Influences Between Design Characteristics of Lean Manufacturing Systems and Implications for the Design Process

Operational excellence in manufacturing systems can be achieved by adopting lean principles laid out by the Toyota Production System (TPS). According to lean principles, a manufacturing system is defined by specific design characteristics like its cellular structure, balanced cycle times and the usage of right-sized-equipment. Its design characteristics regarding the three dimensions `elements', 'structures' and 'processes' can be measured by eighteen evaluation criteria defined in prior research. It has shown that numerous influences between design characteristics exist. The research hypothesis is that design characteristics can be clustered according to similarity in their specific influences on other design characteristics to identify critical design levers. This research focuses on the analysis of identified influences between design characteristics of lean manufacturing systems. The influences between eighteen characteristics are represented in a respective matrix. A mathematical analysis of this matrix provides a quantitative data set for clustering the design characteristics. The cluster analysis based on the k-means algorithm clusters the design characteristics according to their specific influence on others. There are lower- and higher ranked groups of design characteristics that affect the overall system design. The key insight of the research is the identification of critical design levers. Recommendations and implications for the design process are derived from the findings of the cluster analysis. The insights of the research can improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the design process by providing an optimal sequence for the improvement of the design characteristics. (C) 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.