Högskolan i Skövde

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to contribute to the existing knowledge about the process ofachieving Lean Manufacturing (LM) success.

Design/methodology/approach – This study uses interpretive structural modeling and captures theopinions of a group of LM experts from a world-class Japanese automobile manufacturer, to map theinterrelationships among potential determinants of LM success. This study further uses the data from asurvey of 122 leading automobile part manufacturers by performing structural equation modeling toempirically test the research model proposed.

Findings – Management support and commitment, financial resources availability, information technologycompetence for LM, human resources management, production process simplicity, supportive culture andsupply chain-wide integration are the key determinants that directly or indirectly determine the level ofachievement of LMsuccess.

Research limitations/implications – The determinants of LM success as experienced by Asianautomobile manufacturers might be different from determinants of LM success as experienced byWestern automobile manufacturers. An interesting direction for future research would be to capturethe experts’ inputs from Western automobile manufacturers to complement the findings of thisstudy.

Practical implications – The practical contribution of this study lays in the development of linkagesamong various LM success determinants. Utility of the proposed interpretive structural modeling andstructural equation modeling methodologies imposing order, direction and significance of therelationships among elements of LM success assumes considerable value to the decision-makers and LMpractitioners.

Originality/value – Building on opinions of a group of LM experts and a case study of leading auto partmanufacturers, the present study strives to model the success of LM, a topic that has received little attentionto date.