222,593 research outputs found
Lean construction: Prospects for the German construction industry
No full textThere is little, if any, information available about the range and dissemination of lean concepts among construction companies in Germany. Building on the methodologies and conceptual frameworks used in earlier work in the UK (Common et al., 2000) and the Netherlands (Johansen et al., 2002) this study carried out a similar survey among German construction companies to discover the current understanding of lean principles, perceptions of lean and trends in lean development. Qualitative and quantitative analysis of an email questionnaire sent to large German construction companies indicates that there is little awareness of lean in the German construction industry and that hardly any company uses lean concepts on a company wide basis despite evidence that procedures and techniques that are used on German construction sites are generally consistent with lean construction practice. There appears to be cultural resistance to a manufacturing derived, production-system-view of construction
Heritage Society (Houston)
No full textLetter from Allan M. Lean & Buckley to William M. Rice discussing the urgency to repay the debt owed to J. H. Brower & Co
Heritage Society (Houston)
No full textTranscript of Letter from Allan M. Lean & Buckley to William M. Rice discussing the urgency to repay the debt owed to J. H. Brower & Co
Implementing lean: UK culture and systems change
No full textFor the IGLC 12 Conference the authors reported the results of implementing Last PlannerTM methods with a large UK contracting company. The projects studied demonstrated some success but also some cultural, organizational and systemic barriers to its effective implementation. Alarcon and Conte’s White Paper for the IGLC11 conference discussed these issues and invited researchers to consider them. In response, the authors have reflected upon and critically re-analysed the research as a means to refocus their future work in implementing Lean Construction methods in UK construction. Based on a review of the literature on construction culture we have identified theoretical factors that, together with Alarcon and Conte's list of critical organizational elements, provide a framework against which the results of the research have been considered. We conclude that the implementation of Last Planner was hindered by not fully considering cultural, organizational and systemic problems and by failing to recognize how deepseated these problems could be. We intend, in future projects, to take a more considered, and wider approach to Lean Construction (possibly using the LCI’s Lean Project Delivery System) and to focus our attention upon construction ventures where efforts at culture change have already started - in particular, where strategic partnering arrangements are in place
A customised lean model for a Chinese aerospace OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer)
No full textThe aim of this research is to introduce Lean Thinking in a systematic and cost
effective way; moreover, it is to bring Lean Principles and apply Lean Tools to
the new aerospace companies. In particular the research will develop a
customised Lean manufacturing model. The following objectives will be
achieved during the research. 1); Investigate the principal features of Lean
Thinking, and identify state of the art in Lean manufacturing implementation. 2);
Identify the current situation of a specific Chinese aerospace company and the
requirements needed in becoming Lean. 3); Develop a customised Lean model
for applying Lean into a new Chinese aerospace company. 4); Validate the
Lean manufacturing model by experts in the company and university.
The Chinese traditional thinking is different from lean think. Therefore, to
implement Lean in China will face some distinct barriers. The author attempts to
resolve these problems through a customised lean model. According to the
literature review and researcher‘s knowledge, there is no paper developing a
model linking to the barriers of lean implementation in Chinese manufacturing.
Therefore, the author will attempt to fill in this gap during the research.
The questionnaire and assessment tool will be used to collect information from
the company. Best practices will help to establish the structure of the model.
However, in China, most companies implement lean through copying examples
from the United States, UK and other Western countries without combining their
current situation and culture. The contribution of this research is to develop a
model to link Chinese barriers and a company‘s situation for lean
implementation.
Finally, this model will be validated by company and academic experts. The first
validation is based on the sponsoring company. Other validations are achieved
by academic experts and industrial expert
Evaluating lean in healthcare
No full textThe overarching aim of this thesis is to evaluate Lean implementation in the
English NHS. Against a background of financial austerity measures and the
ostensible widespread adoption of Lean in the UK public sector, and particularly
by healthcare organisations, the objective is to understand how Lean is being
implemented by NHS hospital Trusts, and whether there is any quantitative
evidence that Lean implementation is improving hospital performance. Adopting
Pettigrew and Whipp’s (1991) framework of strategic change, this thesis aims to
present theoretically sound and practically useful research through an exploration
of the context, process and content of Lean implementation by English hospital
Trusts. In order to achieve this, the research employs a mixed methods research
design incorporating document analysis3, quantitative analysis and case study
analysis to afford an insight into the implementation of Lean from multiple
viewpoints and facilitate the development of new insights relating to the
phenomena of Lean implementation in English hospital Trusts.
The research provides a contribution to knowledge in three key areas: firstly
through the identification and validation of a typology of approaches to Lean
implementation by English hospital Trusts i.e. a characterisation of the method of
Lean implementation; secondly through quantitative analysis and discussion of
the potential link between Lean implementation and increased performance; and
thirdly a set of propositions that provide a narrative and logic to explain the
influence of contextual factors upon the process of Lean implementation in
English hospitals
Towards lean product and process development
No full textSuccesses in lean manufacture have led researchers and practitioners to consider extending ‘lean' to different parts of the engineering enterprise, including product and process development (PPD). Lean product development (PD) has been understood to mean lean manufacture applied to PD, while the roots of lean PD - just like lean manufacture - go back to Toyota. This article presents the methodology adopted in order to pave the way towards a coherent lean PD model that combines lessons from the Toyota product development system (TPDS) with other best practises. The article provides a unique review of the lean PD research area, and a reference framework for the enablers that Toyota has employed for lean PD. An investigation of five engineering enterprises undertaken to search for evidence of the implementation of lean PD enablers through observation, document analysis and interviews is also presented. Some enablers have been informally applied, while few have been formally implemented, and no model was found to formally combine lean PD enablers into a coherent whole. This is the first article to critique attempts to describe lean PD and provide a definition for Lean PD
Identifying Real Cost Saving in Lean Manufacturing
No full textLean manufacturing is well-known as an effective means toward cost savings, but to convince management to support a culture shift to implement a lean manufacturing program there must be confidence in understanding what real effective and measurable lean savings are. This case study analyzes data from one specific lean event and points out areas of deficiency and shows how misreporting cost savings can hurt the lean program and the creditability of the lean practitioners. Often, lean practitioners are so anxious to show what benefit their lean projects have attained, they cite everything they can think of to justify their lean project, some of which can be questionable cost savings and can negatively impact the long term credibility of the lean program. This case study from Boeing’s Ground-Based Missile Defense (GMD) program will evaluate and confirm what constitutes real cost savings as a result of a continuous improvement project to reduce the cycle time of interceptor integration. This evaluation includes professional perceptions of lean cost savings as part of the conclusion of what constitutes real cost savings in a lean program. This case study evaluates one particular event of many events done by companies every day. Another area of research could focus on instances of lean programs not capturing and reporting all the effective cost savings from a lean project which can have some of the same negative effects as reporting more costs saving than are truly being realized as this study addresses
A lean framework for tooling design process in Chinese aerospace
No full textLean Manufacturing (LM) has been used in production processes to help manufacturing companies maintain competitive advantages for decades. However, with the increasingly fierce competition and pressure to sustain survival and long-term growth, enterprises cannot be satisfied with just improving the performance of a single process. Therefore, adoption of lean to the whole product development processes has become a necessity.
There is evidence that lean thinking and some lean manufacturing tools are able to improve Product Development (PD) processes. Thus, terms of Lean Product Development (Lean PD) and Lean Product and Process Development (Lean PPD) are becoming popular in engineering fields.
In this project, the research aimed to improve the tooling design situation in Chinese aerospace by implementing lean techniques to the design process. Tooling is an indispensible part of aircraft manufacturing and assembly. The quality and development time can influence aircraft quality and delivery time. However, there is little research about the lean techniques implementation based on aircraft tooling design characteristics and there are few lean frameworks for aircraft tooling design process. Therefore, this research will be conducted to fill this gap.
The research comprised four phases. In the first phase, a comprehensive literature review about lean (lean thinking and lean manufacturing), Lean PD and Lean PPD, tooling design, lean models/frameworks and the relationship between lean and organisational culture was conducted. In the second phase, data and information from three Chinese aircraft manufacturing companies (Company A, B and C) and literature were collected and analysed, aiming to discover the current lean implementation status in tooling design process and find improvement opportunities. In the third stage, a lean framework for tooling design process was synthesised. Finally, the proposed framework was validated by academic and industry experts. Finally, the research can contribute to companies which need a lean transformation. Moreover, the lean framework also could be used as a reference for research in lean and tooling design field
Improving access to health services – Challenges in Lean application
No full textPurpose: Healthcare organisations face significant productivity pressures and are undergoing major
service transformation. This paper serves to disseminate findings from a Lean healthcare project
using a NHS Single Point of Access environment as the case study. It demonstrates the relevance
and extent that Lean can be applied to this type of healthcare service setting.
Design/methodology/approach: Action research was applied and Lean tools used to establish
current state processes, identify wastes and develop service improvement opportunities based upon
defined customer values.
Findings: The quality of referral information was found to be the root cause of a number of process
wastes and causes of failure for the service. Understanding the relationship and the nature of
interaction between the service‟s customer/supplier led to more effective and sustainable service
improvement opportunities and the co-creation of value. It was also recognised that not all the Lean
principles could be applied to this type of healthcare setting.
Practical implications: The study is useful to organisations using Lean to undertake service
improvement activities. The paper outlines how extending the value stream beyond the organisation
to include suppliers can lead to improved co-production and generation of service value.
Originality/value: The study contributes to service productivity research by demonstrating the
relevance and limitations of Lean application in a new healthcare service setting. The case study
demonstrates the practical challenges of implementing Lean in reciprocal service design models and
adds validity to existing contextual models
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