Understanding long term lean and continuous improvement strategies within a technological environment

This research has found that lean journeys are difficult ones, that lean implementation requires a significant amount of effort by an organisation for lean to take hold, and that it requires a further effort to ensure that lean will work in the long term. To aid this effort this research has identified 8 phases which an organisation will move through along its lean journey and has specified various important elements within each phase, identifying 154 proven industry tactics which an organisation can use to guide them along this journey, hence minimising the effort required by organisations, simplifying the overall journey and enabling lean to work long term. The intention, as per the title, is to understand what makes lean and continuous improvement strategies work in the long term, through the analysis of a 10 year lean journey in one organisation and the verification of the case study findings in 4 other multinational organisations in Ireland. This research was driven by an absence of published material regarding what behaviours, strategies and tactics are required to make lean and continuous improvement programs work within highly technological organisations. While some literature does exist on general application and sustainability, little if any applies to the modern day innovative and technological workplace. This dissertation is broken into three distinct parts. The first part contains a comprehensive literature review comprising the elements of lean, problems in the area, lean culture and an explanation of the lean tools, lean implementation models, implementation issues and lean sustainability. With this grounded understanding of lean behaviours and cultural complexity set against the constraints of implementation and sustainability, the second part of the dissertation shall present an in-depth multi company analysis via case study, questionnaire and interview identifying a) the phases that an organisation goes through during the life of its lean journey, b) the elements that are required within these phases to ensure that the lean program is successful within that phase of the journey and c) proven industry based tactics that which other organisations can use to ensure that their lean journey is successful.