Findings on Lean Manufacturing Practices in Malaysia

Studies on lean manufacturing had been done in various advanced countries. However, little attempts have been made to empirically investigate its current adoption in developing countries such as Malaysia particularly in the electrical and electronics industry. Many manufacturers across the world have changed the way they produce products by switching to a different type of manufacturing, known as lean manufacturing. It is unknown whether the changes are same in Malaysia. This paper presents the results of a lean manufacturing survey conducted in large electrical and electronics companies in Malaysia. A set of 14 areas namely, scheduling, inventory, material handling, equipment, work processes, quality, employees, layout, suppliers, customers, safety and ergonomics, product design, management and culture, and tools and techniques was used to assess the implementation of lean manufacturing. Important findings gained,from the survey were highlighted. The results provide the current state of lean manufacturing practices in large electrical and electronics companies in Malaysia.