Adoption of Lean by AgriTech Companies in Ireland

The adoption of Lean within healthcare, construction, education, manufacturing, and services has grown year on year but not so much within the agricultural technology (AgriTech) sector. In fact, based on the lack of research papers available, one can conclude the existence of Lean within the AgriTech sector to be very minimal. This paper examines the current knowledge of Lean within the AgriTech sector, and assesses the approach taken by AgriTech companies who are trying to deploy Lean practices to transform and streamline operations to be more competitive. This study aims to investigate the success factors for Lean adoption in the Irish AgriTech sector, the types of tools used, the challenges involved, and the results obtained. Lean offers many benefits to AgriTech companies like those seen in other sectors including improved productivity, quality, and reduced costs. Specifically, these results were achieved through improvements in stock control, layout, flow, inventory management and removing non-value add tasks. Quantitative surveys conducted with nineteen AgriTech companies in Ireland who have started Lean implementation show while deployment efforts are high, actual adoption rates are low. This study bridges a gap on the practical application of Lean in AgriTech. For academics and practitioners this study shows a gap in support with Lean adoption in AgriTech companies. For AgriTech business owners and managers this study shows the benefits and challenges of adopting Lean in their organisations.