Analysing benefits from Lean Thinking: a literature review of case studies in manufacturing industry

This paper presents the approach of lean thinking, a particular type of company management, which originated in Japan thanks to Toyota. The effect this methodology has on companies was considered, with a focus on manufacturing companies. Lean thinking was analysed by means of a review of scientific articles reporting case studies on the subject in question, to understand how the adoption of this type of methodology has allowed companies to improve productivity, reduce costs, increase revenues, and optimise production times. The available literature on lean was presented, through a review of studies analysing the link between the adoption of this methodology and the possible benefits that can be obtained from its implementation. The most used lean tools and the main objectives that can be achieved through these tools were introduced. Then, thanks to a specific analysis of published articles, fifteen cases of companies, both large enterprises and SMEs, that have used this methodology were presented and described, describing what kind of problems they intended to solve and through which tools. A comparison was then made between the final conclusions obtained by each company, analysing the benefits obtained, and finding out how these can vary from company to company, demonstrating how the use of lean thinking varies depending on various factors, but generally succeeds in bringing benefits, sometimes very significant ones. A focus was placed on the time related to the entire production process, showing how lean enables important benefits to be obtained by reducing all the activities that do not create value to the final product and that can therefore be eliminated within the production process. Many of the case studies analysed concern SMEs and enrich the available literature on this type of company, showing how lean methodology, if approached with care and commitment, can bring benefits even to smaller companies.