Title: Analysis of lean manufacturing in Indian automotive sector: an empirical study

Authors: Arun Arora; Mahipal Singh; Jai Inder Preet Singh; Vijay Kumar Singh

Addresses: Lloyd Business School, Greater Noida, India ' School of Mechanical Engineering, Lovely Professional University, Phagwara, India ' School of Mechanical Engineering, Lovely Professional University, Phagwara, India ' Talbros India Private Limited, Faridabad, India

Abstract: The competitive pressure and customer demands are enforcing the companies to re-evaluate their business setups to stay and compete in marketplace globally. Therefore, identifying and grasping lean concepts, principles, tools, and practices in an Indian automotive sector are the main purpose of the study. This research aims are to measure the lean understanding and prospects for lean fulfilment for lean operations benefits. A self-designed questionnaire prepared after a thorough literature review. The information was gathered through online data gathering from 500 respondents via purposive sampling technique. The collected data was analysed through an independent sample T-test, paired sample T-test and descriptive statistics. According to the findings, the Indian automotive sectors must focus more on lean thinking to improve efficiency and competitiveness. When it comes to the industry's grasp of lean systems, it's more about ISO 9001 certifications that have lean-like similarities than the basic concept of lean systems.

Keywords: lean operations; lean understanding; lean manufacturing; automotive sector; India.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSSCA.2026.154299

International Journal of Six Sigma and Competitive Advantage, 2026 Vol.15 No.4, pp.371 - 388

Received: 20 Aug 2024
Accepted: 27 Jun 2025
Published online: 19 Jun 2026 *

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