The human aspect of Lean : Special considerations for an adequate implementation of Lean

Abstract: Ever since the Toyota Production System (TPS) was re-named and introduced into the western culture as the Lean philosophy, many studies and articles have been published where the benefits of this philosophy are highlighted and directly related to improvements on the performance and efficiency of manufacturing processes, more specifically in the car manufacturing industry. Since the focus of these studies has been mostly on measurable benefits, the human aspect that exists in every organization and the effect that Lean can have over this aspect have been left out of the spotlight. Because of this, the present study has the main purpose of presenting the findings obtained by a limited number of studies performed on the subject, and based on their results, determine what type of effects can a new way of work based on the Lean principles have over the mental and physical well-being of people, and which aspects are important to consider when implementing Lean in order to avoid negative results and negative effects on people. By identifying the potential effects that Lean could generate over people, and the aspects related to them, the present study is intended to provide a wider vision to the reader about the two components that the Lean philosophy is built on, one being a practical component made of tools and another focused on the development and motivation of people inside an organization, and the potential consequences of giving relevance to only the practical side of Lean. In addition, the present study also emphasizes the importance of certain aspects that are always present in the context of any organization, as is the case of culture, which have been identified through the experiences collected by different studies and have been determined as essential to be considered in any strategy of implementation of Lean. With all this information, the present study is expected to provide readers with the basic knowledge that any Lean implementation effort should consider in order to increase the chances of a successful implementation of Lean where positive results are obtained while the safety and well-being of employees is maintained in the process. Even though the present study does not involve the study of a particular case, the information collected and presented in this work summarizes all the relevant knowledge that has been acquired by all the limited studies performed on this interesting topic, and therefore represents a very good step towards the acknowledgment of the importance that the human aspect has on the final outcome of any Lean implementation.