Ms. G.A.S.A.K. Gurusinghe & Mr. W.A.I. Udith Dr. Pramila Gamage
In the current advanced global manufacturing environment, companies struggle to achieve their objectives, sustain the competition, and satisfy customer requirements profitably. Therefore, companies use different strategies such as Lean Manufacturing, Kaizen, TPM, etc. to enhance manufacturing outcomes and reduce the costs involved.
According to Womack and Jones, Lean is a systematic approach to minimizing or removing activities that do not add value to the end product. It emphasizes the removal of unnecessary steps in the process and improving characteristics of value-added steps. The Lean approach guarantees high quality and customer satisfaction. The word "kaizen" meant continuous improvement and was developed in Japan after the Second World War. It is a Japanese idea of incremental and continuous development. In companies, the structure includes all staff, from the top management to the cleaning crew. Everyone is encouraged to make suggestions for minor changes regularly. Lean and Kaizen improve efficiency, reduce waste, increase productivity, work standardization, process quality improvement etc. However, when considering business entities, many barriers can be identified when implementing such strategies. Because the action plan differs from one company to another due to employee behavior, working culture, ethics, improvement mindset, etc.
The main objective of this study was to identify a relationship among Lean, Kaizen and Manufacturing performances. A theoretical model was developed through a detailed literature review. Hypothesised theoretical model was tested using a survey instrument which was distributed among the employees in Apparel, PPE, FMCG etc. Results of the study showed that the Lean manufacturing system shows a strong and significant effect on manufacturing process outcomes through Kaizen which plays a mediating role. Statistical analysis results show that the model explains 65% of the variation of the system.
By logical extension, the finding of this study provides support for the adoption of Lean to enhance the manufacturing process outcome is more realistic and sustainable with Kaizen culture than implementing Lean philosophy itself.