TY - JOUR
T1 - Assessing to what extent smart manufacturing builds on lean principles
AU - Bokhorst, Jos A.C.
AU - Knol, Wilfred
AU - Slomp, Jannes
AU - Bortolotti, Thomas
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Authors
PY - 2022/11
Y1 - 2022/11
N2 - This study explores to what extent the adoption and performance of smart manufacturing technologies builds on the adoption of lean principles. Primary explorative survey data on the level of adoption of smart manufacturing technologies and lean principles and various operational performance outcomes were collected from a set of Dutch manufacturers and analysed using Cluster Analysis, ANOVA, and Necessary Condition Analysis (NCA). The Cluster Analysis shows that while lean is also applied without smart (“lean-only” companies), smart technologies are mostly applied in conjunction with lean (“lean and smart” companies), suggesting that the presence of lean principles is necessary for smart implementation. A third group of companies shows a low use of lean and smart (“non-adopters”). The NCAs further specify the extent of this necessity by showing that all individual smart manufacturing technologies used in our construct require presence of lean principles, with MES systems having the strongest dependency. Performance wise, lean-only and lean and smart companies have comparable superior performance compared to non-adopters when considering an aggregate operational performance measure using the dimensions of quality, delivery, flexibility and cost. When analysed separately, the aggregate level results remain true for quality and delivery performance. However, for flexibility, the superiority of lean-only companies is more apparent, while for cost, lean and smart companies are superior. This shows that implementing smart requires lean, but lean may suffice depending on the specific performance objectives strived for.
AB - This study explores to what extent the adoption and performance of smart manufacturing technologies builds on the adoption of lean principles. Primary explorative survey data on the level of adoption of smart manufacturing technologies and lean principles and various operational performance outcomes were collected from a set of Dutch manufacturers and analysed using Cluster Analysis, ANOVA, and Necessary Condition Analysis (NCA). The Cluster Analysis shows that while lean is also applied without smart (“lean-only” companies), smart technologies are mostly applied in conjunction with lean (“lean and smart” companies), suggesting that the presence of lean principles is necessary for smart implementation. A third group of companies shows a low use of lean and smart (“non-adopters”). The NCAs further specify the extent of this necessity by showing that all individual smart manufacturing technologies used in our construct require presence of lean principles, with MES systems having the strongest dependency. Performance wise, lean-only and lean and smart companies have comparable superior performance compared to non-adopters when considering an aggregate operational performance measure using the dimensions of quality, delivery, flexibility and cost. When analysed separately, the aggregate level results remain true for quality and delivery performance. However, for flexibility, the superiority of lean-only companies is more apparent, while for cost, lean and smart companies are superior. This shows that implementing smart requires lean, but lean may suffice depending on the specific performance objectives strived for.
KW - Industry 4.0
KW - Lean principles
KW - Necessary condition analysis
KW - Operational performance
KW - Smart manufacturing
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85136118466&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.ijpe.2022.108599
DO - 10.1016/j.ijpe.2022.108599
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85136118466
SN - 0925-5273
VL - 253
JO - International Journal of Production Economics
JF - International Journal of Production Economics
M1 - 108599
ER -