Title: Model for spotting and eliminating non-value adding activities: a theoretical foundation for applying lean strategies in conventional manufacturing engineering organisations

Authors: D. Ramesh Kumar; S.R. Devadasan; D. Elangovan

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Adithya Institute of Technology, Coimbatore, 641107, India ' Department Production Engineering, PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore, 641004, India ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, PSG Institute of Technology and Applied Research, Coimbatore, 641062, India

Abstract: During the past three decades, manufacturing organisations have been implementing lean manufacturing paradigm to acquire competitive strength. Yet, researchers have been reporting the failure of the efforts made to implement lean manufacturing paradigm in conventional manufacturing engineering companies. Hence, a need has arisen to spot non-value adding activities (NVAAs) and to eliminate them in conventional manufacturing engineering companies. In this background, the research reported in this paper was carried out in which a model named as spotting and eliminating NVAAs in manufacturing engineering organisations (SENIM) was designed. The details of designing SENIM model and the steps to be followed to implement the same are presented in this article. The article is concluded by claiming that the implementation of SENIM model will enable the conventional manufacturing engineering companies to successfully implement lean manufacturing paradigm and acquire competitive strength.

Keywords: lean manufacturing; non-value adding activities; NVAAs; waste elimination; just in time; JIT; Toyota Production System; TPS.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSOM.2023.129466

International Journal of Services and Operations Management, 2023 Vol.44 No.3, pp.408 - 425

Received: 19 Feb 2020
Accepted: 21 Jan 2021

Published online: 10 Mar 2023 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article