Sequence and Hierarchy of Leanness Factors in Supply Chain

Today dynamic and competitive markets of industrial products and services demands solutions to overcome the environmental challenges and to bring the products and the services to the customers without wasting the resources. This is achievable by adopting lean production techniques. The present study, through literature review, lists14 key elements in supply chain in questionnaire form. The questionnaire was provided to the experts and managers of supply chain of automotive industry to determine the relationship and priority of these factors using ISM technique and, the result, was further confirmed using path analysis method. The factors were grouped into five levels including; level one: The customer satisfaction and waste; level two: resource control and continuous improvement; level three: development of supplier, material flow structure and choosing the supplier; level four: training and empowerment, supplier relation, information flow structure and customer relation; and level five: the staff’s skill, management methods and managerial behavior. Using the results of this study, during implementation of these factors, the manager will have dipper insight about where to start and which method to choose.

Prioritization, Lean, Lean production