RUFEREQ

The ever-changing demands of customers has pressured companies to re-think the methods used in production, and this has partially contributed to the shift from mass production to more custom- made products and services to satisfy individual customer needs (Askin and Goldberg, 2002). Lean manufacturing is one of the most useful methods of production that companies can use in order to reduce waste and create efficiency in their production processes (Novak (2006). Lean, however, is no longer restricted to manufacturing (Ballé and Regnièr 2007) and service companies implementing lean principles can gain control of key processes (Allway and Corbett, 2002). The paper highlights implementation issues of lean principles based on three case studies in Scottish companies within different sectors of the economy.

John Ayanaba, Michele Cano, Athanassios Kourouklis