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The purpose of this study is to present factors associated with process barriers in implementing lean manufacturing within the small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

This study was conducted to identify the process barriers in implementing lean manufacturing in SMEs. Moreover, by a thorough and detailed analysis, process barriers of high rejection rate, employee absenteeism and frequent breakdown with 29 associated variables were identified as the most critical process barriers and were used to develop the questionnaire. Structural equation modeling was used to build the measurement model by drawing on samples of 128 SMEs in Kerala, a state in India. Later, the model was validated using statistical estimates. Data analysis helps to determine whether to accept or reject the hypothesis on the basis of the measurement model.

Several process barriers that prevent the successful implementation of lean manufacturing within SMEs are identified. These are lack of a training program, lack of periodical maintenance, low-quality standard materials from suppliers, bad vendor inspection, wear and tear of machines, communication gap between supervisors and workers, non-maintenance of a good employee–employer relationship, boredom on the job, overrunning machines beyond the capability, carelessness in work, not replacing worn damage parts periodically, ignoring warning signals of the machine classified as the most critical process barrier among the high rejection rate, employee absenteeism, frequent breakdown factors.

First, the sample size of the study was relatively small (128). Second, data collection was restricted to one geographical area in India, i.e. Kerala, a state in India, giving rise to operational constraints. Third, the study was cross-sectional; a longitudinal study must be performed to reinforce the findings.

The present study has explored an unfocused area of lean implementation in SMEs. The results are expected to help researchers, academics and professionals in the domain of lean manufacturing.

Governments of many countries around the world are helping and encouraging the implementation and understanding of the lean manufacturing system by providing financial assistance for training professionals and establishing professional associations. However, many industries have not been successful in lean implementation. This research aims to develop a strategy to tackle process barriers for successful lean implementation.

Very little research has been carried out in exploring process barriers in implementing lean manufacturing in SMEs. This paper will provide value to academics, researchers and practitioners of lean by providing insight into significant process barriers for lean implementation, especially in Indian industries.

The purpose of this paper is to present the factors associated with the employee barriers while implementing lean manufacturing within the small- and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs).

The structural equation modelling approach is employed to develop the initial model drawing a sample survey of 133 small and medium enterprises. The result of the study shows that the lack of well-trained and experienced staff, lack of knowledge about existing specialist, cultural resistance to change are acting as the employee barriers while implementing lean manufacturing in SMEs. Then, a further study has been conducted to develop the employee barrier model with these three factors and its contributing variables using specification search representing the sample of 117 small and medium enterprises using the following fit function criteria: Chi-square (C), Chi-square-df (C-df), Akaike information criteria, Browne-Cudeck criterion, Bayes information criterion, Chi-square divided by the degrees of freedom (C/df) and significance level (p).

The lack of well-trained and experienced staff, lack of knowledge about existing specialist, and cultural resistance to change with 19 associated elements were considered in the questionnaire. Specification search was carried out to build up the model on the collected data from 117 SMEs. The results of the specification search identified that these three factors with 15 key variables are significant to employee barrier while implementing lean manufacturing in SMEs.

The limitation of the study was that the sample size of the study was relatively small for further research, large sample size more than 117 are to be expected.

The present study has explored an unfocused area of lean implementation in small and medium enterprises. The results obtained from the study are expected to help researchers, academics, and professionals for the further studies in the domain of lean manufacturing.

To implement and understand the lean manufacturing system, government of the many countries around the world are helping and encouraging by providing financial assistance for training professionals and establishing professional associations. However, many industries are not successful in lean implementation. This research work provides to develop a strategy to tackle employee barriers for successful lean implementation.

Very little research has been carried out exploring employee barriers while implementing lean manufacturing in SMEs. This paper will provide value to academics, researchers and practitioners of lean by way of providing insight into significant employee barriers for lean implementation, especially in Indian industries.

Existing research evidence shows a fragmented understanding of the roles of first-line employees (FLEs) as essential factors for successful lean implementation in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), provoking recent calls for additional research on the identification of enablers and barriers for lean acceptance among workers. Therefore, this paper aims to identify related enablers and barriers to lean implementation among FLEs and determine future research avenues for improving the understanding of lean methodology implementation in SMEs.

Relying on a systematic literature review methodology, the authors aimed to synthesize and evaluate available peer-reviewed papers on the role of FLEs in lean implementation in SMEs. General descriptive and thematic analysis comprehensively depicted the selected research topic and identified the main themes within collected papers and potential future research questions.

The authors identified four main themes related to FLEs’ role in lean implementation: cultural change factors, employee characteristics, management involvement and lean job design. Within each theme, the authors present a comprehensive overview of FLE-related factors and associated enablers and barriers that should be considered for a successful lean implementation in SMEs.

The research outcomes are important to practicing managers in SMEs, helping them facilitate lean acceptance and enhance the likelihood of successful lean implementation.

The insights from this study present building blocks in developing a lean implementation model for SMEs that considers the FLEs’ role more comprehensively.

Top management commitment (TMC) and prosocial voice behaviour in Lean teams are vital for the successful Lean implementation. This study aims to investigate how TMC influences Lean team members’ prosocial voice behaviour and how such changed voice behaviour affects the outcome of Lean implementations.

The authors have used a qualitative research methodology to examine six dimensions of TMC (communication, involvement, support, empowerment, encouragement and monitoring) in two ready-made garment (RMG) factories in Bangladesh. Operational performance was measured by efficiency, quality, value stream mapping, single-minute exchange dies and 5S scores. Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) was assessed by acceptable head and back positions, machine safety, use of masks and housekeeping.

The findings reveal that TMC influences Lean team members' voice behaviour positively and, thereby, company's performance. Six dimensions of TMC are all critical for mobilizing prosocial voice, which then improves productivity, OHS and enhancing employee capacity and job satisfaction.

This research involved two sewing lines in two RMG factories in Bangladesh. Cross-sector and large-scale international quantitative research is also needed.

This research shows how TMC and Lean problem-solving teams can mobilize employee voice.

Employee voice is a central issue in the implementation of Lean. To the best of the author’s knowledge, for the first time, the authors show how the six dimensions of TMC influence Lean team members’ voice behaviour in the workplace and thereby how prosocial voice affects team performance.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the barriers for implementing Lean Six Sigma (LSS) in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and present a framework that provides prioritized strategies to overcome the barriers.

The barriers and strategies are identified via a comprehensive literature review and validated by industry experts. The study uses the fuzzy Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (fuzzy TOPSIS) to analyze the barriers and strategies for determining the prioritized list of strategies.

The findings reveal that there are sixteen barriers to LSS implementation in Indian SMEs. To overcome these barriers, this study reveals twelve strategies. The analysis shows that “effective management” is the most crucial strategy to overcome the barriers for implementing LSS in Indian SMEs.

This research guides SMEs practitioners to efficiently and effectively implement LSS, which, in turn, can enhance the performance of SMEs.

This study contributes to the literature by integrating the strategies with the barriers for implementing LSS in Indian SMEs. Besides, this study provides the prioritized list of strategies to overcome the barriers for implementing LSS in Indian SMEs.

Studies addressing barriers to implement lean production (LP) from the perspective of risk management (RM) have not been so usual in the literature. Re-interpreting barriers to lean as potential risks that should be avoided or mitigated, this paper aims to identify and categorise risks in the implementation of LP to propose a framework, which provides an overview of risks that negatively influence this process.

Through a systematic literature review exploring papers in the Web of Knowledge database, 69 papers were selected. A descriptive analysis was first carried out to identify the evolution in the number of papers, usual terminologies, research methods, analytic tools and the RM phases approached by each paper. After that, an in-depth study of the paper sample was conducted to find risk factors and categories.

The authors found a list of 61 risk factors. Then, considering the sources of the identified risk factors, six broad categories of risks were defined, namely, top management risks, human resources risks, lean knowledge risks, technical risks, supply chain risks and cultural risks. The authors also defined 34 subcategories, resulting in a risk classification framework.

Based on the review, the authors identified literature gaps and provided a research agenda. A noteworthy research limitation is that the authors only selected papers about LP, so the authors might have missed some potential risks in lean implementation that may arise from other-related areas. Thus, the exploration of lean risks adopting other perspectives may constitute a promising pathway for further research.

The classification framework may help practitioners and researchers in risk identification, evaluation and mitigation. It can also enable the creation of response plans to risks in lean production implementation, as it indicates the potential risks that may be faced along with this process.

This study contributed to add the perspective of RM to the literature on lean implementation. The introduction of RM concepts and tools may generate more robust models of lean implementation. Therefore, the classification framework may represent a starting point to produce new knowledge about this research topic.

The Covid-19 pandemic has caused disruptions in many businesses. A difficult process has been experienced for businesses caught unprepared for this situation. The purpose of the study, the difficulties experienced in the business have been mapped in terms of crisis management.

For this purpose, crisis management strategies have been discussed in terms of lean six sigma (LSS) strategies. Afterward, LSS strategies have been weighted with the spherical fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (AHP) method, which has been recently introduced to the literature (Gündogdu and Kahraman, 2020). While weighting has been done with the spherical fuzzy AHP method, three experts in the field of LSS at the master blackbelt level have been studied.

The Covid-19 process has caused the usual processes of businesses to change. Businesses do not have enough time to adapt their business processes in the Covid-19 process. To eliminate waste and time in the Covid-19 process, the lean methodology was used. At the same time, quality deficiencies have been tried to be eliminated with the six sigma methodology. Therefore, the six sigma methodology and lean techniques should be considered together. With LSS, the adaptation of this process has been wanted to be accelerated. In this context, the criteria in the Covid-19 process were prioritized and losses were reduced in accordance with the LSS methodology. In this study, the most important criterion during the covid-19 pandemic has been determined as “responding to the changing needs of customers” and the least important criterion has been determined as “communication with stakeholders in enterprises.”

This study has been applied the Covid-19 pandemics. So, it has been evaluated related to these specific criteria.

Covid-19 crisis management was examined for the first time within the scope of the LSS methodology. The criteria in the Covid-19 process were determined by six sigma expert master black belts. For the first time, spherical fuzzy AHP, one of the multi-criteria decision methods, has been applied to the Covid-19 process.

This study has been aimed to create a roadmap to apply LSS steps in businesses against a possible second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. In this context, it is thought that the study will fill the following gaps in the literature: Covid-19 crisis management was examined for the first time within the scope of LSS methodology. The criteria in the Covid-19 process were determined by six sigma expert master black belts. For the first time, spherical fuzzy AHP, one of the multi-criteria decision methods, has been applied to the Covid-19 process.

The purpose of this study is to investigate, report and interpret the true, original meaning of the Toyota Way Respect for People (RFP) principles as intended by their creators.

The investigation was conducted by means of a systematic literature review, and findings are reported in an RFP framework and interpreted by proposing a conceptual RFP lean implementation framework.

It was found that the literature on the subject is fragmented, though consistent, among various sources. No single framework was found that explained the RFP principles. The difference between and necessity for two value streams were discovered – a traditional product value stream that highlights problems and an additional people value stream that delivers people that can solve these problems. Furthermore, key emerging themes of RFP were found to be teamwork, develop and challenge people, motivation, develop people as problem-solvers, safety, remove waste and display people’s capabilities.

The conceptual RFP lean implementation framework remains untested. Future research should, therefore, focus on gathering empirical data concerning the applicability and validity of the proposed conceptual RFP lean implementation framework in different contexts.

The explanation of the two different value streams allows organisations to shift their focus towards developing employees’ career paths, which will subsequently contribute towards improved organisational performance. The conceptual framework can also assist managers in providing the necessary psychological support during the change process of lean implementation. Thus, the proposed implementation framework suggests how to show RFP during lean implementation by assisting organisations to have a more balanced focus between the lean tools and techniques and the human side of lean management.

A contribution is made to the prevailing lean implementation literature by reporting the true, original meaning of the RFP principles as a single recapitulated framework. Furthermore, a conceptual RFP lean implementation framework is proposed that incorporates these RFP principles, according them the significance they are due. This review offers an understanding of the people aspect of lean implementation and proposes a practical means of addressing this often-neglected factor. The RFP framework and the RFP lean implementation framework could, therefore, possibly assist organisations in achieving more successful lean implementations.

This study aims to demonstrate the application of Lean Six Sigma (LSS) at a stainless steel manufacturer in Türkiye for yield improvement.

A qualitative approach consisting of a single descriptive case study was adopted. Both primary and secondary sources were used. The interviews were conducted with the Six Sigma team. In addition, an in-depth review of the project documents was conducted. The “define, measure, analyze, improve and control (DMAIC)” phases were explained by examining the tables, facts and figures. The company’s downgraded rate owing to defective materials was 0.21%. Root causes were detected in the tension unit, carpet cleaning, coating unit, film surface and cleaning of the rolls. Therefore, improvements were taken accordingly.

The rolled throughput yield was 99.05%, and the defect rate was reduced to 0.08% after implementing LSS, which provided statistically proven results and a direct reflection on customer satisfaction.

To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first case study examining the application of LSS to improve the yield of a medium-sized stainless steel company in Türkiye.