Measuring and building lean thinking for value creation in supply chains

Purpose – This study aims to develop a standardised instrument to measure the impact of lean thinking on supply chain value. This tool can be used to examine supply chain readiness and thus enhance overall value. It can also observe the potential role of customers, competitors and suppliers in increasing supply chain performance. Design/methodology/approach – A survey of previous studies is undertaken in the Egyptian industrial sector. The study also uses a questionnaire provided across all managerial levels of Egyptian firms. This questionnaire is divided into two main sections: the first section is considered to be about lean thinking stages for waste elimination, namely muri, mura and muda, while the second section relates to the value creation dimensions. Findings – The developed instrument accesses and analyses different types of lean thinking for identifying lean degree in supply chains. Consequently, it could lead to enhancing value creation in supply chains. This explorative study also indicates that the Egyptian industrial sector is willing to go lean. Research limitations/implications – Some limitations exist in this study. First, the survey was conducted on the Egyptian industrial sector. The applicability of the proposed scale should thus be further tested in different countries and service mixtures. Practical implications – Internal resistance is more of a barrier than external (customers, suppliers or competitors) resistance to lean thinking. Thus, organisations should focus first on internal (functional) integration and then move on to interorganisational integration. Further, people are more critical than technology in implementing lean thinking. Originality/value – There is little empirical research on the implementation of lean thinking. Practitioners and researchers should find value in this unique instrument.