Title: Lean practices for consummating competitive priorities in SMEs: a critical review

Authors: Sachin Saini; Doordarshi Singh

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, I.K. Gujral Punjab Technical University, Kapurthala-144603, Punjab, India ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Baba Banda Singh Bahadur Engineering College, Fatehgarh Sahib-140407, Punjab, India

Abstract: Fierce competition in the present business world has necessitated the adoption of lean practices for survival in business. To retain their market share, small and medium enterprises have to eradicate waste to attain competitive priorities. A detailed review of 103 lean stories has revealed diverse practices based on region, size and type of the sector. The focus here is on identifying the best lean practices. The study, split into five parts: 1) lean tenets; 2) lean manufacturing practices in SMEs; 3) comparison table of lean practices; 4) classification of lean practices in model form; 5) barriers to lean practices, will help to identify the best lean practices to achieve competitive priorities especially in developing countries. In case of barricades, the management has a pivotal role to play in transforming the organisation to lean practices which make it viable to attain competitive priorities such as productivity, cost, quality, delivery, safety, morale and financial performance.

Keywords: lean manufacturing; LM; lean production; literature review; lean practices; small and medium enterprises; SMEs.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBCRM.2018.092916

International Journal of Business Continuity and Risk Management, 2018 Vol.8 No.2, pp.106 - 123

Received: 28 Oct 2017
Accepted: 28 Mar 2018
Published online: 02 Jul 2018 *

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