Search results

In spite of huge advancement of Lean in the manufacturing sector, its advantage in the service sector is not fully investigated. The purpose of this paper is to cover this gap in particular for the information technology (IT) sector through the implementation of the Lean philosophy in a small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME), operating in the IT sector.

A case study is conducted and following the A3 model, Lean is deployed in the case company. Data were collected through on-site interviews, waste sources were identified and then countermeasures for their reduction were proposed and adopted.

This study reveals that the implementation of the Lean practices in an SME operating in the IT sector offers good operative and financial results, thanks to the higher productivity obtained through the reduction of non-value-added activities.

This paper reports a single case study, not enough to generalize the results. Moreover, more Lean tools and practices should be tested in IT companies to assess their effectiveness.

This paper increments the knowledge base for the application of Lean and A3 model outside the manufacturing industry. This paper should assist practitioners and consultants who have the desire to understand a better way of Lean implementation in fast-growing IT industry and in SME.

Research on Lean implementation in an SME company and in IT sector is scarce. This study aims to assess the efficiency of the adoption of Lean practices following the A3 model. The results could be highly valuable for similar companies (dimension or sector), especially those that are facing transition situations in terms of size and at the same time want to improve their operations performance, efficiency and avoid waste.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a simulation model to evaluate inventory and distribution decisions like lateral transshipments in a network with multiple products.

Data are collected from a company, and a discrete-event simulation in Python is developed to support the decision-making process of managers through different algorithms of lateral transshipments.

The numerical results show that the periodic delivery-continuous reorder policy is more robust than the others because the reorder process is not affected by the higher saturation that is achieved by periodic reorder–based policies. The new lateral transshipment algorithm will lead to huge savings in logistics costs for any company and increase truck saturation without causing a decrease in the service level.

This paper provides a novel institutional perspective on a complex logistics issue where COVD-19 is believed to complicate the context.

This solution is devised for any company to achieve even greater benefits in terms of customer service improvement and logistics costs reduction.

The main contribution of this paper is the proposal of a new lateral transshipment algorithm that shows performance improvement by simulating distribution network processes according to different configurations.

Due to high customization, companies, which used to follow the make-to-stock (MTS) strategy, are now adopting the make-to-order (MTO) strategy along with MTS in order to cope with high variability in customer demand. Although lean is quite popular in general, its advantage in MTO-MTS environment is quite rare. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to show the benefits of lean techniques in this environment.

A popular furniture company in Italy is selected for the longitudinal action research and as a part of the lean project, workload control (WLC) is deployed in the selected company. Data were collected through on-site interviews, potential areas of improvement were identified and then suitable countermeasures were proposed and adopted.

This study reveals that the implementation of lean techniques including WLC in a furniture company reduces the throughput time and improves the inventory turnover.

This research is based on a single company. Additional empirical studies can help to refine our proposition.

The paper shows the practical implementation of WLC as a part of the lean project in MTO-MTS environment. It provides the practitioners and consultants with the way of implementing lean techniques in companies that are planning to adopt MTO-MTS hybrid strategy.

This is the first paper that aims to assess the efficiency of the adaption of WLC based on lean principles in a company using MTO-MTS hybrid strategy. Hence, the results are highly valuable for similar companies, especially when are facing transition situations (e.g. from MTS to MTO-MTS).

Even though the integration of Lean Supply Chain Management (LSCM) and Industry 4.0 (I4.0) technologies is relatively recent, it has been receiving a lot of attention. Partly because it is a recent field of practise and research and partly because the number of works developed in this field has grown rapidly, it is important to frequently update the perspectives on this field of investigation. Thus, this study aims to review the integration between LSCM and I4.0 analysing relationship at operative, tactical and strategic levels.

Systematic literature review was conducted to identify and explain the integration of LSCM and I4.0 from scientific sources that were published before March 2021.

The analysis of the literature revealed the level of integration of LSCM and I4.0 is present at different managerial levels. Moreover, when the integration is detailed at different managerial levels, it appears that LSCM paves the way for the adoption of I4.0 at a strategic level, while I4.0 technologies promise to enhance LSCM practices at the operational level.

The main contribution of this study is the framework which shows that LSCM paves the way for the adoption of I4.0 at a strategic level, while I4.0 technologies promise to enhance LSCM practices at the operational level.

This study develops a new perspective of the articles published under the thematic of LSCM and I4.0. Additionally, it proposes a framework of analysis that can be used by future researchers. Finally, it shows the most recent implementations of LSCM and I4.0, exposing the current trends, improvements and also the main gaps.

The purpose of this paper is to provide the description of an original framework for maintenance management plan development. The research aims to use in an integrated way different World Class Manufacturing (WCM)-based tools, in order to obtain a model which can be used for preventive maintenance in different industrial contexts.

In this research, a conceptual framework of preventive maintenance was described and then it was evaluated through a qualitative study in an Italian company. The company was chosen based on an initial interview with the operations team and the model area was selected. Then, the location was reorganized in order to obtain a green field which could sustain the implementation of the framework tools.

The case study was carried out in a small-medium manufacturing company which produces quick-release couplings and multiconnections, ranging from medium to ultra-high pressure. The defined framework has proved to be easy to implement in a company with a corrective maintenance plan, allowing the maintenance department to embrace the preventive maintenance culture. The maintenance model has been well received from the employees.

The framework allows a standardization of maintenance plans. Firstly, the standardization design itself allows finding previous wastes and consequent improvement areas. Then, it brings the improvement of a single machine which impacts all other machines in its family.

The added value of this study is the ability to integrate different WCM-based tools. Since the framework depicts a step-by-step process; it is also a starting point for companies that want to approach preventive maintenance for the first time.

One of the most hyped concepts in the manufacturing industry is ‘Industry 4.0’. The ‘Industry 4.0’ concept is grabbing the attention of every manufacturing industry across the globe because of its immense applications. This phenomenon is an advanced version of Industry 3.0, combining manufacturing processes and the latest Internet of Things (IoT) technologies. The main advantage of this paradigm shift is efficiency and efficacy in the manufacturing process with the help of advanced automated technologies. The concept of ‘Industry 4.0’ is contemporary, so it falls under exploratory study. Therefore, the research methodology is thematic narration grounded on secondary data (online) analysis. In this light, this chapter aims to explain ‘Industry 4.0’ in terms of concepts, theories and models based on the Web of Science (WoS) database. The data include research manuscripts, book chapters, blogs, white papers, news items and proceedings. The study details the latest technologies behind the ‘Industry 4.0’ phenomenon, different business intelligence technologies and their practical implications in some manufacturing industries. This chapter mainly elaborates on Industry 4.0 frameworks designed by (1) PwC (2) IBM (3) Frost & Sullivan.