The Impact of Lean Methods and Tools, Annotated Bibliography Example

Chen, Zhixiang and Tan, Kim Hua “The impact of organization ownership structure on JIT implementation and production operations performance. International Journal of Operations & Production Management Vol. 33 No. 9, 2013. Print.

The authors of the article researched Chinese companies’ success with JIT implementation. The main finding of this study is that culture factors within the organization affect the success of the project. By comparing the characteristics of different companies, the authors are attempting to find correlation among resource availability, managerial culture conflict, manufacturing priority diversification, and operation performance (JIT implementation). The authors used ANOVA analysis to assess the results of the two-part survey distributed among 224 qualifying respondents. It is important to note that the research was limited to 224 Chinese manufacturing companies, and it only focuses on ten JIT elements. While the results indicate that there is a correlation between company structure and JIT/operational performance, it is important to take into consideration the regional and industry variables when assessing the data and drawing conclusions.

Belekoukiasas, Ioannis, Garza-Reyes, Jose Arturo, and Kumar, Vikas “The impact of lean methods and tools on the operational performance of manufacturing organisations” International Journal of Production Research.  52:18 2014. Print.

The literature analysis of the authors compares different studies published on implementing Lean  manufacturing practices. The authors state that the “level of leanness” is in direct correlation with organizational performance, however, it needs to be examined in detail, based on the level of influence of each element of lean on production and performance. The authors presented a new approach: instead of measuring the overall effectiveness, they individually analyzed different variables, such as quality, speed, dependability, flexibility, and cost. The research is also unique because it compares the different lean methods’ impact on performance, such as JIT and VSM. The results suggest that JIT is has the greatest positive effect on performance. However, he survey was not based on randomly selected companies, and it was limited to 140 organizations, based on the response rate of 20 percent.

Ali E. Akgün, Huseyin Incea, Salih Z. Imamoglua, Halit Keskina and ?pek Kocoglua. The mediator role of learning capability and business innovativeness  between total quality management and financial performance.  International Journal of Production Research, 52:3, 888-901 2013. Print.

The authors review Total Quality Management (TQM) and its impact on financial performance of the organization. Given that several authors have previously proven the hypothesis that there is a correlation between organizational performance and financial performance, this article is relevant to the current research. The authors prove that there is a correlation between Total Quality Management and organization learning, business inattentiveness, and consequently (indirectly) financial performance. This study, however, is missing one link: it does not answer the question: which elements of TQM are the most effective in improving organizational and financial performance. Future research should be concluded to retrieve this information for process improvement framework design.

Stephen C.H. Ng, Xiande Zhao, Xiucheng Fan & Johnny M. Rungtusanatham. “TQM and brand-building by Chinese original brand manufacturers: impact on business performance. International Journal of Production Research. 52:3, 825-846. 2013. Print.

The article suggests that there is a direct correlation between implementing TQM and business performance. While the above hypothesis has been proven by several authors before, the research focuses on implementing measures that take advantage of the marketing opportunities provided by TQM. The relationship between marketing and operations has previously not been examined, and it is important to note that the research only found indirect correlation between brand performance and TQM. Hypothesis one (a and b) suggested that TQM had an impact on product quality, and through this, customer satisfaction and loyalty increased, consequently brand performance was improved. However, the findings of the study are limited to facts and correlations that are common knowledge: it is evident for every operations manager and marketing professional that product quality has a positive impact on customer satisfaction. The positive aspect of the research, however, is that it measures main, interaction, and performance relationships. The main statement of the research article is that brand building strategies should be aligned with TQM processes, in order to get the best business performance results. In the future, further research is needed to test the hypothesis: comparing companies’ performance that use a strategy that aligns TQM and branding and those that do not have the two business areas aligned.

Beate Klingenberg, Rachel Timberlake, Tom G. Geurts and  Roger J. Brown. “The   relationship of operational innovation and financial performance—A critical  perspective”. International Journal of Production Economics 142 (2013) 317–323. 2013. Print.

The authors focus on operational innovation methods in general; JIT and Lean alike. The authors research the impact of operational innovation using profitability ratios, related to basic earning power. The most interesting hypothesis that the authors examine is that inventory management improvement does not necessarily result in increased ROE (return on equity). This hypothesis is seemingly contradicting the basic assumption of operations managers that Lean and JIT implementation has a positive impact on all business areas. The authors used the Thomson Analytics Database and he Worldscope database to retrieve and analyze financial data of five companies within the automobile manufacturing business. It is evident that the research is not comprehensive, and is limited to one industry. Further, there was no adequate framework to measure the level of Lean implementation within individual firms. Finally, it is also important to note that – as the authors state – ROI and ROE are generally  used to measure correlation between inventory management and financial performance, and the correlation between the examined variables is complex and indirect. However, the authors found that improving manufacturing processes has a positive impact on the overall financial performance of the firm.

Works Cited

Ali E. Akgün, Huseyin Incea, Salih Z. Imamoglua, Halit Keskina and ?pek Kocoglua. “The mediator role of learning capability and business innovativeness  between total quality management and financial performance”.  International Journal of Production Research, 52:3, 888-901 2013. Print.

Beate Klingenberg, Rachel Timberlake, Tom G. Geurts and  Roger J. Brown. “The relationship of operational innovation and financial performance—A critical perspective”. International Journal of Production Economics 142 (2013) 317–323. 2013. Print.

Belekoukiasas, Ioannis, Garza-Reyes, Jose Arturo, and Kumar, Vikas “The impact of lean methods and tools on the operational performance of manufacturing organisations” International Journal of Production Research.  52:18 2014. Print.

Chen, Zhixiang and Tan, Kim Hua “The impact of organization ownership structure on JIT implementation and production operations performance”. International Journal of Operations & Production Management Vol. 33 No. 9, 2013. Print.

Stephen C.H. Ng, Xiande Zhao, Xiucheng Fan & Johnny M. Rungtusanatham. “TQM and brand-building by Chinese original brand manufacturers: impact on business performance. International Journal of Production Research. 52:3, 825-846. 2013. Print.