An empirical longitudinal study of adoption of lean management in India

To identify the factors that need to be addressed by Indian industry to steeply ramp up its production and productivity in the coming years, so as to achieve the goal of the country becoming a 5 trillion dollar economy by 2025.

Lean Management Leaders in Indian Industry (LMLII), i.e. those companies in India who are well known for having adopted TQM, BE and Lean methods for many years, and achieved success in their business) in Indian industry were selected and surveys were done between 2013 and 2017, to assess the status of LM adoption, by using the LESAT (version 2.0) survey tool. A longitudinal empirical study has been done, over a period of five years, so that the identification of factors is based on a few years’ data rather than a one year, spot-check or snapshot view. A new method, titled the ‘Three Step Reverse Exploratory Factor Analysis Procedure (TSREP)’, has been attempted to identify the ‘root causes’.

LMLII's have improved in their adoption of LM over these years by about 10%. The root causes that can help in further advancement in adoption have been identified and classified under six component factors.

The identification of LMLII's has been done based on the experience and views of experts in TQM/ BE/ Lean in India. Since this is a first of such study (viz., the term LMLII is being defined and used for the first time), this methodology has been adopted. However, in future, a systematic way to assess the criteria for LMLII's could be designed. Secondly, the sample size of LMLII's needs to be fully representative of the industry.

By using the results of this study, Indian companies can accelerate their LM adoption programmes, leading to quantum jumps in production and productivity, so as to achieve the 5 trillion USD economy by 2025. The practical implications are immense.

Since LM is a bundle of Lean, TQM and BE, companies adopting LM will, due to the inclusion of waste reduction through 5S, JIT, kaizens and continuous improvement, address the Triple Bottom Line (TBL) protocol of the UN. TBL has comprehensive implications on society and environment, climate change and sustainability of business.

This work is original, at least in three ways. First, in the use of the concept of ‘LML’. Second, there is no previous longitudinal study done on Indian industry in LM. Third, the TSREP is being used for the first time. The value of this research is in its findings, in the identification of key factors for future growth and the use of a novel technique for improving upon the accuracy, analytical rigour and legitimacy of the results.