Framework for lean management in aluminium company in United Arab Emirates

Abstract

In a constantly-changing dynamic business environment, operating costs are the central theme at any company around the globe. Therefore, companies strive to perform their activities in the most optimum manner in terms of quality and operating costs. Lean management (LM) is applied in many companies to eliminate non-value added activities. LM implementation and cost savings (CS) do not always have a direct positive relationship, and are rather subject to the third variables that might impact them. There exit several LM-related publications in the literature, but only a few works were conducted to develop a lean management framework. In this study, a framework was developed for lean management implementation in the aluminum industry in UAE. Organizational culture (OC) has been recognized as a variable that impacts the relationship between LM and CS. This study employed a mixed method that is divided into two parts to strengthen and investigate the research objectives with support of the CEO of the company. The first part was conducted qualitatively via structured interviews with the senior management, and focus groups with the lean team (BTCI team). The second part was executed quantitatively via survey questionnaires for supervisory level employees in the operations department. To understand the relationships and contributions of LM, CS and OC, their correlation was used. Interviews were conducted with 10 senior management employees, and focus group sessions were conducted with eight lean engineers. Prior to actual distribution of the questionnaire, pilot tests and experts' validation were performed to measure the reliability and validate the questionnaire. Data were acquired from 220 supervisory employees from the operations department at Aluminum Company X, based in UAE, with a response rate of 85%. Correlation results reveal that LM has a positive influence on CS. Moreover, OC aspects (leadership, people engagement and problem solving culture) and LM implementation were found to be in a significant relationship. The findings imply that the relationship between LM implementation and CS will be weaker when OC is low; and the association between LM and CS is strong when OC is high. In addition, this study reveals that organizational culture needs to be further investigated. This study contributes to the field of lean management implementation and business excellence from both theoretical and practical standpoints in the aluminum industry, as well as in other fields. It provides the insights to supervisory employees (supervisors, heads, managers and directors) to enhance organizational culture aspects, which play a vital role in improving a company’s overall performance.