The concept Lean Production has nowadays become an accepted paradigm in several industries and it has become a fundamental part of manufacturing companies, as it seeks to reduce waste and deliver a high customer value. Lean Production is a technique that is a highly efficient manufacturing practice that helps organizations to carry on a competitive advantage. The concept works as a system of methods and measures which when combined have the potential to carry about a lean manufacturing. The objective of this research is to investigate how Strålfors Svenska Card can succeed in carrying out changes in their production in order to reduce waste, with reference to Lean Production. The study starts with a brief historical review about lean production, which is followed by a theoretical framework with useful concepts to adapt. The theoretical frameworks used in this research are: Lean House, “4P” Model, Lead the Change, Culture, Processes and Performance Measurements. The main research question of this thesis is: What are the main barriers for a successful lean implementation in Strålfors Svenska AB? Subsequently, the main research question was broken down to four sub questions. These are: How developed and mature in the organization are process methods? How are performance measurements employed? Which role does standardization, such as availability of tools, have? Which role do soft aspects, such as culture and values, play in understanding concepts?  Strålfors Svenska Card has to build a good platform in order to success with their implementation of lean production. Moreover, it means that the organization has to focus on developing necessary critical factors that are in the guideline with lean production. The researchers has used observations, interviews, surveys and value stream mapping in order to collect necessary data.

The Japanese automobile manufacturer invented Lean Production or Toyota Production System (TPS) which has been introduced and implemented in Swedish manufacturers for around 20 years (Dabhilkar, et al., 2005). Many studies discussed how it creates success in optimizing production process and quality. However, many researches show that the gap between culture become the main barrier in the process of realizing ‘true’ lean manufacturing. So, what problems has been brought out because of cultural difference in the process of implementing the lean method in Swedish industry and how to eliminate them?   The adaptation of lean method will have influences on the culture of a company. The purpose of this paper is to find out the problems which brought out by the cultural difference and a set of general approaches and principles which can be used for Swedish cultures to adapt and implement lean methodologies successfully and effectively.

This thesis reflects upon several decades of research into Lean Production systems, highlighting the need for further investigation using an empirical study of exemplar implementations of Lean. The initial point of departure is an analysis of the current views of Lean based on a detailed literature review. The resulting Views of Lean Table provides a framework for the investigation of an exemplar Lean operation, viz the Nissan Sunderland Plant, widely regarded to be one of the most productive automotive plants in Europe. The exploratory nature of this investigation, and unique opportunity for access, argued for the use of an inductive single case study as an appropriate research approach. A four phase approach was used to; a) identify views of Lean, b) gain an initial understanding of the Nissan Production Way at the Nissan Sunderland Plant, b) acquire a detailed description of the Nissan Production Way and c) to assess the level of intrinsic motivation amongst employees. The primary objective of this research is to establish whether our current knowledge of Lean sufficiently encapsulates the concept’s many facets. Detailed semi-structured interviews with Nissan Production Way experts revealed that Nissan Sunderland Plant’s production system uses a large number of elements in contrast to the relatively narrow list of ‘Lean’ elements cited in the Views of Lean Table. In contrast to academic theory there was a focus on extrinsic motivation with low intrinsic motivation offset by the plant’s continuous fight for survival and ‘whatever-it-takes’ attitude. In practice Lean is viewed as an overarching philosophy with a toolkit encompassing a wide range of tools which are used when they are suitable for the task in hand.

Fallstudien på Företaget AB  syftar till att öka förståelsen för de svårigheter  en organisation kan mötas av vid införandet av Lean-konceptet i en verksamhet. Studiens målsättning är att belysa vilka faktorer som påverkar en långsiktigt lyckad implementering av systematiska ständiga förbättringar.   Nulägesbeskrivningen och teorin analyseras ingående för att sammanställas i en slutsats och möjliga rekommendationer till fallföretaget. De påverkansfaktorer vilka författarna lyfter fram  i studien prioriteras i ordning utifrån sin betydelse och diskuteras med avseende på en uthållig implementering av Lean-konceptet.

I dagens arbetsklimat uppstår hela tiden olika utmaningar för tillverkande företag och organisationer. Ökad konkurrens, utvecklingar av olika tillverknings- och informationstekniker samt alltmer krävande kunder är några av utmaningarna. Ett sätt att lyckas maximera kundvärde samtidigt som den interna produktiviteten och effektiviteten ökar är att implementera konceptet Lean, vilket kort kan sammanfattas som att göra mer med mindre.  Ackert Reklam är ett litet familjeägt aktiebolag som grundades 1982. Företaget producerar dekormaterial i olika former, allt från enklare kampanjdekorer till mer avancerade reflexdekorer. Ackerts filosofi är att på ett så kostnadseffektivt sätt som möjligt lyckas lösa kundernas behov av högklassig visuell kommunikation. I dagsläget har företaget problem i form av bristande standardisering av deras arbetssätt och letar därför efter lösningar inom Lean.  Syftet med den här studien var att hjälpa företaget att standardisera sina arbetssätt och finna rutiner med hjälp av en implementering av olika värderingar, principer och verktyg inom Lean. För att lyckas uppnå syftet togs två mål med studien fram: -          Identifiera befintliga värderingar, principer och verktyg inom Lean som går att anpassa på mindre tillverkande företaget.  -          Ta fram en implementationsmetod av Lean, i form av ett ramverk, som går att applicera på mindre tillverkande företag.   Studien genomfördes i form av en kvalitativ fallstudie där datainsamlingen utfördes med hjälp av intervjuer och observationer. Totalt utfördes en ostrukturerad intervju och sju semi-strukturerade intervjuer. Observationerna gjordes genom att fysiskt befinna sig på arbetsplatsen och studera arbetsprocessen.  Med hjälp av datainsamlingen i form av intervjuer och observationer samt av teori i form av olika värderingar, principer och verktyg inom Lean kunde en slutsats och rekommendationer tas fram. Studien visar att en implementation av Lean kan hjälpa Ackert att standardisera sina arbetssätt om den sker på rätt sätt och olika kritiska faktorer tas i beaktning. Företaget rekommenderas att följa det framtagna ramverket där initialt fokus ska ligga på att skapa en god intern kommunikation samt att träna och utbilda anställda inom Lean.

Le monde industriel actuel connaît des changements fréquents et parfois brutaux suite aux progrès que connaissent la science et les technologies, aux besoins des clients, qui sont de plus en plus exigeants, à la forte présence de la concurrence. Cette variabilité des marchés économique engendre souvent des organisations de travail instables et des facteurs de pénibilité, de stress. Par conséquent, les industriels développent des méthodes pour maitriser et améliorer leur processus pour plus de performance. Le Lean management et l’approche ergonomique sont deux de ces méthodes.Mais elles semblent ne pas encore avoir fait totalement leur preuve pour répondre avec efficience à ce double enjeu qu’est la performance industrielle et la santé au travail. La notion de performance globale, qui englobe ce double enjeu, est complexe et pas simple pour les entreprises.De ce fait, notre projet de recherche a pour objectif de proposer une méthodologie de transformation et de pilotage de la performance globale basée sur une approche mettant en synergie le Lean Manufacturing, l’approche Ergonomique et l’approche Ergomotrice. Elle vise à guider l’entreprise sur un itinéraire de progrès construit à partir d’un processus d’évaluation du niveau de maturité de l’organisation. La matrice de maturité dans sa conception reprend les principes du Lean, de l’approche ergonomique et de l’approche Ergomotrice. Nous avons donc pu proposer un cadre de conduite de changement au sein d’un processus de pilotage rythmé permettant de transformer l’organisation industrielle pour atteindre une vision stratégique de performance globale d’une entreprise. L’ensemble de ces travaux a pu être testé au sein de plusieurs entreprises accompagnées par Valessentia et plus particulièrement au sein de l’entreprise Jean Louis Amiotte. / The current industrial world is facing frequent changes, which are sometimes abrupt. This is due to the scientific and technical progresses and increasingly challenging needs of customers. This market variability often creates unstable work organisations and arduousness and stress factors. Therefore, manufacturers are developing methods to control and improve their processes for greater performance. Lean management and ergonomics approach are two of these approaches.But they seem not having totally demonstrated their efficiency for tackling this double issue that is industrial performance and health-at-work. The notion of global performance, which encompasses this double issue, is complex and not so easy for enterprise to manage.Thus, this research project aims at proposing a methodology for transforming organisation and controlling global performance, on the basis of a synergy between the Lean Manufacturing, the ergonomics approach and the ergomotrice one. It aims at guiding an enterprise on a progress journey built upon an evaluation process of the organisation maturity level. The Maturity Matrix in its design takes into account the main principles of the Lean Manufacturing, the ergonomics approach and the ergomotrice one. We propose a framework for change management inside a rhythmed control process allowing to transform an industrial organisation in order to achieve the enterprise strategic vision of global performance.All these research works have been tested in several companies that have been assisted by Valessentia, and more particularly inside Jean-Louis Amiotte.

During the last decades, the U.S. wood products (NAICS 321) and furniture manufacturing (NAICS 337) industries have been greatly affected by economic cycles, rising production and transportation costs, changing buyer habits, and, arguably, most powerfully, increasing global competition. As a result, tens of thousands of jobs were lost and a large number of companies in the industry experienced bankruptcy, closed operations, or relocated to other countries. However, theories exist stating that the use of management systems, such as, for example, Lean management, allows companies to become more competitive and enhance the likelihood of survival. A mail survey was conducted to investigate companies in Virginia's wood products and furniture manufacturing industries as to their awareness of Lean management, the implementation of Lean practices, as well as the companies' need for support in Lean implementation efforts. Findings indicate that a majority of Virginia's wood products and furniture manufacturing industries have heard about terms like, for example, Lean management, Lean manufacturing, or Lean thinking, but are rarely aware of individual Lean elements of which Lean consists. Few businesses thus have implemented Lean. However, findings show that Lean awareness and Lean implementation status differs between individual industry sub-segments. The group of industry segments with the highest Lean awareness and Lean implementation status were "engineered wood products," "manufactured homes," and "household furniture manufacturing," as opposed to industry sub-segments such as "sawmill" and "wood container and pallets," which had lower Lean awareness and Lean implementation status. The study also revealed that smaller companies (less than 50 employees) have a lower level of Lean awareness and implementation status than do larger companies (50-499 employees). Despite the low level of Lean implementation across the wood products and furniture manufacturing industry in Virginia, less than one-fourth of all respondents indicated a need for Lean implementation support. / Master of Science

The overarching aim of this thesis is to critically evaluate the implementation of Lean in NHS Lothian, a National Health Service (NHS) Health Board in Scotland. Against challenging financial times, Lean has been endorsed for adoption in the provision of healthcare by The Scottish Government and NHS Scotland and so the objectives are to understand how Lean is implemented in healthcare, the impact on the organisation and what role(s) are held by front-line staff including medical staff, in this implementation. This is an exploratory and descriptive interpretivist case study incorporating content analysis, observational and interview data which is based on a qualitative and inductive approach. The interpretative and inductive nature of the research is used to identify emergent themes and to afford greater insight into the implementation process, outcomes and the role of healthcare staff. The sociology of professions is used to evaluate the role of the medical professional within Lean from the emergent data, with the focus being on behaviours expected and demonstrated in Lean implementations. The findings provide a mapping of the process for implementing Lean. It is also demonstrated that although medical professionals are expected to hold a crucial role in Lean implementations, their identity as a professional with corresponding power and autonomy provides challenges for implementing Lean in hierarchical areas such as healthcare. This professional identity also impacts on project initiation and sustainability as other stakeholders recognise hierarchical constraints. However, evidence grounded in the data illustrates that Lean breaks down hierarchies and has resulted in improved working in services. The implementation of Lean has been programmatic in line with best-practice case examples and has been driven by strategy and target pressures faced by services. This research provides a contribution to knowledge in three key areas: firstly through mapping the approach to Lean implementation which is a contribution to Programme Theory. Secondly medical professionals are explored through the lens of professionalism which has received limited attention to date within Lean; and finally a set of propositions are generated as a framework for Lean implementation in healthcare.

Há vários anos, o adequado entendimento sobre o funcionamento do Sistema Toyota de Produção (STP) vem desafiando as comunidades científica e empresarial. O crescente desempenho competitivo, galgado com base na aplicação continuada do paradigma da produção enxuta nas suas operações, vem sendo atestado pelos extraordinários resultados obtidos pela montadora japonesa. Como conseqüência, os tradicionais líderes da indústria automobilística como a GM, Ford e Chrysler vêm cedendo, paulatinamente, os seus lugares no ranking dos maiores produtores mundiais, à Toyota. A despeito de todos os esforços por parte da maioria das empresas industriais, em especial, das grandes montadoras, em tentar replicar o referido sistema de produção, freqüentes têm sido os insucessos. Tais processos têm se caracterizado, com poucas exceções, pela ausência de uma abordagem de longo prazo na condução da implementação e pela carência de compreensão sobre os conceitos e princípios que regem e embasam o STP. Com isso, se multiplicam as cópias de técnicas e ferramentas enxutas nas mais variadas realidades industriais, as quais são geralmente aplicadas com o objetivo de auferir resultados imediatos. Essas aplicações são feitas sem o necessário entendimento sistêmico sobre a função que cada ferramenta deve executar dentro do sistema de produção como um todo. Dentro deste contexto, as lideranças não têm mostrado suficiente compreensão sobre o aprendizado subjacente que caracteriza esses processos de mudança. Com o intuito de contribuir com a discussão científico-prática que busca encontrar soluções para esses problemas, esta tese propõe um Modelo de Guia que organiza as fases iniciais do processo de implementação da Produção Enxuta (Decisão de adoção e Preparação para a implementação). Esse Guia se baseia na valorização e na priorização do entendimento do funcionamento sistêmico do STP (princípios e capacitadores práticos que os operacionalizam sistemicamente), destacando a preparação da liderança no papel de agente de mudança dentro dos processos de transformação enxuta. Em cada fase prevista neste modelo, são detalhados os passos que reforçam o aprendizado organizacional imprescindível ao processo de transformação, os quais promovem o adequado enfrentamento aos desafios que naturalmente tendem a bloquear esse tipo de empreendimento. / For several years, an accurate understanding about the running of Toyota Production System (TPS) has been challenging both scientific and business communities. The rising competitive performance based on the continuous application of the lean manufacturing paradigm in their operations, has led Toyota to achieve outstanding results. Consequently, traditional automobilistic industry leaders such as GM, Ford and Chrysler have been gradually losing their ranking places as worldwide greatest manufacturers to the japanese car company. Despite all efforts made by most industrial corporations, the attempt to replicate the referred production system has been unsuccessful. Such processes are charaterized, with few exemptions, by the absence of a long term approach on the implementation management, in addition to the lack of a comprehension of concepts and principles that rule and underpin the TPS. Therefore, copies of lean techniques and tools in the most varied industrial realities are being multiplied and generally implemented in order to obtain immediate results. Such procedures are made without the proper systemic understanding on the role played by each tool in the production system as a whole. Within this context, the leaders have proven frequently an unaccurate understanding about the subjacent learning which characterizes these processes of change. Aiming to contribute with a practical-scientific discussion, which manages to find solutions to the afore mentioned problems, this thesis proposes a Guide Model that organizes the initial phases of the Lean Manufacturing implementation process (Decision of adoption and Preparation of implementation). This guide focuses on the valorization and on the prioritization of the TPS´s systemic running comprehension (principles and the practical tools that systemically operationalize them), highlighting the preparation of the leadership on the role of agent of change within the lean transformation processes. At each stage presented in this model, are detailed the steps which reinforce the organizational learning essential to the transformation process, which promote the appropriate coping with the challenges that naturally tend to block this type of enterprise.

Há vários anos, o adequado entendimento sobre o funcionamento do Sistema Toyota de Produção (STP) vem desafiando as comunidades científica e empresarial. O crescente desempenho competitivo, galgado com base na aplicação continuada do paradigma da produção enxuta nas suas operações, vem sendo atestado pelos extraordinários resultados obtidos pela montadora japonesa. Como conseqüência, os tradicionais líderes da indústria automobilística como a GM, Ford e Chrysler vêm cedendo, paulatinamente, os seus lugares no ranking dos maiores produtores mundiais, à Toyota. A despeito de todos os esforços por parte da maioria das empresas industriais, em especial, das grandes montadoras, em tentar replicar o referido sistema de produção, freqüentes têm sido os insucessos. Tais processos têm se caracterizado, com poucas exceções, pela ausência de uma abordagem de longo prazo na condução da implementação e pela carência de compreensão sobre os conceitos e princípios que regem e embasam o STP. Com isso, se multiplicam as cópias de técnicas e ferramentas enxutas nas mais variadas realidades industriais, as quais são geralmente aplicadas com o objetivo de auferir resultados imediatos. Essas aplicações são feitas sem o necessário entendimento sistêmico sobre a função que cada ferramenta deve executar dentro do sistema de produção como um todo. Dentro deste contexto, as lideranças não têm mostrado suficiente compreensão sobre o aprendizado subjacente que caracteriza esses processos de mudança. Com o intuito de contribuir com a discussão científico-prática que busca encontrar soluções para esses problemas, esta tese propõe um Modelo de Guia que organiza as fases iniciais do processo de implementação da Produção Enxuta (Decisão de adoção e Preparação para a implementação). Esse Guia se baseia na valorização e na priorização do entendimento do funcionamento sistêmico do STP (princípios e capacitadores práticos que os operacionalizam sistemicamente), destacando a preparação da liderança no papel de agente de mudança dentro dos processos de transformação enxuta. Em cada fase prevista neste modelo, são detalhados os passos que reforçam o aprendizado organizacional imprescindível ao processo de transformação, os quais promovem o adequado enfrentamento aos desafios que naturalmente tendem a bloquear esse tipo de empreendimento. / For several years, an accurate understanding about the running of Toyota Production System (TPS) has been challenging both scientific and business communities. The rising competitive performance based on the continuous application of the lean manufacturing paradigm in their operations, has led Toyota to achieve outstanding results. Consequently, traditional automobilistic industry leaders such as GM, Ford and Chrysler have been gradually losing their ranking places as worldwide greatest manufacturers to the japanese car company. Despite all efforts made by most industrial corporations, the attempt to replicate the referred production system has been unsuccessful. Such processes are charaterized, with few exemptions, by the absence of a long term approach on the implementation management, in addition to the lack of a comprehension of concepts and principles that rule and underpin the TPS. Therefore, copies of lean techniques and tools in the most varied industrial realities are being multiplied and generally implemented in order to obtain immediate results. Such procedures are made without the proper systemic understanding on the role played by each tool in the production system as a whole. Within this context, the leaders have proven frequently an unaccurate understanding about the subjacent learning which characterizes these processes of change. Aiming to contribute with a practical-scientific discussion, which manages to find solutions to the afore mentioned problems, this thesis proposes a Guide Model that organizes the initial phases of the Lean Manufacturing implementation process (Decision of adoption and Preparation of implementation). This guide focuses on the valorization and on the prioritization of the TPS´s systemic running comprehension (principles and the practical tools that systemically operationalize them), highlighting the preparation of the leadership on the role of agent of change within the lean transformation processes. At each stage presented in this model, are detailed the steps which reinforce the organizational learning essential to the transformation process, which promote the appropriate coping with the challenges that naturally tend to block this type of enterprise.