Dependencies within Dimensions of Lean Manufacturing: Evidence from the Chinese Manufacturing Plants

摘要

This paper investigates the lean manufacturing practice in various Chinese industries, emphasizing the pattern of dependencies among dimensions of lean manufacturing. We follow earlier work using data obtained from lean assessment of 65 manufacturing plants in China. Factor analysis shows that two factors are sufficient to represent lean manufacturing dimensions: factor 1 captures people and organizational processes at the tactical and operational levels and factor 2 represents process design and strategic level decision-making. In addition, cluster analysis shows that the majority of plants within the same industry are grouped within the same cluster. The dependencies analysis within the sub-dimensions of lean manufacturing shows high dependencies for the task of quality control done by operators as opposed to engineering specialists and on-time delivery performance. We find similar results with the published research on Chinese manufacturing practices and performances.