2. Lack of Proper Training
Many organizations worldwide have implemented LM, but not all have successfully obtained favorable results. The authors in
[11][17] stated that most companies might reduce costs through Lean adoption; however, very few companies can outperform Toyota Motor Corporation in terms of profitability, market growth, and quality. The authors in
[47][25] reported that most companies proclaim a breakthrough after implementing only one LM project and before cultivating a culture of continuous improvement. On the other hand,
[48][26] showed that LM is a complicated system that uses different practices and philosophies and thus requires adequately trained employees. Proper training will make employees understand how their work affects the whole production process; therefore, they strive to improve their work environment. Through good training, the worker is given the necessary skills to solve problems individually or as a team. Furthermore, good training will make workers know what is expected from them to sustain Lean through commitment and improvements in performance.
Lean coaches and trainers lead the Lean implementation process since they know its practices, and principles
[49,50,51][27][28][29]. Their role involves initiating the Lean methodology, organizing the teams, and setting up key performance indicators that help to track the results and progress of the implementation of Lean principles. In addition, good training causes employees to change their work mindset, thus infusing a new culture into the workplace. Ideally, Lean training should start with coaching the management team on Lean strategy deployment
[52][30]. This will enable them to understand the purpose of LM, hence understanding their role during Lean deployment. Unfortunately, the extant research has shown that most organizations lack Lean experts
[42,53,54][20][31][32] who have competencies to drive and manage Lean implementation. Another challenge is a shortage of supervisory, managerial, and workforce skills to support Lean implementation
[41][19]. Furthermore, some organizations do not know the existing Lean trainers and coaches
[54,55][32][33]. For example, the significant challenges faced by Indian SMEs during Lean adoption were poor training
[42][20] and inadequate training
[56][34].
3. Resistance of Management to Change
Empirical research has shown that management commitment and support are critical success factors for Lean adoption
[15,37,57,58,59,60,61,62][13][35][36][37][38][39][40][41]. Therefore, leadership should provide strategic leadership by clearly communicating the LM implementation goals, stimulating employee interest in the philosophy, and steering the project
[45][23]. Additionally, the leadership should respect employees and acknowledge every effort they put into improving the process. Thus, the role of management is to provide financial support during LM adoption
[63,64,65][42][43][44] and to train and empower employees to improve their processes continuously
[66][45].
A study
[53][31] of three process engineering industries revealed that these organizations did not implement Lean because top management believed that the philosophy was unnecessary; hence, they could not commit financial resources to training employees. The significant barriers to LM adoption are leadership resistance to change
[44][22]; poor leadership drive
[67][46]; and poor communication, support, and commitment
[7,54,55][16][32][33]. Some leaders also lack knowledge of LM
[56][34]; thus, they do not understand how the philosophy improves strategic business goals.
4. Resistance of Workers to Change
The workers form the backbone of any manufacturing organization
[68][47]. Workers perform specific tasks, and they should be adequately trained to understand their processes well. Thus, workers are the drivers for any Lean deployment. The level of skills possessed by employees depends on the training they receive from coaches/trainers and team leaders. A study
[10][48] revealed that employees in Lithuanian companies were committed to seeking organizational objectives related to the adoption of Lean and thus were actively involved in kaizen activities. Resistance of employees to change may be caused by a lack of understanding of the purpose of the philosophy
[44][22]. Proper training stimulates the intrinsic motivation for employees to continuously improve their processes and solve problems that arise within their work environment
[69][49]. The challenges to the successful adoption of LM include the reluctance of workers to remove hurdles in their workplaces
[56][34], the resistance of employees to be trained, and their non-Lean habits
[41][19], which in turn inhibit the sustenance of LM. Additionally, Lean fails when workers feel that their work is not valued because the top management is not listening to them
[55][33].
5. Insufficient Financial Resources
Manufacturing organizations need financial resources to hire Lean coaches to train top management and employees
[63][42]. Money is also required to buy machinery and materials and motivate employees through incentives. A study
[70][50] of manufacturing companies in the United Kingdom revealed that the lack of adequate funding for small enterprises was a significant challenge for Lean adoption, whereas medium and large enterprises were not affected by a lack of financial challenges. Similarly, authors such as
[53][31] and
[42][20] corroborated that SMEs lack a budget dedicated toward Lean implementation during the early stages of Lean adoption.
The authors in
[71][51] stated that companies must consider capital expenditures for buying machinery; thus, they may only see positive returns after this initial high cost. Therefore, when organizations set aside money for LM implementation, they must know that it might take time to reap the benefits of adopting Lean. Because of that, researchers have reported that many organizations lack the financial resources to implement Lean
[11,40,41,54,67,72][17][18][19][32][46][52].
6. Cultural Barriers
Formulating and sustaining a Lean enterprise requires a considerable change in leadership and employees’ behavior, culture, and attitudes
[73][53]. However, this behavioral change may be difficult to attain; thus, organizations hire external Lean coaches/ trainers who instill behavioral changes through training
[74][54]. In addition, the changes in culture and attitude require every person in the organization to forsake their comfort zone and change how they relate to one another. Individuals also need to change the ways in which they perform specific tasks. Thus, cultural changes involve the ability of the top management to be accountable and to lead by example.
On the other hand, employees should have the mindset that their processes can be continuously improved
[75][55]. Employees should be trained to love their work and their organizations. The ability of Toyota to teach their employees to envy their working environment and their organization enables them to outperform their competitors
[76][56]. The idea is to focus on workforce development
[77][57], rather than on results (increased productivity/ quality)
[78][58]. The authors in
[44][22] stated that organizational culture strongly influences Lean implementation failure or success since the transformation process continues endlessly, thus requiring employees who are dedicated to their work. Several studies have shown that lack of change in organizational culture is the most significant challenge in Lean transformation
[40,42,53,54,55,67][18][20][31][32][33][46].
7. Lean Is Complex to Implement
Lean manufacturing has its roots in the automobile industry, in which the production system is repetitive and discrete. The authors in
[53][31] stated that it is challenging to implement LM in other production systems, such as the process industry, because it is tailor-made for discrete industries. Research on 120 Indian process industries revealed that Lean adoption in this sector is very low
[53][31]. On the other hand,
[79][59] corroborated that Lean is complex in industries with characteristics different from the discrete and repetitive sectors, such as the automobile industries. Furthermore,
[11][17] revealed that 23% of the responding organizations that were part of the Wood Component Manufacturing Association in the USA believed that LM is difficult to implement. Additionally, Bamford and Forrester
[67][46] concluded that Lean was difficult to implement in a food manufacturer in the United Kingdom due to supplier unreliability and incorrect data exchange across the supply chain, which caused a decrease in work in progress.
8. Lack of Understanding of the Benefits of Implementing LM
Several studies have highlighted the benefits of adopting LM
[2,80,81,82,83][60][61][62][63][64]; however, some companies have not been persuaded
[70,84][50][65]. Furthermore, the measurement of the perceived benefits of LM adoption has also caused problems
[70][50] since LM depends on non-financial performance measures rather than cost measurements and other traditional performance measures
[85][66]. As a result, some organizations that use these traditional methods may conclude that Lean does not cause any improvement. In addition,
[86][67] stated that researchers have proposed different performance measurement models such as simulation, graphical, qualitative, and quantitative models, causing confusion as to how organizations can measure Lean performance.
Several studies have shown that some organizations do not understand the benefits of LM. For example, the major barrier in a US manufacturing firm was the evaluation of the impact of LM, since the top management was not objective in reporting performance
[44][22]. In addition, another study
[41][19] revealed that 13.5% of the manufacturing organizations in India which had not implemented LM cited that they could not measure the benefits of LM implementation.