Question

Write a report discussing the effect of implementing Lean Operations on performance. This assessment should be written and structured in the form of a business report.

Your report should include the following key elements:.

A brief description and overview of the topic selected. This section may include examples, case studies or vignettes from real life operations that are sourced from both the academic (e.g. journal papers, manuscripts) and non-academic (e.g. economist, business week etc.) literatures. Note, you may also decide to focus in on one key aspect of Lean Operations, one key sector, if you wish to.

An analysis of the topic regarding their contribution to the performance of operations. In particular, I expect to see a synthesis of empirical evidence that is available in the existing academic and practitioner literature. Please note that this evidence can be either quantitative or qualitative (I do not have a preference as long as the evidence is robust). Note, you may decide to focus on one key aspect of performance or multiple measures of performance.

Strong analysis may also include contextual factors. For example, you might find that the performance effect of lean (or some aspect of lean) is affected by firm size, country, organizational culture, customer characteristics, approach to implementation, etc. Your work could present evidence for this and a discussion of the reasons for the contingency effect.

A summary and conclusion based on your findings.

Sources:

Your analysis will be based on background reading and you should provide references from academic as well as practitioner articles to justify your assumptions and statements. Your reading could possibly include but not necessarily be limited to the following suggested Journals:

Journal of Operations Management

International Journal of Operations and Production Management

Journal of Supply Chain Management

Production and Operations Management

Sloan Management Review

Harvard Business Review

International Journal of Production Economics

International Journal of Production Research

…

Typically the more evidence the better, however, I would expect a minimum of 10 academic references to be used in this report. You may also find it helpful to read the Lean chapter in the core textbook as a start for this piece of work.

Answer 1

With the focus of reduction of Muda, Muri and Mura in a manufacturing or a services industry, lean systems is the most optimal and effective approach. Obtaining the right balance of the waste reduction as well as the production excellence is critical for the lean system implementation.

For ex: In services industry the quick service restaurants have the best example of the Mc Donalds. With the most effective system with lowest level of wastage in terms of the produced inventory & packing material, the lowest level of unevenness in production -there exists the global standards for the MC Donalds products and the products are all of the same quality ( size / weight/ calorific value) across different franchisee; and the lowest overburdening of the resources- both human and material. The resources are being effectively utilised and there is clear segregation of duties with , focus on high productivity with no bottlenecks in the network/ system.