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A strategic and operational approach to assess the lean performance in radial

tyre manufacturing in India: A case based study

Article  in  International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management · July 2013

DOI: 10.1108/IJPPM-Jun-2012-0057

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IJPPM
62,6
634
Received 15 June 2012
Revised 17 August 2012
Accepted 26 March 2013
International Journal of Productivity
and Performance Management
Vol. 62 No. 6, 2013
pp. 634-651
r Emerald Group Publishing Limited
1741-0401
DOI 10.1108/IJPPM-06-2012-0057
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/1741-0401.htm
A strategic and operational
approach to assess the lean
performance in radial tyre
manufacturing in India
A case based study
Vipul Gupta, Padmanav Acharya and Manoj Patwardhan
Department of Management,
ABV-Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management Gwalior,
Gwalior, India
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this study is to assess the lean performance of a tyre manufacturing firm
in India. The key objective is to find key strategic and operational decision-making dimensions for
developing effective lean manufacturing environment in a tyre manufacturing organization.
Design/methodology/approach – This research is empirical in nature where the opinions of a
group of experts of an Indian tyre manufacturing firm were consulted to formulate an interpretive
structural model (ISM) of the critical success factors of lean manufacturing implementation in a tyre
manufacturing organization. The authors have developed an Excel-based template for quantitative
assessment of lean performance indicators on the basis of feedback from the operational staff.
Findings – This research work suggests that financial capability of an organization drives the top-
management commitment for incorporating lean manufacturing practices in a tyre manufacturing
organization. Organizational culture and human resource management are the important enablers for
developing change management paradigm, which in turn leads to performance improvement. This study
also reveals that over-processing as well as excessive defects are the most detrimental wastes in radial
tyre manufacturing, which accounts for high manufacturing cost of radial tyre manufacturing in India.
Research limitations/implications – Since this study is carried out in a single (case) organization,
a relatively small sample size restricts the outcome from being considered for generic industrial
application. This study none the less is useful for practicing managers and academicians for the
development of lean manufacturing strategy in context with the tyre industry since it encompasses
insightful views of experienced lower to upper middle level managers.
Originality/value – This paper provides some key enablers for the successful implementation of lean
tools in Indian tyre manufacturing, where lean practices are still in the early stage and little literature
is available in this context with tyre manufacturing. Also an attempt has been made to develop
a simple Excel-based template for lean assessment in the tyre industry. This template can be used in
other industries by simply modifying the key attributes.
Keywords Lean manufacturing, Interpretive structural modeling, Leanness index,
Tyre manufacturing, Mic-Mac analysis, Lean production, India
Paper type Research paper
The authors are extremely grateful for the support extended by Speedo tyres. The authors
acknowledge the active participation of the lower and middle level managers as well as the
operating staff who helped consolidate the secondary data analysis, generation of ISM and lean
template. Many thanks go to the anonymous reviewers for their valuable suggestions which
helped in improving the quality of this paper. Finally, the authors would like to express their
profound gratitude to the proof reader of this paper for improving the presentation of this work
with regard to flow of the paper.
1. Introduction Radial tyre
Automobile industry along with its ancillaries is one of the leading contributors’ of manufacturing
GDP of any developed country and is a leading factor in generating export revenues.
It also helps in developing higher employment opportunities. But manufacturing hubs in India
of leading automobile firms are relocating in emerging markets such as China and
India due to overall low cost of manufacturing and high demand in local market
(Hiraide and Chakraborty, 2012). 635
The Indian automobile industry has registered a compounded average annual
growth rate of about 17 percent for last five years and attained annual turnover
close to US $44 billion in financial year 2009-2010. However, it still has only
about 0.3 percent of global automotive trade and hence has a great scope for
expansion.
Tyre industry grows synonymous with the growth of automobile industry.
It is highly raw material intensive, which accounts for about 65-70 percent of the
production cost for tyres. Primary raw material in tyre production is natural rubber
and which witnessed a steep hike in its price during 2010-2011. As a result of which,
Indian tyre manufacturers are facing huge cuts in profit margins. In addition to
unavailability of skilled human resource and entry of global firms has further aggravated
the situation (Mukhopadhyay and Shanker, 2005).
Technologically, the tyre market is split into two segments, namely, cross-ply tyres
(known as bias tyres) and the technologically superior radial tyres. Radial tyres differ
from bias tyres in their construction, which minimizes tread wear and improves
flexibility of the sidewall for better riding comfort and longer life of tyre. However,
radial tyre manufacturing process is highly complex therefore includes high level
of wasteful activities. The major challenge before Indian tyre manufacturers is to
cut down the wastes to make the production of radial tyres more cost effective. Lean
manufacturing which focusses on improvement of efficiency through waste elimination
seems to be an appropriate approach for tyre industry. It is with this background that the
present study has been taken up in Indian context.
Lean manufacturing, or lean production, often simply, “Lean,” is a production
philosophy, which considers the expenditure of resources for any goal other than
the creation of value for the end customer to be wasteful, and thus a target
for its elimination (Womack et al., 1990; Shah and Ward, 2007; Antony, 2011).
Even its critics note that other management practices similar to lean production
have not been as widely acknowledged (Dankbaar, 1997) and admit that “lean
production will be the standard manufacturing paradigm in the 21st century”
(Rinehart et al., 1997).
Applications of lean manufacturing have spanned many sectors including
automotive components like transformers (Vinodh and Vimal, 2012), electronics
(Wong et al., 2009), automotive components (Ramesh et al., 2008), etc. However,
reported cases of similar studies (application of lean manufacturing) in process
industry are fewer (Abdullah et al., 2002).
It is observed, that most senior and middle level managers/engineers in Indian
manufacturing firms were unaware of the exact approach for developing lean
manufacturing environment and therefore are skeptical about its utility in Indian
organizations (Eswaramoorthi et al., 2010). This study therefore, aims at developing a
roadmap for developing lean manufacturing environment in Indian manufacturing
setup with a focus on tyre manufacturing. It may be noted that, lean manufacturing
therefore is not just a tool but a complete organizational philosophy which includes
IJPPM decision making both at strategic as well as operational level. The research work is
62,6 carried out in two phases:
. evolving a structural hierarchy of critical success factors for the tyre
manufacturing firms in India using interpretive structural modeling (ISM)
for the purpose of strategic decision making with regard to development of lean
environment; and
636 . an Excel-based template for measuring lean performance index for leanness
development at operational level in a tyre manufacturing organization
(radial tyre division) in India.
This is a case-based study of empirical nature carried out with the help of primary
data, expert interviews and questionnaire surveys carried out during field visits to
a large tyre manufacturing unit in northern India.

2. Brief detail of the case organization

The entire study has been carried out in a large and reputed tyre manufacturing firm
called Speedo tyres (actual name of the company is disguised for confidentiality).
Speedo Tyres, which was established in late seventies, presently has an annual
turnover of about Rs. 50 billion ($1 billion approximately). The firm has close to
15 percent market share in India and is one of the largest tyre exporters from India with
a worldwide customer base in over 75 countries across all the six continents. Firm’s
exports account for about 20 percent of the total tyre exports from India.
This study pertains to a large manufacturing unit of Speedo tyres which is situated
in northern India. This unit has both radial and bias tyre manufacturing division
with a total production capacity of around 60,000 metric tons of value $109 million
(approximately). A total of about 1,450 employees are engaged in this unit which
includes both regular and contractual workforce.

3. Lean manufacturing in tyre production

As discussed in the previous section, Indian tyre industry is operating in very stringent
atmosphere where manufacturing organizations have very little leeway. On the one
hand they have to negotiate high bargaining power of suppliers of raw material and
other components and on the other hand stiff expectations from domestic as well as
international automobile manufacturers. Therefore tyre manufacturers need to closely
monitor their manufacturing process in order to cut non-value adding activities
retaining competitive advantage (Mukhopadhyay and Shanker, 2005).
Prior studies in regard with tyre manufacturing have highlighted issues such as
technological and management strategies, equipment inefficiency, lack of skilled
manpower, workers’ issues, unfavorable government policies, high defect/scrap rate,
unavailability of spares parts, change management, improper scheduling, supplier
integration and customer expectation (Adei, 1990; Jovanovich and McDonald, 1984;
Klepper and Simons, 2000; Gupta et al., 2012).
Table I encapsulates the most important factors applicable for developing a lean
manufacturing paradigm in various organizations. These factors (in varying linguistic
terms) have been proposed by leading researchers in earlier studies in the context
of lean manufacturing. Here only those papers are considered which are indexed in
Scopus and Google Scholar and have fetched more than five citations as on January 10,
2012. The number of citation indexed (Scopus, Google Scholar) by each paper is
 Author(s) (year) (Scopus, Google, scholar citation)
Doolen and Bhasin and
Panizzolo Genaidy Hacker Seth and Achanga Burcher Shah and Abdulmalek Sahoo Gurumurthy
Factor (1998) and Karwowski (2005) Gupta et al. (2006) (2006) Ward (2007) et al. (2006) et al. (2008) and Kodali
Factors notation (28, 87) (2003) (26, 48) (22, 39) (2005) (30, 59) (32, 96) (43, 123) (84, 172) (62, 135) (7, 21) (2009) (6, 18)

Human resource
management
Organizational culture
Production methodology
Performance
Supplier integration
Top management
commitment
Customer involvement
Change management
Macro environment
Financial capability
HRM | | | | | | |
OC | | | | | | | | |
PM | | | | | | |
PER | | | | | | | | | |
SI | | | | | |
TMC | | | | | | |
CI | | | | |
CM | | | | |
ME | | | | |
FC | | | | |
in India
manufacturing

Critical success factors

for lean implementation
637
Radial tyre

Table I.
IJPPM Strategic factors Factor description Operational dimensions
62,6
Human resource HRM is a strategic organization wide Employee motivation; employee
management approach to managing employees so as expertise and skills; multitasking;
(HRM) to develop a favorable workplace culture employee accountability; employee
and favorable environment. Effective attrition
HRM enables employees to contribute
638 productively for the accomplishment of
the organization’s strategic goals
Organizational Organization organizes itself with its Education and training;
culture (OC) value system, norms and goals, which communication; absenteeism;
comprehensively defines the reward system; employee welfare
organizational culture of the company.
These values and ecosystem builds a
distinct social and psychological
environment of an organization
Production Production methodology is established Technology; equipment support;
methodology method of production which consists of production planning and control;
(PM) series of stages arranged sequentially power consumption; total
and incorporates specific technology, productive maintenance; in-process
equipments, inventories and human inventory; scraps and defects
skills
Performance Any organization is part of an economic Manpower productivity; machine
(PER) system which is accountable for its efficiency; defects and scraps;
stakeholders and has to cater with production efficiency; first time
changing industry environment, quality
competition, fluctuating resources, etc.
The performance of the organization
depends upon its ability to utilize its
resources in optimal manner which in
turn is the indicator of leanness of the
organization
Supplier Suppliers are an integral part of any Just in time delivery; quality of
integration (SI) organization to achieve both significant product supplied; availability of
production efficiency and continuing spares; competitive pricing;
innovations that can deliver greater product development; raw material
value over time in the organizational inventory
ecosystem. Proper coordination between
organization and its suppliers is
inevitable for developing paradigm in
the organization
Top management Direct participation of the strategic Resource allocation; authority
commitment decision makers in a specific and delegation; proper communication;
(TMC) critically important lean manufacturing long-term strategic planning; total
program in an organization. It helps inventory level
formulating and establishing quality
policies and objectives, providing
resources and training, overseeing
implementation at all levels of the
organization, and evaluating and
revising the policy in light of results
Table II. achieved
Strategic factor
description and their
operational dimensions (continued)
Strategic factors Factor description Operational dimensions
Radial tyre
manufacturing
Customer
involvement (CI)
Customer involvement aims at
identifying and developing possibilities
Quality feedback; demand
consistency; product and process
in India
to involve customers in the business and design; logistics support; brand
product development process, such as value
product design, marketing, quality,
customer service, etc. customers
639
involvement helps to shape, improve
and manage the lean manufacturing
process
Change Change management is the building Employee attitude towards change;
management block of any organizational development technological development; global
(CM) program such as Lean. Change and competitiveness; improved process
improvement needs to occur on a regular
basis in a planned manner with the help
of commitment from top management
Macro This includes the external and Government norms; global
environment uncontrollable factors that influence an specifications; environmental
(ME) organization’s decision making, and changes; mergers and acquisitions
affect its performance and strategies.
These factors include the factors such as
industry economics; government
regulations; legal and social conditions;
global issues; technological changes;
environmental forces, etc.
Financial The ability to make informed financial Infrastructure development;
capability (FC) decisions is essential for basic attitude of top-management; risk
functioning of any organization. These taking ability; procuring new
decisions range from simple day-to-day technology; incentives and training
expenses budgeting to allocating programs
resources for improved organizational
performance. Top management decision
making is always directly or indirectly
influenced by financial condition of the
organization, hence it can be considered
as the driving force behind
implementing lean Table II.

mentioned against each author’s name in the separate bracket. Therefore most relevant
factors pertaining to lean implementation are listed in Table I, and their description
and operational dimensions are enumerated in Table II.
It has been explored that, lean manufacturing techniques along with other tools such as
Six-Sigma can serve as major instruments to reduce defects in the tyre manufacturing
process in India (Gupta et al., 2012). While lean manufacturing has helped attain highly
impressive results in countries such as Japan, USA, however, in Indian context, its
applications are rarely found (Singh et al., 2010). It is therefore very important for each
organization in India to identify critical success factors for facilitating application of any
organizational development practice (De Waal and Counet, 2009). In India, there are issues
such as employee expertise and mindset of human resource available, organizational culture,
suppliers’ performance and government norms (Upadhye et al., 2009; Singh et al., 2009),
which serve as a great concern for lean implementation in Indian manufacturing sector.
IJPPM 4. Field study
62,6 As has been mentioned earlier this research study is highly empirical in nature, which
has employed input from an extensive field study in three stages namely: expert
interaction, questionnaire survey and collection of primary data. On the basis of this
field study combined with first hand observation in factory premises, various issues
involved in radial tyre manufacturing process has been comprehended so as to identify
640 scope for lean manufacturing practices at various stages.
4.1 Expert interaction and questionnaire survey
As a result of interaction with process experts and the functional heads combined
with information obtained through a specifically designed questionnaire, three major
outcomes were achieved:
(1) Waste categorization in radial tyre manufacturing: on the basis of observation
during field study and expert interaction, eight standard wastes of lean
paradigm (Shah and Ward, 2003) are mapped with the major wastes appearing
in radial tyre manufacturing (Table III).
(2) Development of interpretive structural model (details given in Section 5).
(3) Development of leanness template (details given in Section 6).

5. ISM
ISM methodology helps in structuring and management of the complexity of
relationships among the elements of a large-scale organization or system (Warfield,
1974). It is called, interpretive because the judgment of the experts decides whether the
elements/factors are inter-related. It is called structural because an overall structure is
extracted from the complex set of factors. This important tool has been used in the
present study so as to take long-term strategic decisions with regard to lean
manufacturing implementation. ISM clearly identifies the factors which are required to
be controlled in order to make strategic decisions for developing lean environment.
It also describes the important indicators for lean performance in long-term scenario.
ISM methodology suggests the use of the experts’ opinions based on various
management techniques such as brain storming, nominal technique, etc. in developing
contextual relationship in a case-based study among the variables (Mohammed et al.,
2008). Use of ISM in hierarchical modeling have also been recommended and employed
by Mohammed et al. (2008), Mandal and Deshmukh (1994) and Saxena et al. (1992).
The steps taken to achieve appropriate type of relationship are mentioned in next
sub-section.

5.1 ISM methodology

A. A questionnaire was designed consisting of factors identified from the literature
(Table I) and a group of experts of radial manufacturing division of the case
organization were approached for their feedback along with brainstorming session at
length. A total of 14 experts belonging to major departments of the firm, such as,
quality assurance, production planning and control and human resource management,
participated in the study whose experience ranges from two years to 33 years with a
mean experience of 15 years.
B. The feedback in the form of structural self-interaction matrix (SSIM), is collected
and compiled (Table IV) on the basis of most preferred relationship among the factors,

Waste category Standard lean wastes
Defect Error in producing the products or
materials, resulting in scrap or rework
Inventory Unnecessary storage of raw materials,
intermediates or semi finished goods
and finished goods that add cost
Waiting Idle time and delays for workers or
machines
Overproduction Unnecessarily producing more than
demanded or producing it too early
before it is needed
Over-processing A manufacturing process that is
unnecessary complex and does not add
value
Under utilization The waste of not using people to the
of HR best of their unique abilities
Transportation Unnecessary movement of materials
Movement Unnecessary movement of people
Radial tyre
Wastes in radial tyre
manufacturing manufacturing
in India
Finished product scrap and quality
Process scrap
Defective in-process components
Finished product weight variance 641
Finished goods stock at w/h as on
month end
In-process materials piling up
Machine breakdown
Absenteeism of expert labor
Shortage of in-process components
Shortage of raw material
Non availability of spares
Improper scheduling
Push production
Almost 30 day stock of finished
goods
Excess fuel/energy consumption
Power consumption per day
Manpower productivity
Improper deputation of manpower
Improper tagging of components
Improper plant layout
Variability in machines
Shortage of spools Table III.
Improper plant layout Mapping of radial tyre
Absenteeism of casual labor manufacturing wastes

Factors notation
Factor no. Factor description FC ME CM CI TMC SI PER PM OC

1 Human resource management (HRM) A O V V A V V O X

2 Organizational culture (OC) O O V V A V V O X
3 Production methodology (PM) A A O O O V V X
4 Performance (PER) V O O X V O X
5 Supplier integration (SI) A A O O O X
6 Top management commitment (TMC) A A V V X
7 Customer involvement (CI) A A A X
8 Change management (CM) A A X Table IV.
9 Macro environment (ME) O X Structural self-interaction
10 Financial capability (FC) X matrix (SSIM)
IJPPM from the aforementioned experts. Following notations are used to denote the inter-
62,6 relationship among the determinants:
V – determinant i will help to attain determinant j;
A – determinant j will help to attain determinant i;
X – determinant i and j will help to attain each other; and
O – determinant i and j are not related.
642 C. Reachability matrix. Reachability matrix is developed from SSIM. The SSIM is
transformed into a binary matrix, called the initial reachability matrix by substituting
V, A, X and O by 1 and 0 as per predefined rules (Singh and Kant, 2008; Mandal and
Deshmukh, 1994).
D. Transitivity matrix. The final reachability matrix or transitivity matrix (Table V)
is obtained by incorporating the transitivity check whereby, if element i reach to
element j and element j reaches element k than element i should reach element k.
The driving power for each determinant is the sum of total determinants (including
itself), which it may help to achieve. Dependence is the sum of total determinants
(including itself), which may help to achieve it ( Jyoti et al., 2010).
E. MICMAC analysis. The MICMAC analysis (Figure 1) is used to analyze the
driver and dependency power of determinants. The driving power and dependence
of each determinant is derived from transitivity matrix.
The main objective of MICMAC analysis is to analyze the driver power and
the dependency of the variables (Mandal and Deshmukh, 1994). The success
factors mentioned earlier are categorized into four clusters. The first cluster is known
as “autonomous cluster” which has elements with weak driving power and weak
dependence. In present study there is no element in this cluster. These elements are
relatively disconnected from the system, and therefore are to be ultimately discarded
from the model. Therefore it may be assumed that all factors considered in this study
are important in context with lean manufacturing implementation.
The “independent cluster” constitutes the most important variables with strong
driving power but weak dependence. In this study macro environment and production
methodology constitutes independent cluster. These factors actually represent as the
name suggests a set of variables which ultimately control other factors to develop lean
manufacturing environment in an organization.

Factors notation
Factor no. Factors HRM OC PM PER SI TMC CI CM ME FC Driving power

1 HRM 1 1 0 1 1 1a 1 1 0 1a 8
2 OC 1 1 0 1 1 1a 1 1 0 1a 8
3 PM 0 0 1 1 1 1a 1a 0 0 1a 6
4 PER 1a 1a 1a 1 1a 1 1 1a 0 1 9
5 SI 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1
6 TMC 1 1 0 1a 1a 1 1 1 0 0 7
7 CI 0 0 0 1 0 1a 1 0 0 1a 4
8 CM 0 0 0 1a 0 0 1 1 0 0 3
9 ME 1a 1a 1 1a 1 1 1 1 1 0 9
10 FC 1 1a 1 1a 1 1 1 1 0 1 9
Dependence power 6 6 4 9 8 8 9 7 1 6
Table V.
Transitivity matrix Note: aThe transitive relationship of the elements
 10
MicMac Analysis Radial tyre
{ME} {FC} {PER}
9 manufacturing
8
{TMC}
in India
7 {PM} {HRM.OC}
Driving Power

6
Independent Cluster Linkage Cluster
5 643
4 {CM}
3 {CI}

2
{SI}
1 Autonomous Cluster Dependent Cluster
0 Figure 1.
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Mic-Mac analysis
Dependence Power

The “linkage cluster” has elements with strong driving power and strong dependence.
Determinants in this category are financial capability, performance, organizational culture,
human resource management and top management commitment. These factors, as the
name suggests, acts as the facilitator for developing lean manufacturing in this context
and are being controlled by independent factors and help in developing dependent factors.
The “dependent cluster” constitutes the elements with weak driving power but
strong dependence. Customer involvement, change management, supplier integration
belong to this cluster. These are the factors which show the overall impact of
lean manufacturing paradigm on the overall working of the organization. Therefore
dependent cluster identifies the factors which can acts as the indicator of extent of lean
manufacturing implementation in an organization.
F. Level partitioning. The transitivity matrix obtained in Step D is zoned off into
different levels. The reachability set and antecedent set for each parameter are found
out from transitivity matrix (Warfield, 1974). The reachability set for a particular
determinant consists of the determinant itself and the other determinants, which may
help in achieving them.
Then, the common elements of both reachability set and antecedent set is derived
as intersection set for all variables. The variables for which the reachability and
the intersection sets are the same are named as level-I in ISM hierarchy. Similarly
subsequent levels are found out by eliminating elements in intersection set of previous
set in an iterative manner.
G. ISM-based model for lean implementation. On the basis of level partitioning,
interpretive structural model (Figure 2), can be drawn which hierarchically categorize
the factors considered in context with lean implementation. A higher level represents
higher hierarchy which drives the factors lying in lower levels of hierarchy.
Important findings of ISM:
. ISM suggests that financial capability of an organization builds strong perception
and commitment of top management for incorporating lean environment; and
. this model also suggests that the extent of customer involvement as well as supplier
integration is important indicators of the degree of leanness of the organization.
Furthermore according to this analysis, organizational culture and human resource
management are the key enablers for incorporating change in management practices
IJPPM Level-IV
Macro Environment
62,6

Level-III
Human Resource Organizational Top Management Financial
Management Culture Commitment Capability
644
Level-II Production
Change Performance
Methodology
Management

Figure 2. Level-I Customer Supplier

ISM model Involvement Integration

without which it is impossible to even think of implementing lean manufacturing

paradigm in any organization:
. Major contribution of this model is the hierarchical interaction among the
critical success factors of lean implementation in a tyre manufacturing firm.
It identifies the level of hierarchy and inter-relationship of the factors which help
the strategic managers to take actions in order to improve the performance of
their organization.
ISM developed here serves as an important roadmap for making strategic decisions
that would help in creating long-term environment for lean manufacturing. Employing
this model, management can formulate strategy to build favorable organizational
culture and develop human resource to bring about required changes for lean
manufacturing scenario.

6. Leanness assessment and control – an approach for operational decision

making
6.1 Computation of lean index through a lean template
A comprehensive template has been developed for measuring leanness index of a tyre
manufacturing unit which helps in taking decisions at operational level. This template
is based on quantitative and qualitative data collected from the case firm during
extensive field study and in-depth interactions with the experts of tyre manufacturing.
This template is used to take day-to-day operational decisions for eliminating wasteful
activities in the system thereby improving lean environment.
This template consists of five major wastes, namely, defects/scrap,; inventory;
waiting; over-processing; and under utilization of human resource. Attributes
measuring these wastes are the operational dimensions of the strategic factors listed in
Table II and are identified with help of the observations during the field study.
Other lean wastes such as, movement and transportation are not considered for this
template formulation because tyre manufacturing is highly process driven and usually
requires huge setup where frequent movement and transportation are inevitable.
Expert opinion suggests that it is very difficult to quantify this category of waste;
therefore these are not considered in this study. Overproduction of in-process
components is included in the category of inventory waste.
 Expert interaction in addition to the primary data helps to identify various Radial tyre
attributes for the categorized wastes and is represented in the template in the form of manufacturing
relevant questions. These questions have choices represented both quantitatively as
well as qualitatively to make this template more versatile in its use. in India

6.2 Template design methodology

This template is designed in two modules: in module 1 (Table VI) relative importance 645
of each waste is identified by the various department heads on the basis of attributes
assigned to each waste in the form of questions, which they have to rate on a scale of
1-7 (1 ¼ least important; 7 ¼ most important).
Six experts interviewed in this regard are the heads of the departments in the radial
tyre manufacturing division of the firm having average experience of 22 years. This
module is useful in setting leanness targets for the operating staff.
Most important waste is the one which is the most detrimental to the organization
by way of causing maximum financial loss to the company; therefore its target value is
taken as 100 percent (This means organization aims for complete elimination of this
waste). Accordingly, other wastes are given values on a normalized scale to calculate
target leanness index of each waste and their weighted sum gives the value of target
overall leanness index. Sample of the template is shown in Table VII.
Steps involved in module 2 are as under:
(1) Performance rating of each waste is marked as “X” against the appropriate
value in quantitative or qualitative terms, by the operating staff on the basis of
same attributes assigned to each waste in the form of questions, which they
have to rate on a scale of 1-7 (1 ¼ worst performance; 7 ¼ excellent
performance). Thirty-four workers interacted in this regard from various
departments of the radial tyre manufacturing division of the firm having an
average experience of nine years.
(2) Thereafter average score of each waste is calculated by dividing its total score
by total number of questions.
(3) Leanness percentage is calculated by dividing the figure obtained in
previous step by 7 (the maximum possible score for an attribute) in
proportional terms.

No. of Module 1: relative

Sl. no. Waste questions importance Module 2: performance rating

1 Defects 10 Relative importance of each Performance rating of each

2 Inventory
3 Waiting
4 Over processing
5 HR
underutilization
waste is assigned with the waste in both quantitative as
help of department heads well as qualitative terms is
on a scale of 1 to 7 assigned by the operating staff
on a scale of 1 to 7
5
9
3
4 Table VI.
Template design
 62,6

646
IJPPM

Table VII.
Sample template
Performance rating
Attributes
Waste 1: defect (questions) Relative importance Mark: X Quantitative rating (%) Qualitative rating Mark: X

Finished product What is the total Very low (VL) Over 6.26 Worst (W)
scrap and quality % scrap on
Warehoused
tyres?
Low (L) x 5.26-6.25 Very poor (VP) x
Fairly low (FL) 4.26-5.25 Poor (P)
Medium (M) 3.26-4.25 Fair (F)
Fairly high (FH) 2.26-3.25 Good (G)
High (H) 1.26-2.25 Very good (VG)
Very high (H) 0.25-1.25 Excellent (E)
What is the total Very low (VL) Worst (W)
% of tyres that
are found with
varying
dimensions then
specified? Over 1.20
Low (L) x 1.01-1.20 Very poor (VP)
Fairly low (FL) 0.81-1.00 Poor (P)
Medium (M) 0.61-0.80 Fair (F) x
Fairly high (FH) 0.41-0.60 Good (G)
High (H) 0.21-0.40 Very good (VG)
Very high (H) 0-0.20 Excellent (E)
 (4) Current leanness index is calculated by taking the weighted sum of the Radial tyre
leanness of each waste category. manufacturing
(5) Current relative leanness index is calculated by taking the ratio of current in India
leanness index and target overall leanness index of the firm.
The actual template, whose overall design and the sample attribute rating are shown in
Tables VI and VII, respectively, consists of five earlier mentioned wastes and total of 31 647
attributes spread over these five wastes. Each attribute has a relative importance and
performance rating scale as already mentioned. Based on the received responses of this
template, the overall leanness index is computed.
This module is useful in assessing the current leanness of the concerned
departments and accordingly executives can take measures to minimize the gap between
target leanness and actual leanness levels which are clearly expressed in numeric
percentage terms (Table VIII). The corresponding radar chart shown in Figure 3, gives a
clear graphic view of target vs actual lean performance by the firm.
Relative leanness of the firm is to be monitored on regular time intervals and
accordingly a time based plan can be drawn to assess the leanness pattern of the
organization. Sustaining a particular level of leanness for a stipulated time frame
and then growing accordingly is the major challenge for the operating staff of
the organization.

6.3 Important findings of lean assessment template

. Radar chart shows that, over-processing as well as defects are the most
detrimental wastes in radial tyre manufacturing as the gap between target and
the actual in both the waste categories are maximum (close to 40 percent).
. Needless to say, over-processing which implies allocation of more resources than
actually required is an offshoot of defects to a large extent. A major amount of

% Target relative Target overall Current Current relative

Leanness leanness wrt each leanness index leanness leanness index
Waste index waste (%) (%) index (%) (%)

Defects 41.43 79.41 82.27 49.38 60.01

Inventory 37.14 74.12
Waiting 52.38 78.43
Over-processing 61.90 100.00 Table VIII.
HR underutilization 50.00 79.41 Overall leanness index

Defects
100.00%
80.00%
60.00% % Leanness Index
HR 40.00%
Underutilization Inventory
20.00%
Target Relative Leanness
0.00% wrt Each Waste
Figure 3.
Radar chart for current
leanness
Overprocessing Waiting
IJPPM extra resources are utilized in rectification of defective tyres. Similarly, inventory
62,6 appears to be another waste requiring serious attention.
. Current leanness index of the organization is 49.38 percent, which is an alarming
situation and management has to take urgent steps to reduce defect rate (current
defect rate is over 20 percent) because controlling defects will lead to lower over-
processing and reduction in inventory pile up at various stages of production
648 which in turn will reduce waiting at various stages.
The template developed here is easy to use and can be widely employed in all tyre
manufacturing companies to monitor their leanness because of its versatility.
The quantitative values of the attributes may change, otherwise the entire
methodology to calculate the leanness will remain the same for entire tyre industry.
In addition, the template provides option to change the questions and the number of
choices so as to make it adaptable for manufacturing industries in general.

7. Conclusion
Thus it can be concluded that implementing lean paradigm in an organization involves
both strategic as well as operational approach. Interpretive structural model developed
in the present study serves as an important tool for taking strategic decisions for
improving lean performance of the organization by helping the top management to
understand the inter-relationship between critical factors of lean implementation.
At the same time long-term strategic policies with regard to leanness of the
organization can be formulated only if proper operational tools are in place to
monitor and control the lean performance on regular basis. Lean template developed in
this study serves as an important tool for assessing leanness of any radial tyre
manufacturing of India. It is a relatively uncomplicated Excel-based template which
helps operating staff of various departments to identify the major waste by calculating
the difference between actual and targeted leanness index for various wastes.
Therefore they can focus on reducing most prominent wastes so as to improve the
overall lean index of the organization.

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About the authors

Vipul Gupta is a full-time research scholar in management at Indian Institute of Information
Technology and Management (ABV-IIITM), Gwalior. He holds a B.E. (Mechanical Engineering)
degree from Madhav Institute of Technology and Science, Gwalior and Master’s in Business
Administration (MBA) from ABV-IIITM, Gwalior. He is presently pursuing his PhD from ABV-
IIITM, Gwalior on determinants of successful lean implementation in Indian industries. He has
more than four years of industrial experience before beginning his Ph.D. His areas of interest are:
operations research, decision modeling, and lean manufacturing. Vipul Gupta is the
corresponding author and can be contacted at: gupta.vpl9@gmail.com or vipul@iiitm.ac.in
Padmanav Acharya is an Associate Professor in Management at Indian Institute of
Information Technology and Management (ABV-IIITM), Gwalior. He received his M.Tech. and
Ph.D. from the Department of Industrial Engineering and Management at Indian Institute of
Technology, Kharagpur, India. Dr Acharya has nearly two decades of experience in teaching and
research. His research interests include software project management, software engineering,
system dynamics and operations management.
 Manoj Patwardhan is an Associate Professor in Management at Indian Institute of Radial tyre
Information Technology and Management (ABV-IIITM), Gwalior. He obtained his Master’s
degree in Personnel Management and Industrial Relations in 1992 and subsequently a Doctorate
manufacturing
degree in Management in 2004. His thesis work was mainly based on identification of business in India
leadership traits and organizational effectiveness. He has worked in industry for more than six
years in Mumbai and Daman. Dr Patwardhan has over 11 years of experience in teaching and
research. He has many research papers in national and international journals to his credit. In the 651
year 2002, his paper on leadership was adjudged as the best paper in The European Applied
Business Research Conference in Germany.

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