Impact of sustainable lean manufacturing (LM) on organizational performances

The manufacturing world is facing major pressures due to the globalization of markets. Increasing competition forces companies to be lean, agile and global. Lean manufacturing (LM) has been formulated in response to the fluctuating and competitive business environment. An LM company considered to be efficient, because the activities performed in the company are deemed to add value to the customer. In this study, a review of 85 researches is carried out, forty percent of them are papers related to LM in Malaysia. It is concluded that LM implementation has a positive effect on Malaysian organizational performance, as reflected in operational, financial, business, and environmental measures. Although LM made its first appearance in the automotive industry, it is seen that it is now practiced in a wide range of industrial sectors. It is also observed that numerous obstacles are faced in the implementation of LM in Malaysia, including employee, management, and financial obstacles. Moreover, the lack of understanding LM considered as the key obstacle facing the Malaysian industries. There is a need of serious attention from the companies to overcome the identified obstacles. All the stake-holders (internal employees and external suppliers) need to collaborate and work together to ensure the success of LM implementation.