Lean Management: A Review of Literature

Abstract

This study reviewed literatures on lean management. Many industries faced different challenges due to advent of globalization that led to low productivity which by extension depleted the profitability level of firms operating in global market. Lean management is among the management strategies that are gaining currency at reversing this declining organisational profitability. The way and manner in which lean management is implemented in service industry differs from manufacturing. Hence, one of the simplest methods for addressing the issue of customers’ satisfaction is to apply the method of LM. The objective of this study is to do a review of literature on the subject matter by explores the different positions of scholars on the issues relating to the adoption of LMP in an organisations. The outcome of this paper has shown that for every industry to gain competitive advantage and remain profitable, it is necessary to adopt lean management practice and thus, it will improve customer satisfaction. And also, these approaches will help managers to reduce or eliminate waste, inventory reduction, reduced lead time, less rework and financial savings. It is recommended for all organisations either manufacturing or Services industries to adopt lean management practice in view of stiff global competition and increasing cost on the local environment.

Keywords

• just-in-time (jit)
• lean management
• manufacturing and service industry