A bottom-up lean implementation study at a Malaysian automotive parts manufacturer

摘要

The aim of this research was to investigate shop floor employees’ involvement(including supervisory staffs) in lean implementation or Kaizen activities at a Malaysianautomotive parts manufacturer leading in lean; and to propose a bottom-up leanconceptual model and its implementation roadmap to provoke involvement of shopfloor employees in Kaizen. The research was carried out in five phases. First, the focusareas of Kaizen at Toyota and the critical success factors that would influence theextent of shop floor employees’ involvement in Kaizen activities were identified vialiterature review. Second, a case study was carried out at a Malaysian automotiveparts manufacturer (known as Company A) with 7-years of intensive lean experience.The research data were collected via a semi-structured interview with the LeanCoordinator of the company, and a survey which addressed to different levels ofinternal stakeholder from top management to operators. Third, analyses on the extentof shop floor employees’ Kaizen involvement at Company A and the influences of eachcritical success factor were carried out. Fourth, a bottom-up lean conceptual modeland its implementation roadmap incorporating the critical success factors weredeveloped. Fifth, the proposed lean model and its implementation roadmap werevalidated by lean experts from both academia and industry. As a result, the studyfound the shop floor employees’ extent of involvement in Kaizen at Company A waslow. The identified critical success factors namely F1 – top management’scommitment; F2 – shop floor employees’ commitment and technical capability; F3 – thestage of lean transformation; and F4 – shop floor responsibilities assignment werefound to have significant influence on the extent of ‘Employee Involvement’. Beingawarded as a Model Company in Malaysian automotive industry, Company A had yetto commence their transition to bottom-up approach phase in their lean journeyalthough they had already enjoyed the early benefits of lean. The proposed modelwould thus serve as a general guideline to help the company or the Malaysianautomotive industry in large in bottom-up approach lean implementation.