Lean performance measures in a supply chain

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Mestre em Engenharia e Gestão Industrial

In the existing global economic context it is crucial that companies understand the importance of the supply chain, so that they can maintain their respective competitive advantage. Several of the supply chain’s approaches consider the customer and the definition of value as key features. One easily associates the Lean philosophy to supply chains, with its basis of continuous improvement and elimination of waste. Companies which employ this philosophy begin with lean thinking, which highlights the customer and the definition of value. Therefore it is vital that companies identify what constitutes added value to the customer. Thus we arrive at the reasons which have led to the creation of this dissertation. The motivation concerns the small amount of data found upon reviewing the existing literature of the application of Lean philosophy to the Wood-Plastic Composite Industry (WPC). Consequently the study’s main goal is the identification of Lean performance measures. This dissertation contains concepts of Lean philosophy and strategy to provide background for its practical part, after which, we explain the applied methodology: identification of the performance measures, application of strategy analysis tools, the development of a survey and its statistical treatment and finally interviews to management. The results of the surveys have provided results which have helped identify the most important categories: time and flexibility; and the most relevant performance measures. The interviews’ results provided input on management’s knowledge and expectations of Lean, and the discovery of possible areas for improvement. The major conclusion of this study is the importance given to Lean performance measures in the WPC industry’s context, which can help in the implementation of Lean.