Lean-as-imagined differs from lean-as-done: the influence of complexity

Abstract

Lean production has been more and more applied in systems with various levels of complexity, which tends to create a gap between Lean-as-Imagined (LAI) in design and Lean-as-Done (LAD) in practice. This paper presents a framework for investigating the influence of complexity on that gap. The framework was applied in a nine-month study in a large plant of a transnational auto-parts manufacturer in Brazil. Three main sources of data were used: 21 interviews, around 196 hours of observations, and documents. Twenty-two examples of the gap are presented; each example is analysed in terms of what LAI and LAD look like, lean principles involved, mechanisms by which complexity influences the gap, and practical implications. Findings suggest that resilience arising from the self-organization of employees, which is a manifestation of complexity, plays an important role for the implementation of lean production. In addition, the framework’s contribution to leanness assessment is discussed. Four research propositions to be tested in future studies are also presented.

Keywords:

• Lean production
• complexity
• socio-technical systems
• resilience
• manufacturing systems

Acknowledgements

The authors are thankful to the company studied as well as to the interviewed employees.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This study was partly funded by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior – Brasil (CAPES) – Finance Code 001.

Notes on contributors

Marlon Soliman

Marlon Soliman has a BSc in Chemical Engineering (2013), MSc in Industrial Engineering (2014), and PhD in Industrial Engineering (2018). His main research interests are related to lean production and operations management. He has experience as an instructor in outreach courses on lean production offered to practitioners both at the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) and in-company. At the time this research was conducted, he was a regular PhD student at the Industrial Engineering Post-Graduation Program at UFRGS. He is now an Adjunct Professor at the Universidade Federal de Santa Maria (UFSM, Brazil).

Tarcisio Abreu Saurin

Tarcisio Abreu Saurin is an Associate Professor at the Industrial Engineering Department, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil). He has a BS in Civil Engineering, MS in Construction Management, and PhD in Industrial Engineering. He was a visiting scholar at the University of Salford (UK) and at Macquarie University, at the Australian Institute of Health Innovation. His main research interests are related to the modelling and management of complex socio-technical systems, lean production, resilience engineering, and safety management. He has carried out research and consulting projects on these topics mostly in healthcare, construction, and manufacturing industries.