Critical success factors of lean manufacturing practices for the ...

256

Int. J. Quality and Innovation, Vol. 2, Nos. 3/4, 2014

Critical success factors of lean manufacturing practices for the Malaysian automotive manufacturers Siti Norhafizan Hibadullah* Departments of Accounting and Finance, Faculty of Management and Economics, Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris, 35900 Tanjung Malim, Perak, Malaysia Email: [email protected] *Corresponding author

Nurul Fadly Habidin Department of Management and Leadership, Faculty of Management and Economics, Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris, 35900 Tanjung Malim, Perak, Malaysia Email: [email protected]

Farah Izzaida Mohd Zamri, Nursyazwani Mohd Fuzi and Auni Fatin Nadia Chiek Desa Departments of Accounting and Finance, Faculty of Management and Economics, Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris, 35900 Tanjung Malim, Perak, Malaysia Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Abstract: Lean manufacturing (LM) and ISO 14001 are business process strategies which are employed by the group of companies to enhance their production in manufacturing and business issues. LM focus on the systematic elimination of waste and non-value added activity from the production process for improved environmental performance. This pilot study was conducted to investigate critical success factors (CSFs) towards successful LMP implementation among automotive manufacturing industry in Malaysia. The questionnaires were designed and distributed to the 50 respondents. The results of reliability analysis show that customer focus is a critical factor influencing the direct LMP implementation success. This study recommends that the future research explore the influence of LMP on environmental performance in Malaysian automotive industry.

Copyright © 2014 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

Critical success factors of lean manufacturing practices

257

Keywords: critical success factors; CSFs; lean manufacturing practice; LMP; quality initiative; continuous improvement; environmental performance; performance measurement; Toyota production system; automotive industry; environmental management system; Malaysia. Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Hibadullah, S.N., Habidin, N.F., Zamri, F.I.M., Fuzi, N.M. and Desa, A.F.N.C. (2014) ‘Critical success factors of lean manufacturing practices for the Malaysian automotive manufacturers’, Int. J. Quality and Innovation, Vol. 2, Nos. 3/4, pp.256–271. Biographical notes: Siti Norhafizan Hibadullah is a full Master’s student of Management Accounting at the Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris. Her main research interest is lean manufacturing in automotive industry. Nurul Fadly Habidin is a Lecturer at the Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris, where he teaches industrial management, management accounting and business engineering. His main research interests are lean, Six Sigma, quality/business engineering and continuous/performance process improvement. Farah Izzaida Mohd Zamri is a full Master’s student of Accounting at the Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris. Her main research interest is green lean Six Sigma in automotive industry. Nursyazwani Mohd Fuzi is a full Master’s student of Management Accounting at the Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris. Her main interest is corporate social responsibility in automotive industry. Auni Fatin Nadia Chiek Desa is a full Master’s student of Management Accounting at the Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris. Her main interest is occupational safety and health in automotive industry.

1

Introduction

Malaysian automotive sector is characterised by a domestically developed manufacturing structure geared towards the production of passenger vehicles. The sector has been heavily subsidised and protected to produce national champions and automobile components and parts suppliers. Besides that, the term automotive sector encompasses the actors involved in production of passenger vehicles and commercial vehicles including trucks, lorries, pick-ups, buses and other vehicles for commercial use. Besides that, in the ASEAN region with a large population of more than 500 million, Malaysia offers vast opportunities for global automotive and component manufacturers to establish manufacturing and distribution operations in the country (Fuzi et al., 2012). In the same way, to attract international automotive manufacturers to invest in Malaysia to improve government policies, political and economic dependability, economic essentials, well developed infrastructural facilities and an educated and skilled labour force. The rapid growth of the economy and the high purchasing power of its population have made Malaysia the largest passenger car market in ASEAN (Desa et al., 2013). At the same time, the establishment of national car projects, PROTON and PERODUA, has transformed Malaysia from a mere motor car assembler into a car manufacturer. The industry has boosted the development of engineering, auxiliary and supporting industries

258

S.N. Hibadullah et al.

and contributed to skills development and the upgrading of technological and engineering capabilities. These factors have further enhanced the attractiveness of Malaysia as a base for global automotive manufacturers. The National Automotive Policy (NAP) describe the automotive organisations need to make any substantial changes in their management systems either in system maintenance, using the equipment, continuous improvement, investment in technology and innovation (Nachiappan et al., 2009). Modern manufacturing requires that to be successful organisations must be supported by both effective and efficient maintenance. One approach to improving the performance of maintenance activities is to implement and develop a lean manufacturing practices (LMPs). The concept of LMP is a unified, comprehensive set of philosophies, rules, guidelines, tools, and techniques for improving and optimising discrete processes. In short, understanding the importance of lean manufacturing (LM), an attempt has been made to review selected literature and their research findings on LMP and their critical success factors (CSFs). Whilst the broad concept is lean development is commonly accepted, it is need to fill gaps between theory and practices, barriers and challenges, and current trends for this implementation, particularly in automotive industry. This paper is organised as follows. Section 2 discusses the CSFs of LMP and previous studies related to the implementation of LMP and discuss the barriers to implement LMP. Section 3 discusses the methodology. Section 4 analyses the results. Section 5 concludes with implications of the study.

2

Literature review

2.1 Lean manufacturing practices Womack and Jones (2003) on his books The Machine That Changed the World and Lean Thinking presents that principles and practices related to LM. A lean system provides what is needed, in the amount needed, and when it is needed. The principal focus of LM concentrates on value added process flow. For a process to have value added flow, there must be an uninterrupted adding to a product or service as it being created. Interruptions or non-value added activities found in the process, such as downtime, rework, waiting, and inspection, must be eliminated. In a lean process, the value added time in the process equals more than 25% of the total lead time of that process. According to the Yang et al. (2010) prior knowledge capacity related to just in time (JIT) flow activities for example value stream mapping and ISO 14001 quality certification experiences might be relevant to the organisational efforts of environmental wastes. Besides that, Nordin et al. (2011) pointed out that ultimate goal of a lean organisation is to create a smooth and high quality organisation that is able to produce finished products concerning the customers demand in the quality looked for zero waste. However, in reality, many companies are not able to transform themselves to a LM organisation towards creating the world class companies. Concisely, effective organisations realise that devising new methods to cut production costs, improve quality, speed assembly, and increase throughput are vital to staying competitive. Lean techniques enhance the effectiveness of quality management. One of the critical aspects is the realisation that working hard to keep things simple saves money.

Critical success factors of lean manufacturing practices

259

LM enhances company performance by focusing on the reduction of waste. Effective quality management process improvement efforts involve LMP (Jaaron and Backhouse, 2012). CSFs are very important in ensuring the successful of lean implementation and to avoid the failure risk such as will create lost to organisation’s cost, time and employee’s effort (Hamid, 2011). The CSFs approach has been widely adopted and used in a variety of different fields of study to determine key factors which are essential to the success of any programme or technique. For example, Achanga et al. (2006) has classified four CSFs of lean in SMEs, namely; leadership and management, skills and expertise, finance, and culture of the continuous improvement. Abdullah (2003) developed the lean performance model for steel manufacturing company. This was formed by using the CSFs of lean which was then used to measure performance of lean implementation. Seven elements were used to measure the performance of lean in the firm. The elements are cellular manufacturing, continuous improvement, JIT, production smoothing, standardisation of work, total productive maintenance, and other waste reduction techniques. However, only a few studies were found within the context of Malaysian healthcare industry. Shazali et al. (2013), for example, explored the CSFs of lean implementation in healthcare industries. The pilot study involving 161 companies covered four CSFs for lean implementation, namely; leadership, employee involvement (EI), organisational culture and customer focus (CF). Based on the review of the previous studies, the authors have summarised success factors to be as follows: leadership, structured improvement procedure, quality information and analysis, supplier relationship, JIT, CF, and focus in metric. Most of these factors were adopted and adapted based on LM study (Shah and Ward, 2007; Li et al., 2005; On, 2006; Zu et al., 2008). Although these studies produced different results such as critical factor, they actually discovered a common set of practices that is required for the success of lean implementation. The LMP consists of the five major constructs [supplier management (SM), EI, JIT, CF, and statistical process control (SPC)] to be critical for LMP implementation in automotive industries. Implementation of the LMP requires development and definition of the important elements. These important elements are described and defined as below.

2.2 Critical success factor 2.2.1 Supplier management In the context of SM for lean implementation in automotive industry, the ability of suppliers to perform direct or indirect functions depends on how many activities and resources. This is because the evaluation of each supplier’s relationship context needs to be supported by some kind of auditing of that suppliers network of suppliers, clients and other partners (Roseira et al., 2012). In relation to this, automotive firm should have sustainable and continuous improvement efforts on their relationship with the supplier in order to improve competitive advantage (Lee, 2004; Hibadullah et al., 2013b).

260

S.N. Hibadullah et al.

2.2.2 Employee involvement Referred to the previous study, related issues of EI explore the study in automotive industry such as study by Maurer et al. (2008) showed that EI in learning and development activity has become of increasing interest in behaviour for a great variety of important reasons ranging from employee effectiveness and career advancement to employee organisational commitment and job satisfaction. Besides that, Basu et al. (2002) believed that the commitment of the organisation, the involvement and participation of second level managers prominently affected the accomplishment of the objective of strategic information system planning. Obviously, the higher the degree of commitment and involvement is, the more possibility that one accomplish the strategic objective. Thus, Lin (2006) emphasised that EI enhanced the employees working objectives, their identification toward the organisation and performance improvement work.

2.2.3 Just in time An inventory strategy companies use to increase efficiency and decrease waste by receiving goods, thereby reducing inventory costs (Zamri et al., 2013). Besides that, JIT implementation leads to higher profit and contribution margins and lower variable cost. Adding up to this point, other empirical study states that, JIT has significant positive relationship to profitability (Fullerton et al., 2003; Hibadullah et al., 2013a), competitive performance (Matsui, 2007), lead time performance (Ward and Zhou, 2006), process flexibility (Swink et al., 2005), delivery performance (Li et al., 2005), financial performance (Claycomb et al., 1999), and operational performance (Pont et al., 2008). This is because, the ultimate goal of JIT is to produce a good or a service without waste and make processes more efficient. This goal is approached by testing each step in a process to determine, however it adds value to the product or to the service.

2.2.4 Customer focus Another key aspect to successful LMP implementation is CF. Focusing on customer need and satisfaction should be the most important practice for implementing quality initiatives (On, 2006; Antony and Fergusson, 2004; Antony et al., 2005; Sujar et al., 2008; Zakuan, 2009). Therefore, organisations must be aware and responsible about listening to the voice of the customers (Habidin and Yusof, 2013; Habidin and Yusof, 2012; Ahmad et al., 2007; Snee and Gardner, 2008), fulfil customers’ need and expectations (Fullerton and Wempe, 2009; Sodikoglu and Zehir, 2010), and predict customer demand (Shah and Ward, 2007). Moreover, Mihelis et al. (2001) examined that customer satisfaction measurement provides a sense of achievement and accomplishment for all employees involved in any stage of the customer service process. In this way, satisfaction measurement motivates people to perform and achieve higher levels of productivity.

Critical success factors of lean manufacturing practices

261

2.2.5 Statistical process control That the deployment of SPC within production environments would improve quality, productivity, and costs is a generally accepted manufacturing phenomenon. The application of SPC provides information that helps to control management by process and decision making through the use of statistical tools and techniques (Basu, 2009; Habidin and Yusof, 2012). This argument is also supported by Zakuan et al. (2009) who stated that analysis of information facilitates management to make effective decision in managing quality. Thus, the important of this information allows management to make effective decisions in managing quality.

2.3 Barriers and challenges to implement LMP According to Thomas et al. (2009) there are several factors that can hinder the success of lean implementation. It includes the lack of intellectual and financial capabilities, complex implementation, and the cost of reconfiguration machine to implement lean initiatives. This also includes the lack of SPC method and data analysis application that due to lack of knowledge, insufficient statistical data, and ineffective and limited use of tools and techniques. O’Rourke (2005) pointed out that the barriers to implementing lean thinking is resistance to change, lack of integrated business strategy, weak organisational culture, budget and time constraints, getting the right people and the right project, the implementation of unique internal organisation, and the process of selecting candidates for black belt. This is because cultural changes in operating and managing up this process require a structured method of stimulation or continuous improvement programme. Proudlove et al. (2008) have also identified the barriers to lean implementation such as unclear links between among business strategies, lack of well-designed process, deficiencies in the measurements, and lack of organisation support in the restructuring project. Thus, to overcome these barriers, several actions could be taken to ensure smooth operation and success of the LMP initiatives. Managers and employees need to work with commitment, support, motivation, complete preparation of knowledge, resources, education, training, and empowerment in handling and solving problems. These are the important elements in the success of LMP implementation in the organisation (Darabi et al., 2012). In addition, other factors should also be taken into account for smooth implementation of the LMP, one of them is that manager must play an important role in aspects of communication to every employee in presenting the issues, problems and information (Kumar et al., 2006). Table 1 show a summary of findings on some of relevent studies on barriers in LMP implementation. Table 1

Barriers and challenges of lean implementation

Authors

Focus of research

Main findings and critical success factors

Jiju et al. (2005)

Strengths and weaknesses of SMEs, Six Sigma projects and lean

Achanga et al. (2006)

Critical success factors for Leadership; management; finance; lean implementation in SMEs organisational culture; skills and expertise

Management involvement and participation; linking Six Sigma to customers; linking Six Sigma to business strategy

262

S.N. Hibadullah et al.

Table 1

Barriers and challenges of lean implementation (continued)

Authors

Focus of research

Main findings and critical success factors

Kumar et al. (2009)

Quality improvement initiatives, Six Sigma and lean

Management involvement and commitment; communication; link quality initiative to employee; cultural change; education and training

Yang and Yuyu (2010)

Barriers to SMEs implementation of lean

Attention and involvement of senior managers; good communication platform; learning organisations; establishment of performance evaluation system

Vienazindiene and Ciarniene (2013)

Barriers to implementation of Preparation and motivation of people; roles in the change process; methodologies for change; lean environment for change

3

Methodology

In the LMP questionnaires, questions were divided into various sections, starting with some general information (type of product, quality award, etc.) and then focusing on CSFs (SM, EI, JIT, CF, and SPC). To evaluate questionnaires were e-mailed and reviewed by LM expert from local and international academic and practitioner. The questionnaires were modified based on their comments. The data was obtained by using questionnaires that was mailed to top management in Malaysian automotive suppliers such as general manager/chief executive director, and quality assurance/quality control manager. The questionnaires were e-mailed to 50 companies of automotive suppliers. They are chosen because they have an experience in conducting research in manufacturing practices implementation. For the first mailing, 35 questionnaires were sent out. But after two weeks, only eight were returned completed. The response rate was considered low around 22.86%. In order to increase the response rate, the researcher makes reminder telephone calls periodically to persuade them to fill up the questionnaire. After makes the reminder telephone reminder, the response rate was increased 8.6% from 8 respondents to 11 respondents. The remaining of questionnaires was distributed to suppliers automotive in PROTON Tanjung Malim plant. The data collection method of convenience sampling was applied. This is because this approach was very saving in terms of costing and timing. It was proven effective as it achieved 100% response rate because the questionnaire were self administered. In conclusion, during the data collection period between August 2013 until the end of September 2013, as many as 50 questionnaire were distributed to top management in Malaysian automotive suppliers, and 27 completed from received giving the response rate of 54.0%. This study used the seven-Likert scale, representative a range from very low equal to 1 to very high equal to 7 which has been used by management researchers before (Habidin et al., 2012).

3.1 Validity and reliability According to classical citation on Cronbach’s alpha, Cronbach (1951) has identified thousands of investigations report that are based on measurement must be concerned with

Critical success factors of lean manufacturing practices

263

the accuracy or dependability. A reliability coefficient demonstrates whether the test designer was correct in expecting a certain collection of items to yield interpretable statements about individual differences (Kelley, 1942). Result of the reliability tests of LMP constructs is between 0.848 until 0.769 (refer Table 2). The Cronbach’s for all constructs in this study was larger than 0.700, indicating an acceptable level of reliability of the constructs. This result is supported by Deewar et al. (1980). They examined the measurement reliability based on Nunnally (1978) criterion that is 0.7 for minimum acceptable value (exploratory research), Cronbach alpha 0.8 for basic research and Cronbach alphas 0.9 for research on very critical issues. The results of reliability analysis show that five CSFs are valid and reliable for measurement CSFs of LMP in Malaysian automotive industry. This can be attributed to the fact that all the questionnaire items were either adopted or adapted from published journals or articles that have been empirically tested or conceptualised. Table 2

Reliability analysis of the LMP constructs

Factor

Number of item

Cronbach alpha

Supplier management

5

0.821

Employee involvement

6

0.808

Just in time

5

0.825

Customer focus

6

0.769

Statistical process control

5

0.844

Table 3 Factor

Mean perception of CSFs by degree of LMP constructs Mean

Standard deviation

Average mean

Average SD

Rank

1.066

2

1.087

3

Supplier management SM1

5.44

1.09

SM2

4.81

1.08

SM3

5.14

0.94

SM4

4.96

1.01

SM5

5.19

1.21

5.111

Employee involvement EI1

5.30

1.23

EI2

4.48

0.97

EI3

5.33

1.21

EI4

4.96

1.02

EI5

4.63

1.04

EI6

5.11

1.05

4.969

264 Table 3 Factor

S.N. Hibadullah et al. Mean perception of CSFs by degree of LMP constructs (continued) Mean

Standard deviation

Average mean

Average SD

Rank

0.770

4

1.015

1

0.692

5

Just in time JIT1

4.85

0.66

JIT2

5.11

0.97

JIT3

5.11

0.80

JIT4

4.89

0.70

JIT5

4.85

0.72

4.963

Customer focus CF1

5.44

1.09

CF2

5.19

0.92

CF3

4.93

1.00

CF4

5.22

1.01

CF5

5.30

1.10

CF6

5.11

0.97

5.198

Statistical process control SPC1

5.00

0.78

SPC2

5.11

0.80

SPC3

4.74

0.53

SPC4

4.78

0.58

SPC5

4.85

0.77

Figure 1

4.896

CSFs of LMP implementation in Malaysian automotive industry (see online version for colours)

Notes: SM – supplier management, EI – employee involvement, JIT – just in time, CF – customer focus, SPC – statistical process control.

Critical success factors of lean manufacturing practices

265

Table 3 showed the result of the CSFs of LMP implementation in Malaysian automotive industry. The various means for the perception of importance were analysed. The overall mean for each factor was obtained to investigate the level of LMP perceived by respondents. These mean values range from 4.896 to 5.198 was better at LMP level. The two highest CSFs were CF (5.198) and SM (5.111). The next CSFs were EI (4.969) and JIT (4.963). On the other hand, SPC (4.896) was the less practiced the CSFs perceived by the respondents.

4

Result and discussion

4.1 Profile of the respondents From the 50 questionnaires distributed, and received feedback from 27 respondents (54%), all from automotive sector. The questionnaires were filled in by: top management or quality assurance manager. About 59% of the respondents have been certified for more than six years. The companies also reported that they practiced other quality systems such as ISO 9000 (44%) and OHSAS (11%) besides ISO 14001 and about 52% of the companies had more than 300 employees.

4.2 Discussion The discussion about degree of perception of LMP practices are determined from these criteria obtained from it. CF is viewed by the automotive manufacturers as the most crucial factor that would be sustained. In order to satisfy customer requirements, responsiveness of the customer is crucial to sustain in competitive environment. This is strongly supported by Christopher (2000) stated that ability of meeting demands for customer in shorter delivery times and struggling the peaks and troughs of demand becomes critical. Besides that, today’s competitive environment can be stated as fulfilling the individual customer needs to obtain competitive advantage which is resulted incremental product variety. Moreover supply chain integration would be notable point in this condition since that plays critical role in customer responsiveness. Better customer satisfaction and market understanding depends on some components such as demand forecasting, inventory and responsive supply chain (You and Grossmann, 2008). Based on the observations made by respondents, SM achieved values over the acceptability level of 4.969 (see Table 3). Respondents agreed that it is important for automotive manufacturers to sustain SM in order to manage and control the use of vendor during the production process occur. SM is often limited to a few suppliers (Shah and Ward, 2007), products conformed to the specification and standard (Ahmad et al., 2007), long term relationship (Shah and Ward, 2007), close collaboration (Basu and Miroshnik, 1999; Zakuan et al., 2009), supplier selection based on quality performance and quality certified within the firms. In line with that, Abdullah et al. (2008) suggested that effective two way communication, long term relationship and commitment, as well as continuous collaboration can assist PROTON achieve their programme on supplier development. Tracey and Tan (2001), in their finding suggested that there is an impact of supplier selection and involvement on customer satisfaction and firm performance. Other study by

266

S.N. Hibadullah et al.

Kuei et al. (2001) also advocated that SM and supplier selection process has positive impact on the company performance. The next important factor for successful LMP implementation in Malaysian automotive manufacturers is EI, which is significant part of quality of life and nature (Retna and Varatharaju, 2010). Theoretically, Apostolou (2002) stated that the aim to determine the most effective option that linked to specific organisational goals. Certain key actions need to take place to be able to implement EI such as giving the employee the responsibility, training the employee to accept responsibility, communicating and giving feedback and giving rewards and recognition. Therefore, the best interest of both workers and supervisors is to increase happiness and satisfaction on the job as happy and satisfied employees are productive employees who ensure the employer’s profit and continued existence of the company and the worker’s job. The fourth most important is the JIT in the implementation of LMP. JIT is for improving the performance of activities in service contexts, where the implementation of JIT can assist to improved firm performance such as cost reduction and service improvement. It supported by Kinney and Wempe (2002) found that JIT adopters outperform non-adopters in asset turnover and profit margins. These performance are underpinned by the philosophical elements of the JIT management approach on waste reduction and system flexibility for the performance of business processes. The author also suggested further that firms practicing JIT are associated with increased profit margins as the waste reduction emphasis of JIT assist reveal activities that add no value. With the implementation of JIT, Fullerton and McWatters (2002) stated that excessive inventories are no longer allowed to mitigate these problems and the adopters of JIT are more inclined to develop cost saving solutions, thereby increasing profit margins. The organisation face challenges in implementing SPC. The challenges can be considered as barriers for organisation in implementing an effective SPC. Due to the structure of the data, SPC is viewed by the automotive manufacturers as the crucial factor that would not be sustained, easily. For Malaysian automotive industry itself, most of automotive suppliers need have good knowledge and experience to understand the seven basic tools (histogram, Pareto analysis, scatter diagrams, check sheets, control charts, flow chart, and root cause chart). The implementation of SPC is considered as important in continuous process improvement (Rahman et al., 2009; Zain et al., 2008). Recently, companies are in need of a comprehensive database composing of current quality performance, customer need and expectation, and also firm performance to achieve profitability and customer satisfaction (Zu et al., 2008). Some employees do not have enough knowledge to understand the tools and techniques of SPC that is important to analyse quality issues or problem and more effective planning. This is because, SPC is an important tool that assist employees in manufacturing process monitor, manage, and improve the process performance (Rungasamy et al., 2002) and continuous quality improvement (Rahman et al., 2009; Khorshidi et al., 2013 ). Thus, lack of knowledge and skill negatively affect the motivation of some workers. This is because the implementation of the SPC affects the way of work, work space, and work satisfaction.

5

Conclusions

Increased awareness and concerns of environmental problems has encouraged organisations to use LMP and has led organisations to confront with environmental issues

Critical success factors of lean manufacturing practices

267

in the process of their way to better OP. Besides that, CSFs for LMP strategy must consider five components: SM, EI, JIT, CF, and SPC. This study is to analyse and understand the CSFs in order to implementing LMP. Even though the study was performed in the automotive sector in Malaysia, the CSFs of LMP can be used in other sectors. The findings of this empirical study indicate which factors an organisation should consider for successful implementation of LMP. As shown in this study, LMP is a business improvement philosophy that has developed over many years such as LM tools, and it is methods to better focus in business on the true needs of the customer to assists eliminate waste from being built into system. The benefits reaped from the implementation are many, including eliminate waste, reduce time operation, reduce defect rate, reduce inventory, quality improvement, and customer satisfaction.

References Abdullah, F. (2003) Lean Manufacturing Tools and Techniques in the Process Industry with a Focus on Steel, Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Pittsburgh. Abdullah, R., Keshavlall, M. and Tatsuo, K. (2008) ‘Supplier development framework in the Malaysia automotive industry: proton’s experience’, International Journal of Economics and Management, Vol. 2, No. 1, pp.29–58. Achanga, P., Shehab, E., Roy, R. and Nelder, G. (2006) ‘Critical success factors for lean implementation within SMEs’, Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management, Vol. 17, No. 4, pp.460–471. Ahmad, M.F., Yusof, S.M. and Yusof, N.M. (2007) ‘Comparative study of quality practices between Japanese and non-Japanese based electrical and electronics companies in Malaysia: a survey’, Journal Technology, Vol. 47, No. A, pp.75–89. Antony, J. and Fergusson, C. (2004) ‘Six Sigma in the software industry: results from a pilot study’, Managerial Auditing Journal, Vol. 19, No. 8, pp.1025–1032. Antony, J., Kumar, M. and Madu, C. (2005) ‘Six sigma in small-and medium-sized UK manufacturing enterprises: some empirical observations’, International Journal of Quality and Reliability Management, Vol. 22, No. 8, pp.860–874. Apostolou, A. (January 2002) INNOREGIO: Dissemination of Innovation and Knowledge Management Techniques.D. of Production Engineering & Management, Technical University of Crete [online] http://www.urenio.org/tools/en/employee_involvement.pdf (accessed 18 September 2013). Basu, D.R. and Miroshink, V. (1999) ‘Strategic human resource management of Japanese multinasional: a case study of Japanesemultinasionalcompanies in the UK’, Journal of Management Development, Vol. 18, No. 9, pp.714–732. Basu, R. (2009) Implementing Six Sigma and Lean – A Practical Guide to Tools and Techniques, Butterworth Heinemann, Oxford. Basu, V., Hartono, E., Lederer, A.L. and Sethi, V. (2002) ‘The impact of organizational commitment, senior management involvement and team involvement on strategic information systems planning’, Information and Management, Vol. 39, No. 6, pp.513–532. Christopher, M. (2000) ‘The agile supply chain competing in volatile markets’, Industrial Marketing Management, Vol. 29, No. 1, pp.37–44. Claycomb, C., Germain, R. and Droge, C. (1999) ‘Total systems JIT outcomes: Inventory organization and financial effects’, International Journal of Physical Distribution and Logistics Management, Vol. 29, No. 10, pp.612–630. Cronbach, L.J. (1951) ‘Coefficient alpha and the internal structure of tests’, Psychometrika, Vol. 16, No. 13, pp.297–334.

268

S.N. Hibadullah et al.

Darabi, R., Moradi, R. and Toomari, U. (2012) ‘Barriers to implementation of lean accounting in manufacturing companies’, International Journal of Business and Commerce, Vol. 1, No. 9, pp.38–51. Deewar, R.D., Whetten, D.A. and Boje, D. (1980) ‘An examination of the reliability and validity of the Hage and Aiken scales of centralization, formalization, and task routineness’, Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 25, No. 1, pp.120–128. Desa, A.F.N.C., Habidin, N.F., Hibadullah, S.N., Fuzi, N.M. and Zamri, F.I.M. (2013) ‘Occupational safety and health administration (OSHA) practices and OSHA performance in Malaysian automotive industry’, Journal of Studies in Social Sciences, Vol. 4, No. 1, pp.1–15. Fullerton, R.R. and McWatters, C.S. (2002) ‘The role of performance measures and incentive systems in relation to the degree of JIT implementation’, Accounting, Organizations and Society, Vol. 27, No. 8, pp.711–735. Fullerton, R.R. and Wempe, W.F. (2009) ‘Lean manufacturing, non-financial performance measures, and financial performance’, International Journal of Operations and Production Management, Vol. 29, No. 3, pp.214–240. Fullerton, R.R., McWatters, C.S. and Fawson, C. (2003) ‘An examination of the relationship between JIT and financial performance’, Journal of Operation Management, Vol. 21, pp.383–404. Fuzi, N.M., Habidin, N.F., Desa, A.F.N.C., Hibadullah, S.N. and Zamri, F.I.M. (2012) ‘Corporate social responsibility practices (CSR) and CSR performance in Malaysian automotive industry’, International Journal of Accounting and Financial Reporting, Vol. 2, No. 2, pp.268–277. Habidin, N.F. and Yusof, S.M. (2012) ‘Relationship between lean Six Sigma, environmental management systems, organizational performance in the Malaysian automotive industry’, International Journal of Automotive Technology, Vol. 13, No. 7, pp.1119–1125. Habidin, N.F. and Yusof, S.M. (2013) ‘Critical success factors of lean six sigma for the Malaysian automotive industry’, International Journal of Lean Six Sigma, Vol. 4, No. 1, pp.60–82. Habidin, N.F., Fuzi, N.M., Desa, A.F.N.C. Hibadullah, S.N. and Zamri, F.I.M. (2012) ‘Corporate social responsibility practices (CSRP) and ISO 26000 performance efforts in Malaysian automotive industry’, International Journal of Economics, Finance and Management, Vol. 1, No. 1, pp.1–7. Hamid, R.A. (2011) ‘Factor influencing the success of lean services implementation: conceptual framework’, International Conference on Business and Economic Research Proceeding. Hibadullah, S.N., Habidin, N.F., Fuzi, N.M., Desa, A.F.N.C. and Zamri, F.I.M. (2013a) ‘Lean manufacturing practices and environmental performance in Malaysian automotive industry’, Asian Journal of Finance & Accounting, Vol. 5, No. 1, pp.462–471. Hibadullah, S.N., Habidin, N.F., Fuzi, N.M., Desa, A.F.N.C. and Zamri, F.I.M. (2013b) ‘ISO 14001 performance efforts and environmental performance in Malaysian automotive industry’, Journal of Environmental Science, Computer Science and Engineering Technology, Vol. 2, No. 1, pp.129–138. Hwang, J. and Kandampully, J. (2012) ‘The role of emotional aspects in younger consumer-brand relationships’, Journal of Product and Brand Management, Vol. 21, No. 2, pp.98–108. Jaaron, A. and Backhouse, C. (2012) ‘The effects of lean thinking on service workers value productivity: a conceptual framework’, International Journal of Quality and Innovation, Vol. 2, No. 1, pp.1–17. Jiju, A., Maneesh, K. and Christian, N.M. (2005) ‘Six sigma in small- and medium-sized UK manufacturing enterprises: some empirical observations’, The International Journal of Quality and Reliability Management, Vol. 22, Nos. 8/9, p.860. Kelley, T.L. (1942) ‘The reliability coefficient’, Psychometrical, Vol. 7, No. 2, pp.75–83.

Critical success factors of lean manufacturing practices

269

Khorshidi, H.A., Gunawan, I. and Esmaeilzadeh, F. (2013) ‘Implementation of SPC with FMEA in less-developed industries with a case study in car battery manufactory’, International Journal of Quality and Innovation, Vol. 2, No. 2, pp.148–157. Kinney, M. and Wempe, W. (2002) ‘Further evidence on the extent and origins of JIT’s profitability effects’, The Accounting Review, Vol. 77, No. 1, pp.203−225. Kuei, C.H., Madu, C.N. and Lin, C. (2001) ‘The relationship between supply chain quality management practices and organizational performance’, International Journal of Quality and Reliability Management, Vol. 18, No. 8, pp.864–872. Kumar, M., Antony, J. and Douglas, A. (2009) ‘Does size matter for Six Sigma implementation? Findings from the survey in UK SMEs’, TQM Journal, Vol. 21, No. 6, pp.623–635. Kumar, M., Antony, J., Singh, K.R., Tiwari, K.M. and Perry, D. (2006) ‘Implementing lean sigma framework in an Indian SME: a case study’, Production Planning and Control, Vol. 17, No. 4, pp.407–423. Lee, C.Y. (2004) ‘TQM in small manufacturers: an exploratory study in China’, International Journal of Quality and Reliability Management, Vol. 21, No. 2, pp.175–197. Li, S., Rao., S.S., Ragu-Nathan, T.S. and Ragu-Nathan, B. (2005) ‘Development and validation of a measurement instrument for studying supply chain management practices’, Journal of Operation Management, Vol. 23, pp.618–641. Lin, W.B. (2006) ‘The exploration of employee involvement model’, Expert Systems with Applications, Vol. 31, No. 1, pp.69–82. Matsui, Y. (2007) ‘An empirical analysis of just-in-time production in Japanese manufacturing companies’, International Journal Production Economics, Vol. 108, pp.153–164. Maurer, T.J., Lippstreu, M. and Judge, T.A. (2008) ‘Structural model of employee involvement in skill development activity: the role of individual differences’, Journal of Vocational Behavior, Vol. 72, pp.336–350. Mihelis, G., Grigoroudis, E., Siskos, Y., Politis, Y. and Malandrakis, Y. (2001) ‘Customer satisfaction measurement in the private bank sector’, European Journal of Operational Research, Vol. 130, No. 2, pp.347–360. Nachiappan, R.M., Anatharaman, N. and Muthukumar, N. (2009) ‘Integrated approach to total productive lean six sigma (TLSS) implementation in a manufacturing industry’, The Icfai University Journal of Operation Management, Vol. 8, No. 2, pp.14–35. Nordin, N., Deros, B.M. and Wahab, D.A. (2011) ‘Lean manufacturing implementation in Malaysian automotive industry: an exploratory study’, Operations And Supply Chain Management, Vol. 4, No. 1, pp.21–30. Nunnally, J.D. (1978) Psychometric Theory, 2nd ed., McGraw-Hill, New York. O’Rourke, P.M. (2005) A Multiple-case Analysis of Lean Six Sigma Deployment and Implementation Strategies, Unpublished master thesis, Air Force Institute Technology, Air University, USA. On, C.C. (2006) The Development and Application Of Six Sigma Implementation Model for HK/China Manufacturing Companies, Unpublished doctoral thesis, City University, Hong Kong. Pont, G.D., Furlan, A. and Vinelli, A. (2008) ‘Interrelationships among lean bundles and their effects on operational performance’, Operation Management Research, Vol. 1, pp.150–158. Proudlove, N., Moxham, C. and Boaden, R. (2008) ‘Lessons for lean in healthcare from using six sigma in NHS’, Public Money and Management, Vol. 28, No. 1, pp.27–34. Rahman, M.N.A., Zain, R.M., Ghani, J.A., Nopiah, Z.M., Ismail, A.R. and Rahman, S.A. (2009) ‘Barriers to implementing an online SPC system in Malaysian automotive manufacturing companies’, European Journal of Scientific Research, Vol. 30, No. 2, pp.315–325.

270

S.N. Hibadullah et al.

Retna, K.S. and Varatharaju, U. (2010) ‘Effectiveness of quality work life balance programmes: employees’ perceptions’, International Journal of Quality and Innovation, Vol. 1, No. 2, pp.97–111. Roseira, C., Brito, C. and Ford, D. (2012) Network Pictures and Supplier Management: An Empirical Study [online] online publication doi: 10.1016/j.indmarman.2012.08.006 (accessed 18 October 2013). Rungasamy, S., Antony, J. and Ghosh, S. (2002) ‘Critical success factor for SPC implementation in UK small and medium enterprises: some key findings from a survey’, The TQM Magazine, Vol. 14, No. 4, pp.217–224. Shah, R. and Ward, P.T. (2007) ‘Defining and developing measures of lean production’, Journal of Operations Management, Vol. 25, No. 4, pp.785–805. Shazali, N.A., Habidin, N.F., Ali, N., Khaidir, N.A. and Jamaludin, N.H. (2013) ‘Lean healthcare practices and healthcare performance in Malaysian healthcare industry’, International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, Vol. 3, No. 1, pp.1–5. Snee, R.D. and Gardner, E.C. (2008) ‘Putting all together-continuous improvement is better than postponed perfection’, Quality Progress, October, pp.56–59. Sodikoglu, E. and Zehir, C. (2010) ‘Investigating the effects of innovation and employee performance on the relationship between TQM practices and firm performance: an empirical study of Turkish firms’, International Journal of Production Economics, Vol. 127, No. 1, pp.13–26. Sujar, Y., Balachandran, P. and Ramasamy, N. (2008) ‘Six sigma the level of quality characteristics-a study on Indian software industries’, International Journal of Management, Vol. 2, No. 1, pp.17–27. Swink, M., Narasimhan, R. and Kim, S.W. (2005) ‘Manufacturing practices and strategy integration: effects on cost efficiency, flexibility, and market-based performance’, Decision Sciences, Vol. 36, No. 3, pp.427–457. Thomas, A., Barton, R. and Chuke-Okafor, C. (2009) ‘Applying lean six sigma in small engineering company – a model change’, Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management, Vol. 20, No. 1, pp.113–129. Tracey, M. and Tan, C.L. (2001) ‘Empirical analysis of supplier selection and involvement, customer satisfaction, and firm performance’, Supplier Chain Management: An international Journal, Vol. 7, No. 4, pp.174–188. Vienazindiene, M. and Ciarniene, R. (2013) ‘Lean manufacturing implementation and progress measurement’, Economics and Management, Vol. 18, No. 2, pp.366–373. Ward, P. and Zhou, H. (2006) ‘Impact of information technology integration and lean/just-in-time practices on lead time performance’, Decision Sciences, Vol. 37, No. 2, pp.177–203. Womack, J.P. and Jones, D.T. (2003) Lean Thinking: Banish Waste and Create Wealth in Your Corporation, 2nd ed., Free Press, New York. Yang and Yuyu (2010) ‘The barriers to SMEs’ implementation of lean production and countermeasures-based on SMEs in Wenzhou’, International Journal of Innovation, Management and Technology, Vol. 1, No. 2, pp.220–225. Yang, C., Lin, S., Chan, Y. and Sheu, C. (2010) ‘Mediated effect of environmental management on manufacturing competitiveness: an empirical study’, International Journal of Production Economics, Vol. 123, No. 1, pp.210–220. You, F. and Grossmann, I.E. (2008) ‘Design of responsive supply chains under demand uncertainty’, Design of Responsive Supply Chains under Demand Uncertainty, Elsevier, Vol. 32, No. 12, pp 3090–3111. Zain, R.M., Ab Rahman, M.N., Nopiah, Z.M., Ghani, J.A., Deros, B.M. and Mohamad, N. (2008) ‘Case studied the implementation of statistical process control in Malaysian manufacturing SMEs’, Seminar on Engineering Mathematics, pp.70–79.

Critical success factors of lean manufacturing practices

271

Zakuan, N.M. (2009) Structural Analysis of Total Quality Management, ISO/TS 16949 and Organizational Performance in Malaysian and Thailand Automotive Industry, Unpublished Doctoral dissertation thesis, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Universiti Technology Malaysia, Malaysia. Zamri, F.I.M., Hibadullah, S.N., Fuzi, N.M., Desa, A.F.N.C. and Habidin, N.F. (2013) ‘Green lean six sigma and financial performance in Malaysian automotive industry’, Business Management and Strategy, Vol. 4, No. 1, pp.97–105. Zu, X., Fredenhall, L.D. and Douglas, T. (2008) ‘The evolving theory of quality management: the role of six sigma’, Journal of Operation Management, Vol. 26, pp.630–650.