Bruun, Mefford - 2004 - Lean Production and The Internet PDF
Bruun, Mefford - 2004 - Lean Production and The Internet PDF
Bruun, Mefford - 2004 - Lean Production and The Internet PDF
Center for Technology, Economics & Management, Technical University of Denmark, Building 421, DK-2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark
b
School of Business and Management, University of San Francisco, Ignatian Heights, San Francisco, CA 94117, USA
Received 2 May 2002; accepted 2 October 2003
Abstract
In this paper, the implications for lean production systems of the Internet are explored. Does the World Wide Web
facilitate the implementation of Just-In-Time (JIT) production systems, or alternatively, can it serve as a substitute for
JIT? The possible effects on supply chains, production scheduling, inventory control, procurement, quality
improvement, and the workforce are some of the issues addressed. Some case examples of use of the Internet for
these purposes are presented. Constraints on the use of the Web to foster leanness are discussed and recommendations
for integrating the Internet into production systems offered.
r 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Production; Lean production; JIT; Internet; Supply chain management
1. Introduction
In the 1990s, many manufacturing rms around
the world adopted lean production as a strategy to
increase their global competitiveness. Some rms
have made much progress in implementing lean
production in their factories while others have
found it to be very difcult and are still struggling
with implementation, or in some cases, given up
the attempt. Some of the companies that have been
successful in converting their manufacturing facilities to lean production have begun to spread lean
principles to other business activities (e.g. product
design, payments processing, order taking) or into
their supply chains. They are attempting to move
*Corresponding author. Tel.: +1-415-422-6408; fax: +1415-422-2502.
E-mail address: [email protected] (R.N. Mefford).
beyond lean manufacturing to become lean enterprises. Since the advent of the concept of lean
production, which itself is derived from the JustIn-Time (JIT) system developed by Toyota beginning back in the 1960s, there have been many
advances in information technology (IT), particularly the widespread deployment of the World
Wide Web and the Internet. Almost every rm and
business function has been impacted by the
Internet in the last few years and whole new
industries have arisen because of the technology.
Of course, lean production systems are not
immune from the effects of the Internet. But what
are these effects likely to be? Will they allow lean
production concepts to be more fully applied, or,
on the other hand, might they serve as an
alternative way to increase operational efciency?
In fact, some have seen an inherent conict
between lean principles and IT such as the Internet
0925-5273/$ - see front matter r 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.ijpe.2003.10.007
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(Piszczalski, 2000). It is argued that lean production emphasizes reducing variety and exibility to
achieve greater efciency whereas one of the
benets of IT is its ability to provide more
exibility and product variety. Also, many proponents of lean production believe simple visual
systems (such as kanban) are sufcient to control a
pull system and that computer systems tend to
shift production control from a line to a staff
function that is undesirable in lean thinking.
Furthermore, computer systems can be expensive
and difcult to implement and may distract
attention from continuous process improvement.
In this paper, we will discuss the ways in which the
Internet is already having an impact on rms using
lean production methods and its potential for
deepening and broadening these effects. We will
argue that the Internet is a facilitator to the
implementation of lean production and lean
enterprises and, in fact, a synergy exists between
the two. In other words, if appropriately applied,
the Internet can help make production systems
leaner, and even more signicantly, make the
entire supply chain leaner.
In Section 1, the principles of lean production
will be examined and how theoretically the
Internet might affect the implementation of these
principles. In Section 2, some examples of how
rms have actually used the Internet to make their
lean production operations more effective are
discussed. Section 3 examines some constraints
and barriers to integration of the Internet into lean
enterprises. In Section 4, we reect on the
theoretical grounding of value creation in the
combined system of lean production, enterprises,
and the Internet. Sections 5 and 6 draw conclusions and present some guidelines for using the
Internet to make the rm and its supply chain
leaner, or e-lean, as it has been called (Piszczalski,
2000).
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chain creating the virtual rm, even greater teamwork and participation will be necessary. The
Internet will facilitate this as virtual meetings
become more widespread and much more information is available to everyone within and outside
the rm. As Deming (1982) and others have
pointed out, good management decisions are
based on data and careful analysis of data, and
the information capabilities of the Internet can
disseminate the data. There are many types of
information that will allow for better problem
resolution and production planning, as have been
discussed above, which the Internet can quickly
and cheaply transmit. If rms allow their employees to actively use this wealth of data, and to work
with employees in other rms in the supply chain,
the result should be superior (because of broader
participation) and much faster (because data and
decisions can be communicated quickly) decision
making in the supply chain. An example of this
benet is in ever faster and better product design
as assemblers link with their suppliers and
customers via design teams (both physical and
virtual). The Internet provides the mechanism for
such close coordination and cooperation, especially when the supply chain and the customer base
are global.
The nal characteristic of JIT that we will
discuss is the emphasis on kaizen or continuous
improvement processes. Kaizen is a natural consequence of the other characteristics, previously
discussed, in particular, jidoka, kanban, and
teamwork and participation. The philosophy of
leanness and lean thinking encourage all employees to continually search for better ways of doing
things to improve quality, efciency, and speed.
The concepts of zero defects and zero inventories,
although unattainable in many cases, are motivating and further improvement is almost always
possible. How can the Internet help the kaizen
effort? Probably the largest contribution that the
Internet can make to kaizen is in its ability to
rapidly disseminate all types of data (e.g. demand,
production schedules, and quality performance)
that are essential to effective process improvement.
Many rms have capable internal kaizen programs
so where the Internet can really make a contribution is by spreading these throughout the supply
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Table 1
Internet support of lean manufacturing
Lean
principles
companies
Pull
approach
Inventory
reduction
Quick setups
and orders
Quality
at source
Supplier
network
Teamwork and
participation
Continuous
improvement
Dell
Cisco
DAM
O
O
O
O
O
O
(O)
(O)
(O)
O
O
O
O
O
(O)
(O)
O
(O)
(O)
O
O
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Lock-in
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Complementarities
Finance
Order fulfilment
Supplier A
Customer 1
Logistics
Inventory Management
Inventory reduction
Teamwork and participation
Supplier B
Production
Planning
Demand forecast
Supplier C
Catalogs
Tracing
Customer 2
Customization
Auctions
Customer 3
Effectiveness
Novelty
Fig. 1. Lean integration by the internet and the elements of value creation (in bold).
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