Applying the lessons learned from 27 lean manufacturers. The relevance of relationships management

This paper deals with the challenges posed by lean production principles for operations management. A multiple case study approach was used to explore how the lean production model has been adopted by 27 excellent firms operating in international markets and to recognize the areas characterized by major problems and difficulties. A research model, able to accurately define and operationalize the lean production concept, was developed in order to carry out this empirical study. The model represents a conceptualization of lean production as consisting of a number of improvement programmes or best practices characterizing different areas of the company (i.e. process and equipment, manufacturing planning and control, human resources, product design, supplier relationships, customer relationships). Results from this study would suggest that for a full implementation of lean production principles, the most critical factor appears to be the management of external relationships rather than internal operations. The challenge, today, is how to integrate the different organizations into the value stream in order to ensure excellence in final products and services and, also, how to integrate customers into the organization. This calls for a change in the perspective of analysis: the focus must move from operations management to relationships management. In the light of this, suggestions for future research, indicated by the empirical findings, are offered. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.