Title: An ISM approach for lean implementation barriers in labour intensive Indian ceramic SMEs

Authors: Jagdish Bhadu; Jaiprakash Bhamu; Dharmendra Singh; Kuldip Singh Sangwan

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Government Engineering College Bikaner, Rajasthan, 334004, India ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Government Engineering College Bikaner, Rajasthan, 334004, India ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Government Engineering College Bikaner, Rajasthan, 334004, India ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, Rajasthan, 333031, India

Abstract: Worldwide challenges and competition have urged manufacturing industries and organisations to upgrade their proficiency by implementing lean concept. A demographically suitable and reliable structural model of lean barriers has been developed, through which industries can increase their effectiveness of lean practices in labour intensive SMEs. Twelve critical barriers to lean implementation extracted from literature were analysed and validated after discussion with industrial experts/academicians. Interpretive structural modelling (ISM) technique was employed to observe the relationship amongst the barriers and fuzzy MICMAC analysis was performed to identify a model based on hierarchy of these barriers. The results revealed that 'lack of top management commitment and leadership' and 'resistance to change and adopt innovations' as the most critical barriers. The observations of this analysis thus may be considered as a realistic orientation to present scientific and administrative solutions and a road map to improve the lean implementation in context of Indian ceramic SMEs.

Keywords: lean manufacturing; ceramic industries; barriers; interpretive structural modelling technique; ISM; fuzzy MICMAC analysis; labour intensive; small and medium scale enterprises; SMEs.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPQM.2022.122292

International Journal of Productivity and Quality Management, 2022 Vol.35 No.3, pp.281 - 307

Received: 15 Jun 2020
Accepted: 03 Oct 2020
Published online: 19 Apr 2022 *

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