Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate lean tools correlation, interactions and implementation in manufacturing industry at multinational corporation and its impact on operational performance.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper used a survey questionnaire based on previous work done in the US industry. The questionnaire was distributed to 340 firms in 11 countries in the MENA region. These firms are multinational companies operating in this region post-2001, i.e. Greenfield manufacturing facilities. Total usable responses were 139 from 340 contacted by emails and phone, whereas 15 were face-to-face. The survey included 139 companies of which 66 companies were from North America, 40 from Europe and the rest were from South-East Asia (mainly Japan and South Korea).

Findings

Multinational manufacturing companies in MENA region are at an advanced level of lean implementation. Results present a detailed analysis of the top 16 lean practices and their impact on 15 operational performance metrics. In addition, the results also reveal a correlation and grouping/bundling of the 16 lean tools and their direct influence on the top 8 operational metrics.

Research limitations/implications

Because the sample size only includes multinational companies operating in MENA region, the countries’ social, economic and political issues will directly influence them. For example, some of the countries have no or very weak unions, whereas other countries give the power to the organizations to force restrictions and guidelines that cannot be followed by other organizations. Therefore, the results need to be considered with caution.

Originality/value

Research about lean implementation in MENA region is rare, although few companies implemented lean since day one of their establishment. This research paper provides operations managers and practitioners with a guide that links lean tools implementation to operational performance metrics objectives with more depth and breadth in comparison with previous empirical studies on the topic.

中文翻译：

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精益制造与绩效指标的一致性跨国公司案例研究

目的

本文的目的是调查跨国公司制造业中精益工具的相关性、相互作用和实施及其对运营绩效的影响。

设计/方法/方法

本文使用了一份基于美国工业界以往工作的调查问卷。问卷分发给中东和北非地区 11 个国家的 340 家公司。这些公司是 2001 年后在该地区运营的跨国公司，即新建的制造设施。通过电子邮件和电话联系的 340 个中的可用回复总数为 139 个，而 15 个是面对面的。该调查包括 139 家公司，其中 66 家来自北美，40 家来自欧洲，其余来自东南亚（主要是日本和韩国）。

发现

中东和北非地区的跨国制造公司在精益实施方面处于先进水平。结果详细分析了前 16 项精益实践及其对 15 个运营绩效指标的影响。此外，结果还揭示了 16 个精益工具的相关性和分组/捆绑，以及它们对前 8 个运营指标的直接影响。

研究限制/影响

由于样本量仅包括在中东和北非地区经营的跨国公司，这些国家的社会、经济和政治问题将直接影响它们。例如，一些国家没有工会或工会非常薄弱，而其他国家则赋予组织强制执行其他组织无法遵循的限制和指导方针的权力。因此，需要谨慎考虑结果。

原创性/价值

尽管很少有公司从成立之日起就实施了精益，但关于中东和北非地区精益实施的研究很少。与之前关于该主题的实证研究相比，本研究论文为运营经理和从业者提供了一份指南，将精益工具的实施与运营绩效指标目标联系起来，具有更大的深度和广度。