to achieve improvement in operational performance.
AB - The main objective of this paper is to investigate the degree to which lean manufacturing (LM) practices are being implemented within Brazilian small and medium enterprises (SMEs), by defining what LM means, in the view of SMEs in Brazil. In addition, the paper investigates the relationship between LM implementation and performance of such companies. The research method used in this paper comprised of an exploratory survey using the partial least-square method with the structural equation modelling technique (PLS-SEM). The results show that the companies studied used practices in a fragmented manner, without a holistic view of LM, which is considered to be one of the most important parts of this approach. Only the constructs of statistical process control, total productive maintenance and employee involvement are being implemented as an integrated approach for Brazilian SMEs. These companies do not take other important constructs such as customer involvement, continuous flow, pull production, set-up time reduction, supplier development and supplier feedback into consideration as part of LM systems, despite using some practices in a dispersed manner. Concerning performance, the present study shows that even in a fragmented way, the implementation of these LM practices help these companies to achieve improvement in operational performance.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84976334377&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84976334377&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/00207543.2016.1201606
DO - 10.1080/00207543.2016.1201606
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84976334377
VL - 54
SP - 7523
EP - 7545
JO - International Journal of Production Research
JF - International Journal of Production Research
SN - 0020-7543
IS - 24
ER -