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Chapter 1: Initiation 1.1: Introduction Manufacturing Sector In The Global ...

Chapter 1: Initiation
1.1: Introduction
Manufacturing sector in the global business is one of the key areas where the growth as well as decline is evident across the globe since the dawn of the industrial revolution as argued by Gianluca Spina (1998). This makes it clear that the revolution and development strategies deployed by the competitors in the global as well as the domestic manufacturing industry has focused on improving the production performance and internal business process re-engineering to address the competition in the global market. Alongside, it is also interesting to note that the effectiveness in production and the control of costs are focused as key areas of generating profits more to the traditional approach of generating revenue through sales. This makes it clear that the efficiency of the organization's production process and its ability to address the customer demands are the key elements that contribute to the competitive advantage of an organization in the manufacturing sector. The increasing demand for customer focused production and the demand from customers for high level of customization in the products manufactured as argued by Philip Kotler and Kevin Lane Keller (2005) is another pointer to the need for pro-active and innovative production management in the manufacturing sector.
Another interesting element with the business decision making in the manufacturing sector is the ability to streamline the production process through integrated manufacturing strategy as argued by Malcolm J. Sanders (1997). This is further justified in the arguments of Gerry Johnson and Kevan Scholes (2003) that the strategic decision making in the manufacturing/production engineering mainly depends upon the ability of the organization to reduce its supply chain costs whilst increasing maintaining competitive pricing in the given target market. The above synopsis justifies the increasing re-engineering techniques adhered by the competitors in the manufacturing sector. In this research, LEAN: a popular manufacturing strategy of Japanese origin is presented to the reader in the light of the ability of an organization to implement LEAN manufacturing strategy and its effects on the overall organizational stability in terms of achieving sustainable competitive advantage is presented to the reader.
1.2: Aim and Objectives
Aim
The aim of this research is to research on the implementation of LEAN, its contribution to continuous development of an organization in the manufacturing sector and the ability to customise LEAN to a given organizational set-up.
Objectives
The aim of the research is accomplished through embracing the research on the following objectives.
To present a comprehensive overview on the LEAN concept in the manufacturing industry.
To conduct critical research on the implementation of LEAN in an organization and the key factors those influence the decision-making in an organization to implement LEAN.


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