Lean implementation in scottish small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs): An empirical study

Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) constitute the bulk of enterprise with the major contribution to private sector output and employment in all economies of the world. SMEs not only contribute to employment and turnover, but also play a major part in enhancing the competitiveness of larger organizations by being an essential element of their supply chain and providing high quality input. In the quest for improving quality of products or services, SMEs have implemented formalized programs such as Total Quality Management (TQM), Kaizen, Business Process Reengineering (BPR), Lean, and more recently Six Sigma. This paper presents the results of an empirical study on Lean Practices and its impact on Scottish SMEs. The following research questions were formulated as part of the research study. 1. What is the impact of Lean Practices on organizational performance of Scottish SMEs? 2. What are the benefits of Lean Practices in Scottish SMEs? 3. Does the size of a company matter for Lean implementation? 4. Is ISO 9001:2010 a pre-requisite for Lean implementation or any other Continuous Improvement initiative? 5. What factors are to be perceived as Critical Success Factors (CSFs) in Lean implementation from a manufacturing SME perspective? The data was gathered using semi-structured interviews from 5 Scottish companies and three people from each organization (top management level, middle level and shop floor level) were chosen for the study. The implementation of Lean in the participating companies impacted upon flexibility and employee involvement. The key benefits from Lean implementation were cost reduction, productivity, organization and resource utilization. The analysis of the study also showed that ISO is not a pre-requisite for Lean implementation. However the participating companies felt that it would provide a good framework with regards to documenting the procedures in the business. The results also indicated that size of the company does not have a direct impact on lean implementation.