۱- Introduction

۲- Literature review

۳- Research methodology

۴- Results, analysis, and discussion

۵- Concluding remarks, limitations, and future research

References

Abstract

Little is known about the effects of lean manufacturing practices on the process innovation performance of manufacturing organisations. This research aims to fill this gap and explore the aforementioned interdependency. A research framework consisting of 22 measurement scales and three pairs of hypotheses was developed based on an extensive literature review. A large-scale self-administered questionnaire was distributed among appropriately selected industrial experts. Datasets obtained from 340 usable responses were analysed through confirmatory factor analysis, descriptive statistics, correlations, and multiple linear regression models. The findings suggest that both technical and human lean practices have a moderate to strong positive impact on the input and occurrence of incremental and radical process innovation in manufacturing organisations. In turn, as an output of process innovation, this appears to enhance companies’ operational performance. Thereby, the results dispel the scholarly and managerial misconception that LM and innovation are difficult to coexist.

Introduction

Over the last 30 years, lean manufacturing (LM) has provided some of the most popular and effective practices and tools for striving towards operational excellence (Albliwi, Antony, & Lim, 2015). In essence, LM aims to eliminate any non-value-adding activities through continuous incremental improvements (Abolhassani, Layfield, & Gopalakrishnan, 2016). Global megatrends have accelerated the pace of technological developments, increasing the importance of dynamic operations (Westkämper, 2014). In this environment, merely optimising the exploitation of innovation is not enough. Companies are challenged to enhance their explorative innovation capabilities to ensure sustainable competitive advantages (Chen & Huang, 2009; Kafetzopoulos, Gotzamani, & Gkana, 2015). In addition to managing existing products and services, they must incrementally and radically innovate in technology and processes to outpace global competition (Westkämper, 2014). On one hand, exploitation and exploration seem contradictory (Berente & Lee, 2014; Jones & Linderman, 2014; Pakdil & Leonard, 2017). By principle, standardised lean environments appear to be the opposite of increased worktime flexibility and colourful creativity rooms. Similarly, structured and streamlined workflows associated with LM seemingly contradict the need of freedom to innovate. Pakdil and Leonard (2017) outline a paradox of LM: while employees are encouraged to continuously innovate autonomously, guidelines and work regulations provide strict rules for their operations. Spear and Bowen (1999) also describe the Toyota Production system as a paradox between rigid processes and flexible responsiveness. Jones and Linderman (2014) call this a trade-off between innovation and efficiency of manufacturing plants. However, LM is centred on improvement (Jasti & Kodali, 2015), and increasing innovativeness is occasionally presented as an important mechanism for LM (Lyons, Vidamour, Jain, & Sutherland, 2013). In addition, various human resource (HR) oriented LM practices (e.g. diverse training, teamwork, and flatter hierarchies) (Olivella, Cuatrecasas, & Gavilan, 2008) are often listed among general attributes of innovation fostering environments (Dul & Ceylan, 2014; Fiates, Fiates, Serra, & Ferreira, 2010). Together, the outlined contradictions raise the question as to whether, and in which way, the implementation of LM affects the ability of manufacturing organisations to generate process innovations.