Lean production and supply chain innovation in baked foods supplier to improve performance

Service industries are currently facing an excess of overproduction that results in extra inventory and waste levels. With the prospect of methods such as lean production, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the impacts of lean production methods towards enhanced performance of service-based industries through the study of a local baked foods supplier.

The paper highlights the first stage of research study through current world literature and a critical review as inputs of research findings. The research applies a descriptive research framework within a semi-structured questionnaire survey method which was implemented within three different companies, the baked goods manufacturer, the cafe purchasing the baked foods products and the end users, hence covering the overall supply chain cycle and its entities.

The research study identified that one of the major challenges facing the baked food company when adopting the lean practices was the lack of commitment from the top management, continuous training, and hence, employee engagement measures were necessary towards performance improvement of the organisation.

The research novelty is to develop an early understanding of lean production practices within the baked goods manufacturer and its upstream and downstream stakeholders. This paper would be considered by the food manufacturer companies in order to require their key suppliers to adopt the most common lean tools identified as Just in Time, Value Steam Mapping and the 5S methods.