Syed Ahsan Ali Zaman, Mantas Vilkas, Syed Imran Zaman and Sobia Jamil
This study explores the impact of digital technologies and digitalization management on digitalization performance in Lithuanian manufacturing firms, aiming to unravel the…
Abstract
Purpose
This study explores the impact of digital technologies and digitalization management on digitalization performance in Lithuanian manufacturing firms, aiming to unravel the dynamics between digital technology adoption and managerial capabilities in enhancing digitalization performance.
Design/methodology/approach
Employing partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM), the research analyzes data from a survey of 506 Lithuanian manufacturing firms, focusing on their digitalization strategies and outcomes.
Findings
The findings reveal that while digital technologies alone do not directly influence digitalization performance, digitalization management significantly mediates this relationship, highlighting the pivotal role of managerial practices in maximizing the benefits of digital technologies.
Research limitations/implications
The study acknowledges limitations in its scope, primarily focusing on Lithuanian manufacturing firms, which may affect the generalizability of its findings to other sectors or geographical contexts.
Practical implications
The study offers valuable insights for practitioners and managers, underscoring the importance of strategic management in leveraging digital technologies for enhanced digitalization performance and providing a roadmap for more effective digital transformation practices.
Originality/value
This research elucidates the intricate dynamics between digital technologies, digitalization management and digitalization performance, revealing a pivotal mediating role of digitalization management. It notably demonstrates that digital technologies, contrary to expectations, do not directly influence digitalization performance, underscoring the essential function of digitalization management in harnessing digital technologies for enhanced performance.
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Syed Imran Zaman, Sharfuddin Ahmed Khan, Angappa Gunasekaran and Syed Ahsan Zaman
Lean manufacturing (LM) is essential for businesses to remain competitive in today’s global economy and to meet the needs of consumers from three separate perspectives: price…
Abstract
Purpose
Lean manufacturing (LM) is essential for businesses to remain competitive in today’s global economy and to meet the needs of consumers from three separate perspectives: price, dependability and production schedules. A fundamental goal of this research is to how lean management in manufacturing organization may improve product value for the customer, address customer concerns, minimize costs and boost the firm’s profitability.
Design/methodology/approach
The extensive literature analysis identified a number of LM enablers and manufacturing industry factors that might favorably affect the organizations operational performance. Initially, 16 enablers of LM and 16 factors operational performance were identified, which were later reduced to 8 factors each. After that, Grey-DEMATEL technique was applied to investigate the relationships between the factors by categorizing elements into two groups (cause and effect) and ranking them within each category.
Findings
The results show that F4 (Work Force Development) and F7 (Six Sigma) were the key enablers of LM. Similarly, F12 (Maintain Better inventory control/optimize inventory level) and F14 (Reduce conversion cost) are the key effect factors of operational performance. It eliminates inefficiencies in the production process and internal storage requirements while retaining a high level of dependability and flexibility in response to customer demands.
Originality/value
LM has unquestionably been a popular method for improving the production efficiency of industrial sectors for the last two decades. Despite the fact that LM has helped several firms reduce waste and thereby improve a range of efficiency metrics, many businesses are still struggling to effectively transform into lean firms. While previous studies have explored LM’s significance and its influence on different aspects of organizational metrics in various industries, this research pioneers in probing into the nuanced relationship between LM enablers and OP in a critical and procedure-intensive industry.
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Murtuza Mehdi, Alidad Chandio, Maaz Akhtar, Zaibullah Khan, Ahsan Zaman and Adeel Muhammad
Polymer substrates with micron size roughness features have been found to play an important role in the mechanical performance of thin functional films which are used extensively…
Abstract
Purpose
Polymer substrates with micron size roughness features have been found to play an important role in the mechanical performance of thin functional films which are used extensively in stretchable and flexible micro electromechanical systems. The purpose of this study is to report the stretchability and flexibility limits of micro size silver nano platelet films on a soft polymer substrate having two different orientations of micro grating with respect to the applied load.
Design/methodology/approach
Parallel and perpendicular micro gratings on the surface of a soft polymer substrate polydimethylsiloxane were patterned using a carefully machined master aluminum block and thin aluminum foils. Silver nano platelet-based films were rod coated on the substrate surface containing the micro gratings. These films were dried in ambient air and were tested for their stretchability and flexibility limits using homemade tools. Finite element modeling has also been performed and was found to support the experimental observations.
Findings
Experiments indicate that stretchability of silver nano platelet-based thin films tends to increase when the grating orientation remains parallel to the axis of the applied load, while its flexibility improves when the orientation becomes perpendicular to the loading axis.
Originality/value
The effect of grating orientation with respect to the applied load was investigated. The experiments show that micro grating roughness features are capable of enhancing the mechanical performance of nano platelet-based silver films on a soft polymer substrate and can be used in various stretchable and flexible micro electro mechanical device applications.
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Narpat Ram Sangwa and Kuldip Singh Sangwan
The purpose of this paper is to review various themes of leanness, leanness assessment approaches, leanness assessment areas, and their evolution by a systematic literature review…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to review various themes of leanness, leanness assessment approaches, leanness assessment areas, and their evolution by a systematic literature review (SLR).
Design/methodology/approach
The eight types of literature review methodologies are identified and compared. The SLR is selected after critically analyzing the eight types of literature reviews. A four-phased SLR (i.e. plan, do, analyze/synthesize, and propose) has been carried out based on the peer-reviewed journal and conference articles on leanness assessment.
Findings
The existing literature on leanness assessment shows the lack of review-based papers on lean assessment. This study attempts to build a two-fold contribution to the field of leanness assessment: first, various types of themes, approaches, and assessment areas are identified; second, a framework for leanness assessment is proposed. The study shows that the research on leanness assessment is mainly empirical using qualitative judgment. The paper traces the changes in scope, areas, and approaches to leanness assessment. The scope of leanness assessment broadened from manufacturing process assessment to whole supply chain assessment including manufacturing process. The focus of earlier assessment was manufacturing and financial areas which now includes human resource, administration, new product development, suppliers, and customers also. Tool and technique based assessment has given way to outcome-based assessment using non-financial and qualitative parameters.
Research limitations/implications
One of the limitations of the study is that literature search was mainly focused on peer-reviewed articles published in English language only; therefore, some papers in others languages may have been missed. Apart from this, the SLR has been conducted for the manufacturing sector only.
Practical implications
The study is expected to be useful for the lean practitioners to identify the causes of reported lean failures. Moreover, the authors also expect that the conducted SLR will provide the passage to the practitioners for not only fostering the concepts on leanness assessment but also provide the vital and significant knowledge about the leanness assessment to the managers for enhancing organizational performance.
Originality/value
As per the authors’ knowledge, this is the first SLR on leanness assessment. It is expected that this paper will help the researchers working in the area of lean manufacturing to identify new areas of research.
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An Thi Binh Duong, Vinh Xuan Vo, Maria do Sameiro Carvalho, Paulo Sampaio and Huy Quang Truong
This article aims to examine the simultaneous effect of risks on physical and intangible dimensions of supply chain performance under the globalization and Covid-19 perspectives.
Abstract
Purpose
This article aims to examine the simultaneous effect of risks on physical and intangible dimensions of supply chain performance under the globalization and Covid-19 perspectives.
Design/methodology/approach
The manipulation of literature reviews together with the combination of Q-sort and empirical data in the construction industry to identify and assess risks and supply chain performance, is a novel approach in the supply chain risk management area. The analysis of Structural Equation Modeling that is able to calculate the simultaneous impact of various risks on supply chain performance, is used to validate this relationship.
Findings
Global supply chains are currently facing interruptions caused by several sources of inherent uncertainties, e.g. natural disasters, war and terrorism, external legal issues, economic and political instability, social and cultural grievances, and diseases. The weaknesses of the current global supply chain have been revealed, resulting in delays, supply unfulfillment, labor shortages and demand fluctuation. These supply chain risks have a great on supply chain performance indicators, and the magnitude of their impact tends to increasingly impact in the context of globalization and the Covid-19 pandemic. Findings showed that the proposed risk models can be explained with Variance of supplier performance (25.5%), Innovation and learning (21.2%), Internal business (61.9%), Customer service (39.4%) and Finance (39.7%).
Research limitations/implications
Supply chain managers should keep in mind acceptable cost/benefit trade-offs in corporate risk mitigation efforts associated with major contingency risks. In doing so, the proposed hypothesized model can be “a road map” to achieve this purpose. Our research favors the adoption of supply chain management strategies, e.g. postponement, speculation and avoidance.
Originality/value
The trend toward globalization and the emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic increasing supply chain complexity are regarded as key drivers of supply chain risk and therefore enhance vulnerability to supply chain.
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Guilherme Luz Tortorella, Ricardo Giglio and Jorge Limon-Romero
The purpose of this paper aims at investigating which lean supply chain management (LSCM) practices efficiently improve the supply chain performance.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper aims at investigating which lean supply chain management (LSCM) practices efficiently improve the supply chain performance.
Design/methodology/approach
To achieve that, a cross-sectional survey was carried out with 113 manufacturing companies undergoing a lean implementation. The proposed method combines complementary methods of multivariate data analysis in order to determine which bundles of LSCM practices more efficiently entail improvements on supply chain performance.
Findings
The findings justify why some LSCM initiatives may find larger barriers than others, compromising their success due to misguided implementation efforts according to the desired performance improvement.
Originality/value
The empirical examination on the efficiency of LSCM practices with regards to a certain set of performance indicators provides guidelines with respect to LSCM implementation depending on which performance indicators are envisioned for improvement.
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Istimaroh Istimaroh, Noor Aslinda Abu Seman, Bambang Setiaji and Norasmiha Mhd Nor
A crucial aspect of supply chain management (SCM) is the formulation of lean supply chain management (LSCM). In this sense, the key practices are extended towards the LSCM…
Abstract
A crucial aspect of supply chain management (SCM) is the formulation of lean supply chain management (LSCM). In this sense, the key practices are extended towards the LSCM settings as alternative strategies and several frameworks were developed to help companies to make choices based on production disruption. Studies in this field have focussed mainly on SCM. Although manufacturing businesses recognise the necessity of effective SCM, but little study has been done on manufacturing LSCM. The behaviour and the potential for significant impacts on sustainable performance (SP) in manufacturing companies can vary with time and variations for approaches of the LSCM key practices. This chapter, therefore, focusses on main practices for LSCM on the basis of evaluations of experts in the Malaysian manufacturing sector in order to achieve SP in manufacturing companies. The aim of this chapter is to identify the key practices in LSCM on SP. Hence, this chapter reviewed 172 articles published from 2015 to 2019, used the methodology for SLR with three main steps: literature review planning, reviewing, and reporting. As a result, there are evidence that the key practices for LSCM used in previous studies are (1) customer relationship management, (2) supplier relationship management, (3) just in time manufacturing, (4) waste reduction, (5) cost reduction, and (6) minimise inventory level. In manufacturing industries, LSCM is more complex. Insights on the causing issues and SP are provided. Finally, this chapter contributes to SCM and literature on sustainability and has managerial implications for companies to improve SP more effectively.
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Gabriela Pereira Soares, Guilherme Tortorella, Marina Bouzon and Madjid Tavana
This study aims to propose a method for measuring lean supply chain management (LSCM) maturity based on the main lean practices and existing waste of a supply chain.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to propose a method for measuring lean supply chain management (LSCM) maturity based on the main lean practices and existing waste of a supply chain.
Design/methodology/approach
A three-stage approach was developed. First, a thorough literature review was performed to raise concepts and previous findings on maturity models (MMs) and LSCM. This review’s outcomes were then validated by experts in the field using the fuzzy Delphi method (FDM). Subsequently, the proposed model was illustrated and assessed based on a multi-case study.
Findings
All companies attained high outcomes in the elimination of the waste pillar. The pillars of logistics management, continuous improvement and information technology management also stood out in the three organizations’ results. The company with the lowest maturity level operates in a make-to-order production policy, which may harm the lean supply in its supply chain.
Practical implications
The proposed model can reveal external opportunities and threats and internal strengths and weaknesses in supply chains (SCs). It is also capable of providing a clear roadmap for SC improvement in companies.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no study to date has proposed a MM in the LSCM context using FDM and considering the crucial relationship between lean practices and wastes.
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Syed Awais Ahmad Tipu and Kamel Fantazy
The current study provides new insights into the relationships between knowledge development (KD) and sustainable supply chain performance (SSCP) by exploring the mediating…
Abstract
Purpose
The current study provides new insights into the relationships between knowledge development (KD) and sustainable supply chain performance (SSCP) by exploring the mediating effects of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) in terms of innovativeness, proactiveness and risk taking.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected by questionnaire survey from 242 manufacturing organizations. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test the hypotheses.
Findings
The results reveal that innovativeness and proactiveness have full mediating effects on the relationship between KD and SSCP. Though KD is negatively related to risk taking and has insignificant indirect effect on SSCP via risk taking, the mediating effect of risk taking remains moderate positive on the relationship between KD and SSCP.
Research limitations/implications
Given that the current study focuses on manufacturing sector, future research is needed for more comparative studies conducted in different sectors and cultural contexts. The negative link between KD and risk taking also warrants future investigation.
Practical implications
Organizations may reduce their level of risk taking due to the increase in KD. However, in order to enhance SSCP, risk taking is still needed as it mediates the relationship between KD and SSCP.
Originality/value
The mediating effects of innovativeness, proactiveness and risk taking on the relationship between KD and SSCP are unknown. Current study aims to address this gap.
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Narpat Ram Sangwa, Kuldip Singh Sangwan, Kiran Kumar Paidipati and Bhavin Shah
This paper aims to present a simple and innovative fuzzy methodology-based lean performance measurement system (L-PMS) for an Indian automotive supply chain. The paper also…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to present a simple and innovative fuzzy methodology-based lean performance measurement system (L-PMS) for an Indian automotive supply chain. The paper also enlightens the influence of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on supply chains and the practical implications of the unprecedented disruptions on the performance measurement systems.
Design/methodology/approach
The L-PMS is divided into three phases. In the first phase, the key performance indicator (KPI) list, as deemed fit by the organization, is prepared using literature and suggestions from the case organization. The list contains 61 KPIs measuring 24 performance dimensions in seven functional areas of the supply chain. In the second phase, the KPI performance data (actual, best and worst) are collected using the enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. In the last phase, the leanness score of the case organization is calculated at four levels – KPI, dimension, functional area and overall organization.
Findings
The overall leanness score of the case organization is 60%. The case organization uses KPIs from all seven functional areas, but it needs to improve the number of KPIs in administration and supplier management functional areas. The case organization uses only quantitative KPIs. However, the performance dimensions at the middle level are adequate. The leanness level of the case organization in different areas is highly variable (ranges from 45% to 91%).
Research limitations/implications
The major limitation of the study is that the case study is done at a single organization.
Practical implications
The managers at the different levels of the hierarchy can use the lean performance measurement score to leverage the better performing areas/dimensions/KPIs and improve poor performing areas/dimensions/KPIs. The lean performance measurement at functional area level can help leadership to give responsibility to different people for the improvement of leanness with respect to different dimensions/functional areas. The disruptive impact of COVID-19 should clearly be understood by the managers to make appropriate decisions based on the severity as measured at different levels.
Originality/value
According to the authors' best knowledge, this is the first lean performance measurement application at the four hierarchical levels (KPI, performance dimension, functional area and overall organization).