a conceptual model for vsm in a produc- tion system with

PAPER WITHIN Production Development & Management

AUTHOR: Anders Broman & Clark-Kent Helmersson

JÖNKÖPING June 2021

A conceptual model

for VSM in a produc-

tion system with paral-

lel material flow - a case study of a SME in the wood

industry

This exam work has been carried out at the School of Engineering in Jönköping in the

subject area of Production system with a specialisation in production development and

management. The work is a part of the Master of Science program.

The authors take full responsibility for the opinions, conclusions, and findings presented.

Examiner: Gary Linnéusson

Supervisor: Malin Löfving & Julia Trolle

Scope: 30 credits (second cycle)

Date: 2021-06-15

Abstract

i

Abstract

There is a rapid change in the current market that requires more customisation and

higher quality for a lower price. For SMEs, it is a challenge to compete and develop the

production system in this increasingly competitive environment. One way to increase

the competitive advantages is to investigate the possibilities to involve Lean tools such

as VSM. The purpose of the VSM design is to get a quick holistic view of the production

system to find value-added and non-value-added activities and improve the production

system. A VSM is, however, not widely explored in a production system with high

flexibility and a high number of variants in a functional layout. It has been discovered

that there is a research gap in the literature, and some researchers proclaim that there is

none or a negative correlation between VSM and flexible production. Therefore, there

is a need to further explore these concepts together at a case company with these pa-

rameters.

The methodological approach is a single case study at a case company. The research

focuses on investigating how the VSM can be applicable in a production system with

high flexibility on a functional layout facility. The study will focus on hard aspects such

as the VSM itself and soft aspects such as Lean concepts, Change Management, and

employee’s behaviour and reactions. The reason is that enterprises need to investigate

parameters and employee behaviour since a production system with high flexibility on

a functional layout often perceives as a complex system. Therefore a conceptual model

has been developed to facilitate the adoption of this kind of production system. The

created conceptual model is based on the findings from the case company and theories

from the literature studies. The methods that supported the data collection in the case

are interviews with the production personnel and personnel from the management de-

partment, observations, VSM and a literature review.

Keywords

VSM, Change Management, Soft and Hard aspects, functional layout, flexibility,

SME, wood industry

Contents

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Contents

1 Introduction ........................................................................... 1

BACKGROUND .................................................................................................. 1

PROBLEM DESCRIPTION .................................................................................... 2

PURPOSE AND RESEARCH QUESTIONS ............................................................... 3

DELIMITATIONS ................................................................................................ 4

OUTLINE ........................................................................................................... 4

2 Theoretical background ........................................................ 5

PRODUCTION DEVELOPMENT ........................................................................... 5

2.1.1 Performance objectives ............................................................................ 5

2.1.2 Production layout ..................................................................................... 6

2.1.3 Lean production ....................................................................................... 7

SMES DEFINITION AND CHARACTERISTICS ..................................................... 10

2.2.1 SMEs in the wood industry .................................................................... 11

2.2.2 SME in a Lean production view ............................................................ 12

CHANGE MANAGEMENT ................................................................................. 13

2.3.1 Change Management in SMEs ............................................................... 13

3 Method and implementation ............................................... 15

RESEARCH DESIGN ......................................................................................... 15

PRIMARY AND SECONDARY DATA COLLECTION .............................................. 16

3.2.1 Interviews ............................................................................................... 16

3.2.2 Observation ............................................................................................ 18

3.2.3 Gemba .................................................................................................... 19

3.2.4 Literature review .................................................................................... 20

FLOW MAPPING OF THE CURRENT PRODUCTION SYSTEM ................................. 22

3.3.2 Time-related key indicators ........................................................................ 23

SKETCHING OF LAYOUT .................................................................................. 24

RELIABILITY & VALIDITY .............................................................................. 24

Contents

iii

ETHICS AND MORALE ..................................................................................... 25

4 Findings ............................................................................... 26

CASE COMPANY .............................................................................................. 26

INTERVIEWS ................................................................................................... 27

4.2.1 Unstructured interviews ......................................................................... 27

4.2.2 Semi-structured interviews .................................................................... 28

SKETCHING OF LAYOUT AND MATERIAL FLOW ............................................... 29

VALUE STREAM ANALYSIS ............................................................................. 30

4.4.1 Flowchart ............................................................................................... 30

4.4.2 VSM findings ......................................................................................... 33

FINDINGS OF SOFT AND HARD ISSUES AT THE CASE COMPANY ........................ 37

5 Analysis ............................................................................... 38

INVESTIGATION OF THE VSM CHARACTERISTICS IN A PARALLEL MATERIAL

FLOW 38

DESIGN OF A CONCEPTUAL MODEL BASED ON MODIFIED VSM ....................... 42

CONCEPTUAL MODEL RELATIONS TO LONG-TERM EFFECTS ............................ 47

6 Discussion and Conclusions ............................................. 50

DISCUSSION OF METHOD ................................................................................ 50

DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS ............................................................................... 51

6.2.1 Hard and Soft aspects for VSM in a production system with a functional

layout 51

6.2.2 The conceptual model for SMEs in the wood industry .......................... 53

6.2.3 Suggestions for improvements at the case company ............................. 55

CONCLUSIONS ................................................................................................ 56

IMPLICATIONS AND FUTURE RESEARCH .......................................................... 56

7 References ........................................................................... 58

8 Appendices .......................................................................... 64

APPENDIX 1 WOOD STAIR AND THE COMPONENTS (SWEDISH) ........................ 64

Contents

iv

APPENDIX 2 INTERVIEW QUESTIONS TO SALESMAN AND CONSTRUCTOR ........ 65

APPENDIX 3 INTERVIEW QUESTIONS TO THE TECHNICAL MANAGER .............. 66

APPENDIX 4 FUTURE STATE VSM AT THE CASE COMPANY ............................. 67

APPENDIX 5 SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPROVEMENTS IN THE LAYOUT AT THE CASE

COMPANY .................................................................................................................. 68

Introduction

1

1 Introduction

The introduction chapter introduces the topics of SMEs in wood industries and the con-

cepts of VSM and Change Management. The chapter begins with a background and

follow by the Problem Description of the study, Purpose and Research Questions and

then finalised with delimitations and the outline of the study.

Background

The business environment has changed in the last decades for manufacturing compa-

nies. With shifting customer expectations, visions for globalisation, and social struc-

tures, companies may have difficulty keeping up with new demands or expanding their

business (ElMaraghy, 2005). As customers are changing or expanding their demands,

markets are fluctuating more rapidly. More customised products, short life cycles, and

shorter time-to-market are expected from customers to satisfy their needs (Andersen,

Brunoe, Nielsen & Rösiö 2017). The majority of all the manufacturing companies are

small or medium-sized and play a crucial role in the country's economic growth. There-

fore, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) require special attention for develop-

ment on both production and organisational levels (Cull, Davis, Lamoreaux & Rosen-

thal 2006). According to Gunasekaran, Rai and Griffin (2011), SMEs have a more vig-

orous competition when competing with other SMEs, thus has led to SMEs being more

innovative and flexible. Despite the prevalence of SMEs, SMEs are more exposed to

external influences than larger companies. It often results in SMEs being subcontractors

for larger companies due to a lack of market power and competition on a domestic

market (Gunasekaran et al., 2011; Man et al., 2002). Hence, it can put SMEs in a chal-

lenging position to remain competitive or to survive in the highly competitive business

environment. Therefore, SMEs must utilise and take advantage of their capabilities to

satisfy shifting market requirements in a long-term perspective (Hudson Smith &

Smith, 2007).

The lean approach gives SMEs a competitive advantage locally and globally by imple-

menting continuous improvements strategies in both short-term and long-term perspec-

tive (Green, Lee & Kozman 2010). Implementing different continuous improvements

strategies, such as Value stream mapping (VSM), process flow mapping, can support

and facilitate SMEs' vision of better quality of a product and improved performance on

production systems (Sraun & Singh, 2017). With continuous improvement strategies,

the SMEs can update or reform their production system to improve their competitive

factors, such as flexibility, cost, quality, speed, and dependability, to tackle the shifting

market (Moeuf, Pellerin, Lamouri, Tamayo-Giraldo & Barbaray 2018). With the suc-

cessful implementation of improvements, it is essential to sustain these without risking

implications and returning to previous settings.

Change management support companies to maintain changes, thus increase the proba-

bility of success. The concept of Change Management is how the managers can develop

and involve the employees and creating a shared purpose within the organisation to

increase the probability of success to changes (Baharudin, Abdullah, Mohd Salleh &

Introduction

2

Shariffudin 2020). As has been noticed in earlier research, a technology gap and un-

derutilisation of capacity are very common in SMEs (Khanduja, Wani & Singh 2009).

Therefore, for SMEs, improving capacity can be a key decision when creating stronger

competition. According to Olhager & Johansson (2012), there are two definitions for

capacity in manufacturing. The first definition of capacity measures the maximum

available output in a production system in a specific period or machine hours if the

output is not homogeneous. The second definition of capacity defines it as connecting

to time and work, which then compare to the total capacity in the production system

and can express in either volume or numbers.

SMEs can improve their production system to increase competitive power and be resil-

ient to sudden changes in the market. Developing a production system for reusing ena-

bles the production system to introduce new products, change volumes, or variants, thus

increasing capacity (Bellgran & Säfsten, 2010; Rösiö & Bruch, 2018). The production

system is a “transformation system”, which transforms resources and creates goods or

services with a combination of labour, capital, and material (Bellgran & Säfsten, 2010).

Companies in the wood industries have historically been slow in developing and im-

proving the existing production system. The impact is that the industries have been

underperforming compared to the average level in other sectors such as metal or plastic

industries (Johansson et al., 2016; Malerba & Orsenigo, 1997). It is more common for

SMEs in wood industries to produce products with high variations and low volumes

due to unique customer order, thus requires higher flexibility and changeability in the

production system (Sandberg, Vasiri, Trischler & Öhman 2014). Improving machine

technology, adding more variance of material type, increasing customisation, and the

design of the product can be competitive factors for SMEs (Sandberg et al., 2014).

Therefore, if SMEs in the wood industries can utilise a sound design lean approach

method combining with how to sustain improvements changes, the capacity can be in-

creased and thus be more competitive on the market and resilient towards external

threats (Dextre-del-Castillo, Urruchi-Ortega, Peñafiel-Carrera, Raymundo-Ibañez &

Dominguez 2020).

Problem description

Conducting a VSM may not be enough or have trouble gathering necessary data from

a production system with high variations and high flexibility (Belekoukias et al., 2014;

Lugert et al., 2018). It can become even more complex to conduct a VSM when manu-

facturing multiple components from several different material flows, then unifies into

a single flow, and assembles into a final product. The reason is that VSM is for a single

line production with low variation (Rother, Shook & Helling 2001). This setting will

be named “Parallel material flow” and be the concept this case will use when testing

the VSM and referring to the production system. The lean approach fails the majority

of the time due to culture and resistance to changes (Bhasin, 2012).

The limitation for a VSM is mainly based on the method for collecting information on

physical aspects such as the material, product or management information system con-

nected to the production system. According to Lenka, Damodar and Pratap (2010),

Introduction

3

these physical aspects are called hard aspects and will be used in the report to facilitate

the reader. The VSM is a critical factor for SMEs but requires substantial commitment

and budget to succeed and be profitable in the long term (Lucherini & Rapaccini, 2017).

Without adequate resources and commitment from both employees and managers, it

can be difficult to achieve and sustain improvement changes, which is common in

SMEs (Dextre-del-Castillo et al., 2020). Change management increases the probability

of success in implementing and maintaining these changes but often fails due to a lack

of instructions and commitment from both manager and employees (Baharudin et al.,

2020). Soft aspects and change management can affect the performance and outcome

of the production system and thus the communication and synchronisation between

each flow. Soft aspects could be leadership and communication between the employees,

work climate, commitment, and satisfaction (Bailly & Léné, 2013; Lenka et al., 2010).

There is no clear distinction between successful implementation of changes and sus-

tainability. The reason is because there are no model or guideline to include these ele-

ments in the improvement program (Poksinska & Swartling, 2018).

Thus, a VSM may not be enough alone, and a new conceptual model for VSM inte-

grated with change management, hard-, and soft aspects may be necessary, so other

SMEs with wood industry settings can apply it to their production. With a proper guide-

line and conceptual model, SMEs will increase the probability of success in implement-

ing and sustaining improvements, thus increasing profitability and creating a long-term

effect (Tangen, 2005).

Purpose and research questions

The purpose is to gain insight on how VSM can be used in a production system with

parallel material flow and create a new perspective on challenges to lean approaches,

hard-, and soft aspects in SME wood industry settings. The aim is to contribute unique

insight and perspectives to increase capacity at case Company A to aid them in future

improvements. Therefore, three research questions will support achieving the purpose

of the case.

To understand the requirements for bridging the knowledge gap, investigating and test-

ing the VSM on the current production system will be necessary. The authors will pre-

sent advantages and disadvantages to facilitate for the reader how the VSM behave in

a production with parallel material flow combined with high variations and high flexi-

bility. Therefore, the first research question is as following:

[1] What are the advantages and disadvantages when using VSM as a tool for analysing

the current state in a production system with a parallel material flow?

There is a research gap and no clear guidelines on including employees’ behaviour and

reactions to changes when conducting a VSM on a production system. Therefore, there

is a need to investigate how hard and soft aspects can combine with change manage-

ment in this environment.

[2] How can a conceptual model be created and visualised by combining VSM with

hard-, soft aspects and change management practices in a production system?

Introduction

4

By combining VSM with soft-, hard aspects and change management, a visualisation

can facilitate the understanding of how the conceptual model will affect the organisa-

tion in a long-term perspective, which leads to the third question.

[3] How can the conceptual model be further visualised to provide a long-term effect

on an organisational level in a production system?

Delimitations

The study is limited to one case at a single company. Several flows are explored using

the practical Lean method VSM combined with soft aspects such as leadership and

Change Management. The study will not cover the painting, packing, and outbound

department due to the project's timeframe and that the study with VSM in focus does

not require these departments. However, the findings are focused on five flows and a

single information flow to get as much informative and realistic data as possible to

apply the upcoming data to other similar conditions. Change management, hard and

soft aspects will be combined in the analysis chapter to simplify a solution for identical

production systems, e.g. a guideline for future implementation of VSM. The majority

of the chosen methods will be performed on each material flow and continuing until

reaching the painting department. External factors and economic factors will not in-

clude in this study.

Outline

In the first chapter, the introduction, the reader will view the background, problem de-

scription, purpose, research question, and delimitation sub-chapter. Here the reader can

understand what the thesis is about and what fundamental perspectives the authors have

about the specific topic.

The second chapter introduces theoretical foundations for the case to give the reader a

perspective on how a flexible production in an SME can be combined with the VSM

approach and other concepts and achieve improvements through change management.

The methodologies describe the data-collecting in chapter three. The methods are to

explore the academic topics and describe how to conduct the methods and analyse the

data. Ethical and moral and the validity and reliability of the project reside in the meth-

odology.

The fourth chapter, findings, where the results from the execution of methods are col-

lected and structured. Chapter five: analysis, analyses the findings and theories com-

bined to guide the authors into answering the research questions and the purpose.

A discussion and conclusions will be at the end of the report to discuss the authors'

results. The methods, findings and conclusions can be drawn and finalised with future

research. The report will end with a reference list and appendices.

Theoretical background

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2 Theoretical background

The chapter theoretical background provides an overview on several aspects such as

the layout of the production, SMEs, VSM, Lean perspective and Change Management.

The theoretical background provides both definitions of the concept and how the con-

nection towards each other works.

Production Development

The chapter begins by describing the production development concept and its charac-

teristics. The theoretical concept performance objectives will cover the different com-

petitive factors connected to production development. Production layout will describe

other layout models and their connection to performance objectives. Lean production

will cover main areas and support the improvement of a production system to increase

competitive factors.

Production development is a concept based on creating an effective and efficient pro-

duction system from a long-term perspective. Processes transform a combination of

capital, work, and material into a custom-based product or services. Production devel-

opment enables the development of the production systems capability when introducing

new products in the future (Bellgran & Säfsten, 2010). Using the production develop-

ment concept enables production systems to be improved or create new production sys-

tems for competing and succeeding globally. Improving a production system gives an

advantage in the competition since the production system can be developed for reusing

when introducing new products, changing volumes, or variants (Rösiö & Bruch, 2018).

Production development put forward the question of to whether improve or develop a

current or a new production system. The reason for triggering a production development

decision can vary, these are introducing a new product or a product family. This can

either increase the capacity or improve the working environment. The existing produc-

tion system can give alternatives, ideas and suggestions on improvements when devel-

oping a new production system (Bellgran & Säfsten, 2010).

According to Okoshi, Pinheiro de Lima and Gouvea Da Costa (2019), competitive fac-

tors correlate with manufacturing decisions that influence the development of the pro-

duction system. The ideal goal for developing a production system is to create a system

that can be reused several times and only need to adjust by using the least effort to meet

new demands or new products. Skinner (1969) supports that developing the production

is essential, and the manufacturing must function to reach the overall company objec-

tives. Skinner (1969) further argues that manufacturing decisions influence business

strategies and connect them to competitive factors. The competitive factors are wider

explained in 2.1.1 as performance objectives.

2.1.1 Performance objectives

Investigating performance objectives for improvements in a production system is a

strategy to compete and gain an advantage over competitors in the global market. Ac-

cording to Tangen (2005), there are five key indicators that define performance


6

objectives; flexibility, speed, dependability, quality, and cost. These indicators depend

on the facility's type of production system and the type of customer. The competitive

factors are how the customer sees the performance objectives, e.g., low price is the

desire from the customer from the cost. The list below presents the definition of the

different performance objectives (Tangen, 2005).

• Flexibility – The availability of the production system to change quickly for

new demands and without disturbances to switch between different tasks while

not wasting time or capacity.

• Speed – how fast WIP products travel in the production system between the

different processes and the responsiveness of the administrative department.

• Dependability – deliver the product in time and what the customer had ordered.

• Quality – not wasting time on overproduction or delivering flawed products that

may be remanufactured or discarded.

• Cost – operations with low cost allows for selling products for a competitive

price and a higher profit.

Capacity falls under flexibility which connects it directly to performance objectives,

but capacity can also influence speed, dependability, quality, and cost (Okoshi et al.,

2019). Tangen (2005) states that flexibility describes three parameters; frequently new

products in the production system, wide product range, and delivery depending on the

customer demands. Lucherini & Rapaccini (2017) define Manufacturing Flexibility as

the production system´s capacity to handle the variability within the production and

operating conditions. Researchers or organisations can further investigate the concept

of manufacturing flexibility combined with a lean approach to developing a framework

for a production system with high variability and flexibility (Lucherini & Rapaccini,

2017).

2.1.2 Production layout

According to Bellgran & Säfsten (2010), planning the layout is an essential part of the

development of a production system in production development. Knowing the layout

types and suitable performance objectives for each layout saves both time and financial

resources when planning the layout. Ballestín, Pérez and Quintanilla (2020) state that

restructuring a production system could be an essential part of development when in-

creasing the capacity since the whole process chain are affected by what occurs in the

system. According to De Carlo, Arleo, Borgia and Tucci (2013), an improved layout

can increase flexibility, work environment, support in reducing the lead times, and less

WIP in the production system. There are four major layout models in the literature,

which has different purposes for different products, e.g., volume or variants. The layout

models are (Bellgran & Säfsten, 2010):

• Fixed layout: all value-adding activities are performed at only one specific area

or station.

• Functional layout: process-oriented layout is when the same type of equipment

is co-located (can also be mentioned as process layout).


7

• Cellular layouts: A layout in which different equipment and processes reside in

the same area.

• Line-based flow: the equipment is product-oriented with a sequential order line.

Improving the layout enables the company to achieve a competitive advantage to reach

and sustain customers in a long-term perspective. According to Peron, Fragapane,

Sgarbossa and Kay (2020), performance objectives decides the arrangement of different

resources in the facility. The different layout models in Table 1 focus on their perfor-

mance objectives and properties (Bellgran & Säfsten, 2010). In Figure 1, the different

layout properties present their relations to volume and variety and pick accordingly to

the target production system (De Carlo et al., 2013).

Table 1. Different types of layout (Bellgran & Säfsten, 2010).

Figure 1. Layout models and their variety and quantity (De Carlo et al., 2013).

2.1.3 Lean production

Lean production was first developed in Japan within the Toyota group and aimed to

reduce or remove the waste within the production compared to Ford’s philoso-

phy where mass production is in focus (Seth & Gupta, 2005). Lean production de-

scribes as a part of the production system. Lean production is a production tool that can

increase productivity and improve an organisation's different tasks and

• Fixed layout • considers low volume, high flexibility, high WIP,

high speed, high quality

• Functional layout • considers low volume, high flexibility, high WIP,

high speed, high quality

• Cellular layout

• is between the Functional and Line layout de-

pending on the equipment and product availabil-

ity

• Line-based flow • considers high volume, low flexibility, low WIP,

low price


8

processes. Green et al. (2010) state that it is a competitive advantage in the market both

locally and globally when using the Lean approach. Its purpose is to reduce waste in

production and be an assistance tool in both a short term and long-term perspective. The

lean approach is increasing the organisation’s capacity and performance objectives,

such as flexibility. However, it also improves synchronisation, safety and ergonom-

ics, and increases the quality level and is more cost-efficient in the market (Chen, Li &

Shady 2010).

Organisations can achieve competitive advantage through cross-sectional training for

the employees within an organisation (Chen et al., 2010; Liker et al., 2009). Bottlenecks

are a typical concept when working with Lean implementation in production. The lit-

erature has many different definitions of bottlenecks, but there is no consensus and clear

description on precisely what a bottleneck is and can vary from person to person. How-

ever, bottlenecks can define as the capacity of the resources is less than the customer

demand or a process that limits the material throughput of the production system

(Wang, Zhao & Zheng 2005). The paragraphs below: Value Stream Mapping, the 14

principles of Lean, eight wastes of Lean (Muda) and ECRS, will describe the four Lean

concepts.

Value Stream Mapping

VSM is a method that investigates the value-adding and non-value-adding activities in

an organisation to satisfy the customer demands (McDonald et al., 2002; Wee & Wu,

2009). According to Chen et al. (2010), a VSM consists of both the material flow and

information flow and could be sequential or parallel. A significant advantage of using

a VSM approach is that unnecessary non-value adding, i.e. waste, can be found in the

organisation and further be reduced or even be eliminated, which increases the value

propositions in the output of the production (Pasqualini & Zawislak, 2005; Ramesh,

Prasad & Srinivas 2008). As a result, the approach can be an indirect advantage for the

organisation to reach the customers against their competitors. The operations within the

organisation will be smoother and more effective after the reduction of the waste and,

in the long term perspective, find and remove more non-value adding activities, accord-

ing to Wee & Wu (2009). The analysing tool VSM starts with deciding the scope where

the system starts and ends to investigate the organisation's current state (Seth & Gupta,

2005).

Lucherini & Rapaccini (2017) proclaims that it is critical for SMEs to make investments

in Lean tools such as VSM since it requires effort and budgets to develop and sustain

the production system. VSM can assist managers in making easier decisions and focus

more on the activities within the production instead of directly increasing value to the

products to eliminate wastes in the activities. Belekoukias et al. (2014) state that a VSM

approach has almost no correlation with flexibility and can even have a negative effect

on flexibility when applying this Lean concept. The result is from investigating 140

manufacturing organisations worldwide and the correlation between different Lean

methods and operational performance measures (Belekoukias et al., 2014). Lugert et al.


9

(2018) also state that the Lean method VSM itself has difficulties in systems with flex-

ible production, but the combination of more Lean methods can be beneficial.

The 14 principles of Lean

Lean production is not only a method or a tool, and it can be as a philosophy, Liker et

al. (2009) stated 14 principles that can be followed for an organisation to be or strive to

become Lean:

1. Base your management decisions on a long-term philosophy, even at the expense of

short-term financial goals.

2. Create a continuous process flow to bring problems to the surface.

3. Use “pull” systems to avoid overproduction.

4. Level out the workload (work like the tortoise, not the hare).

5. Build a culture of stopping to fix problems, to get quality right the first time.

6. Standardised tasks and processes are the foundation for continuous improvement and

employee empowerment.

7. Use visual control, so no problems are hidden.

8. Use only reliable, thoroughly tested technology that serves your people and process.

9. Grow leaders who thoroughly understand the work, live the philosophy, and teach it

to others.

10. Develop exceptional people and teams who follow your company’s philosophy.

11. Respect your extended network of partners and suppliers by challenging them and

helping them improve.

12. Go and see for yourself to thoroughly understand the situation.

13. Make decisions slowly by consensus, thoroughly considering all options; imple-

ment decisions rapidly.

14. Become a learning organisation through relentless reflection and continuous im-

provement.

Eight wastes of Lean (Muda)

In the Lean and Toyota Production System approach, the elimination of waste is in

focus. It can be as everything within an organisation that does not create any value for

the customers. Since it is a customer-oriented approach, it is easier to observe the pro-

duction in value-adding (VA) and non-value-adding (NVA) activities. It can be in sev-

eral services and within the information perspective (Liker et al., 2009). A term called

Muda in Japanese describes the eight wastes within an organisation according to Liker

et al. (2009), and these eight wastes are:

1. Overproduction: is often seen as the most impactful waste since it adds much

extra effort, i.e., the production of additional components that no one has or-

dered creates inventory that requires personnel and added costs due to stock,

transport, and time.


10

2. Inventory: unnecessary amounts of goods, WIP, damaged goods, unnecessary

transport and buffer costs and delays. Overstock often hides other problems

such as long lead times, late deliveries from the supplier and bad production

planning.

3. Overprocessing: to do unnecessary actions on the products that the customer is

not paying for (i.e., products with higher quality than what is required). It

could be insufficient tools that create unnecessary work procedures and de-

fects.

4. Waiting: operators waiting for the next working step; it could be waiting for a

machine, tools, or nothing to do due to lack of material or bottlenecks.

5. Transport: to move WIP in long distances creates inefficient transports be-

tween the warehouses and the processes.

6. Motion: all the movements that do not create value that employees do, e.g.,

search, walk, reach for objects. 7. Defects: production of defective components, which results in adjustments, re-

pairing, reprocessing, scrap, and control of defects. It costs time, money, and

energy to adjust the defects within the production.

8. Unused Employee Creativity: the managers that do not listen or care about

their employees’ opinions loses opportunities to utilise ideas, competence, im-

provements, and time.

ECRS (Eliminate, Combine, Rearrange, Simplify) ECRS is a management technique that can be useful in Lean production when improv-

ing production processes and lines. Kasemset (2014) describes ECRS as following:

• E= Eliminate unnecessary work

• C= Combine operations

• R= Rearrange sequence of operations

• S= Simplify the necessary operations

This technique effectively reduces lead times, cycle times and waste since some parts

of the production system can be optimised and more effective (Kasemset, 2014). It can

also reduce the internal transport distances and reduce the number of “unnecessary”

operators and then put them on another work task that creates more value.

SMEs definition and characteristics

The chapter begins with the definition of SMEs characteristics and performance on the

market and then introduces how SMEs work in the wood industry. Subchapter 2.2.2

explains the barrier and challenges with lean production and connection to SMEs.

According to European Commission (2012), SMEs represents 99% of all businesses in

Europe. European Union has several support programs that are targeted at SMEs to

assist the organisations. Table 2 presents the definition or the determining factors if an

organisation is an SME; data is from the European Commission website (2012). The

factors are the staff headcount and turnover or balance sheet total.


11

Table 2. The European Commission’s definition of small and medium-sized enterprises (Euro-

pean Commission 2012).

Company category Staff headcount Turnover Balance sheet total

Medium-sized < 250 ≤ € 50 m ≤ € 43 m

Small < 50 ≤ € 10 m ≤ € 10 m

Micro < 10 ≤ € 2 m ≤ € 2 m

According to Gunasekaran et al. (2011), SMEs strength is to be responsive and resilient

when competing on the global market and meet new demands from customers. The new

market demands can challenge responsiveness to switch the production system, keep a

high-quality standard, and be innovative. Moeuf et al. (2018) stated that performance

objectives could be a triggering factor for improving the production system with new

technologies and reformed organisation level to be competitive on the market. Capacity

is a vital factor for SMEs when responding to customers or being competitive in the

market. A data-sharing system between different processes aids the improvement of the

capacity (Moeuf et al., 2018). Typical characteristics of SMEs are centralised decision

making, flexible structure and information flow, informal communication, simple plan-

ning & control system and a smaller customer base with closer contact to the customer

(Elkhairi, Fedouaki & Alami 2019).

2.2.1 SMEs in the wood industry

Wood industries, especially those practising furniture manufacturing, orient their busi-

ness around customisation, flexibility, and responsiveness to the market. SMEs in wood

industries rely on innovation and can negatively or positively impact the performance

objectives (Otero-Neira et al., 2009). Sweden is a dense forest country, and according

to Holmström (2020), SMEs consists of 99.9% of all enterprises in Sweden. The num-

ber of SMEs in the wood industries is higher in dense forest countries and contributes

to wood and furniture exports. Furniture created in wood is valued much higher than

sawn timber due to handcraft and surface treatment.

According to Sandberg et al. (2014), the product mix, capacity, and material wood type

can affect and influence the production system. A product made of wood and manufac-

tured in wood industries tends to be very expensive, very customised and has long sup-

ply delivery for the material. Every type of wood material is different depending on the

weather as well the location in the world. Furniture industries depend on sawn timber

timing when excavating the forest at the time of the season. Wood materials need to dry

before processing, and the percentage of dryness differs from products to products.

Wood materials can be difficult or near impossible to purchase for shorter forecasts;

therefore, it prevents fast day deliveries and must be checked regularly for availability

and then stocked up and stored for a more extended period within a controlled environ-

ment in a warehouse (Sandberg et al., 2014).


12

2.2.2 SME in a Lean production view

According to the literature, several SMEs struggle to implement or develop the Lean

production approach in a production system. Elkhairi et al. (2019) state that only a lim-

ited number of SMEs have implemented a successful Lean approach and maintained

the changes. The reasons could be several different barriers, such as lack of knowledge

about different Lean tools, the commitment to the norm and resources and expertise.

These are more limited for an SME compared to a larger organisation. Another signif-

icant barrier is the resistance to change within the organisation. Elkhairi et al. (2019)

clearly state that managing the barriers enables the organisation to implement Lean op-

erations in the production system. Elkhairi et al. (2019) further proclaim that solid lead-

ership is required for a possible cultural change within the organisation. Other important

factors are competence and communication within the organisation while committing

to the Lean approach and further educating the personnel in a lean perspective to sustain

the change (Sahoo, 2021). Sahoo (2021) further explains that the involvement of em-

ployees increases the probability of success for lean implementation and creating a con-

tinuous improvements culture.

Gazoli de Oliveira & Ribeiro da Rocha Junior (2019) states that SMEs often miss the

holistic vision of waste reduction, which is seen more during economic fluctuations and

other financial losses. The authors are proclaiming that investments are necessary to

follow the development of the market. To implement Lean Manufacturing, the SMEs

must examine the current system, plan for the implementation, and then execute the

implementation with continuous improvement to maintain the changes (Gazoli de

Oliveira & Ribeiro da Rocha Junior, 2019). The authors lift that the SMEs should state

the philosophies (e.g., VSM and Kanban) of Lean and proclaim listening to the person-

nel who are the experts of the different processes.

Lean manufacturing is a socio-technical approach consisting of four categories accord-

ing to Alefari, Almanei and Salonitis (2020): technical, human, external environment,

and work organisation. The management of SMEs can see the Lean approach as a new

management philosophy and not just a tool to optimise production. Alefari et al. (2020)

state that teamwork and holistic system thinking are the keys to successful implemen-

tation and sustaining the organisation's Lean philosophy. Leadership is a non-value add-

ing; however, it is a fundamental bridge between the Lean implementation and the em-

ployees who will maintain and improve working. Gemba and celebrating success are

other factors that are important for a leader to make the organisation strive for the same

goal. The employees are motivated about the pay and self-satisfaction, and association

and the leader can increase these concepts by working closely and developing the em-

ployees (Alefari et al., 2020). Belhadi, Sha´ri, Touriki and El Fezazi (2018) state that

in the literature, it is missing frameworks for SMEs to follow when implementing a

Lean approach, which makes it difficult to conduct a plan for the organisation; this

results in neglecting the philosophy or hiring a consultancy to develop the production

system.


13

Change Management

The chapter starts with the definition of Change Management and the concepts within

change management. The Change Management approach within SMEs describes the

change management, hard-, and soft aspects in subchapter 2.3.1.

Change management defines as a tool or a process for assisting an organisation and

preparing employees for change (van der Voet & Vermeeren, 2017). Communication

and leadership can help an organisation to achieve the desired objective, which leads to

that change management depend on human factors for success and their collaboration

with projects (Baharudin et al., 2020). Successful change management begins with un-

derstanding why a change is necessary and how a personal transition can enable en-

gagement and utilisation of the difference (Hayes, 2018).

2.3.1 Change Management in SMEs

For SMEs, change management can be perceived as a delicate business decision that

can affect the production personnel, positively and negatively. Change management can

be a great tool and process to increase their competitiveness and the possibility to re-

spond to external threats and improve adaptability (Dextre-del-Castillo et al., 2020;

Ferenc Tolner et al., 2021). Even though, initiate a change on SMEs can be a challenge

due to how centralised or decentralised the organisation level is. SMEs organisations

are typical centralised and often lacks management to initiate change management, and

are more affected by human factors (Tolner et al., 2021). As Forza & Salvador (2001)

state, organisations benefit when having a decentralised decision-making approach at

the production floor since it creates a minor error in communication, quicker channels

for communication, and facilitates knowledge and experience sharing at the production

floor level.

An organisational culture and a framework that support the strategies are crucial for

change management success. According to Sahoo (2021), managers are part of success

with change management since they are the key to involving the employees with con-

tinuous improvement strategies. Managers with a mentorship of good quality, contrib-

ute to good communication flow, information sharing, and creates transparency be-

tween employees and the organisation (Baharudin et al., 2020). Change management is

a great contributor to successful lean production implementation. According to Moeuf,

Tamayo, Lamouri, Pellerin and Lelievre (2016), managers with solid decision power

are key for implementation and often found in the top management branch. Managers

are usually formed from previous experience and expertise, facilitating their decision-

making and increasing their decision power. The decision power can impact the moti-

vation of the employees, time assignments, and if investments are necessary for the

change.

Lean practices can affect the employees differently and create negative effects, they can

be damaging, such as increased stress, sickness, and uncomfortable work conditions. It

has proven by Hasle (2014) that when implementing lean practices, involving employ-

ees in the project is important for reducing the negative effects, thus leads that change

management is an important factor for success. Lean implementation is to favour the


14

organisation, but it is important to include employees to be in their favour in the long

term, and change management can support this. According to Lugert et al. (2018), man-

agement of human and organisational elements support the implementation of VSM

and thus can eliminate weaknesses of the VSM and improving responsiveness to exter-

nal and internal influence. It states that management is important for VSM to reduce

fluctuations and irregular production patterns.

According to Gunasekaran et al. (2011), SMEs have a more robust competition when

competing with other SMEs, thus has led to SMEs being more innovative and flexible.

Flexibility has been a significant factor for SMEs to increase their competitiveness,

improving the capabilities and responsiveness to various customer expectations

(Matejun, 2014). With high flexibility, SMEs increase their ability to react to sudden

external threats and rapid changes in external conditions. The article by Matejun (2014)

heavily implies that SMEs should concentrate on improving the flexibility of the pro-

duction system to increase the competitiveness level.

When enterprises speak in terms of flexible production, it enables them to transform

the productions technological level and capacity to meet sudden changes in the market

(Stanev et al., 2008; Ulukan, 2020). Due to customer demands, more innovative prod-

ucts, faster response, and a higher level of creativity, being proactive can resolve a crisis

that can damage the company. Luburić (2019) further explains that change management

can help prevent a crisis by involving the employees and establishing continuous im-

provement strategies. It can help develop the organisation to be more sustainable and

prepare the top management for an emergency, resist external influence, and increase

their competitiveness in the market.

Ferreira, Araujo and Echeveste (2020) argue that ten factors exist that affect the imple-

mentation of continuous improvement strategies, it cites as follows:

learning and qualification of people; upper and middle management

support and commitment; engagement of all workers; autonomy of em-

ployees; communication process; health and well-being of the work-

ers; development of vision and strategies to change and establish a

sense of urgency; developing lean leadership and definition of an

agent for change; development of an organisational culture; and

change Planning.(Ferreira et al., 2020)

Hard and soft aspects affect the performance of operators in the production system,

according to Lenka et al. (2010). Soft aspects define as management of employees,

working and service climate, inspirational leadership, employees’ commitment and

job satisfaction. The hard aspects are the physical evidence factors such as infor-

mation management system and materials and machines. These two aspects are essen-

tial to consider in a production system when working with improvements changes and

to sustain them due to the human interactions that occur during the process (Lenka et

al., 2010).

Method and implementation

15

3 Method and implementation

This chapter will introduce methods for investigating the production system by per-

forming a VSM and investigating the perspective regarding change management. The

methods to collect data will be Interviews, Observations, Literature review, and flow

mapping of the current production system. The study´s approach will be in Research

Design and the chosen literature search in the literature review. Primary and second-

ary data will describe how the different data gathering were used, with explanations.

At last, arguments for the validity and reliability, and implications of ethical and morals

aspects.

Research Design

The research of the study consists of a qualitative approach. The choice of collection

technique depends on how the information and data are collected, processed, and ana-

lysed in the research. Qualitative data describes researchers focusing on collecting

“soft” data, which often consist of qualitative interviews and verbal analyses. In con-

trast, quantitative data consists of more measuring data collection and statistical analyt-

ical methods (Saunders, Lewis & Thornhill 2016).

From the research perspective, three approaches relate to the methods and theories.

These are induction, deduction, and abduction, and Patel & Davidson (2011a) describe

them in their research book. Induction is an explorative path where the researcher ob-

serves the object without testing the research on an existing theory and by the observa-

tion formulating a generalisable theory. An inductive approach is often based on a spe-

cific situation, making the formulated theory not applicable to other cases. The deduc-

tion can perceive as the opposite; the researcher uses generalised and existing theories

and makes conclusions due to specific circumstances. The deduction is the most used

approach in research, according to Patel & Davidson (2011a). Abduction is a hybrid

between induction and deduction, where the approach often starts with induction from

a case into formulating a theory (theory 1). Then it goes over to a deductive approach

where the hypothesis created is tested on one or several cases. Later on, the theory can

be further developed and generalised for several specific cases into theory 2 (Patel &

Davidson, 2011a).

This study has an abductive approach because it relates between the research and theo-

ries that consist of both an inductive and deductive approach. An initial stage is an

inductive approach where the first step is discovering information from the case com-

pany. The researcher tests a theory on the case company and then further developed it

into a more generalised theory for enterprises with the same production system to make

the production system more effective and more Lean. The research is mainly qualita-

tive, but some factors of quantitative elements are combined. Qualitative interviews

were for finding essential data to aid in the pursuit to achieve the purpose and aim.

However, the study has been using numbers and measures in some parts, but only to

make the data more straightforward with the context and strengthen the reliability and

validity.


16

Primary and secondary data collection

To answer the RQs, it was necessary to collect and analyse the enterprise's data. The

missing data that the authors collect is called primary data. At the same time, secondary

data is the data that already exists or are managed by a second party (Patel & Davidson,

2011b). When collecting primary data, it is the most important aspect to be as objective

as possible to sustain high trustworthiness results. Most of the data is of primary state

during the project since the enterprise does not have that much information, and they

do not want the authors to be affected by the enterprise’s information. Still, comparisons

between the primary and secondary data keep a high validity and reliability. The pri-

mary data has come from both unstructured and semi-structured interviews and direct

observations.

3.2.1 Interviews

In a case study, interviews were one of the most helpful and common data collection

method. Interviews are useful to gain more explanatory information from the case and

the circumstances (Yin, 2018). The interview forms were semi-structured and unstruc-

tured interviews. Semi-structured interviews are when the researcher lists specific

themes or questions, but the interviewee can freely answer the questions (Patel &

Davidson, 2011b). It can often perceive as an ordinary conversation, but about a spe-

cific topic and the interviewer can come up with supplementary questions during the

conversation. The interviewer will gain a more in-depth understanding and knowledge

(Patel & Davidson, 2011a). Unstructured interviews are when interviewees can express

how their aspects are regarding a specific topic. The format of the interview has no

restrictions more than the topic itself. The interviewer will gain reliable information

about the case (Saunders et al., 2016). In the project, conducting several interviews were

to secure and conclude data for the findings. The technique was inspired by the “Data

Collection Source” from the literature “Case Study Research Design and Methods” by

Yin (2018) to form the interviews questions, Appendix 2 & 3.


17

• About an organisation: designing the questions to reflect on the relevant infor-mation gained about the organisation.

• About the individual: creating questions to analyse individuals employees work.

As shown in Figure 2, the questions are based on two major categories to find the in-

teresting parts for the researchers. The interviewer asks open questions to get more ho-

listic and clarified answers, according to Yin (2014). The personnel and managers pro-

vided their perspective, experience, and opinions on the production system and sugges-

tions for improved capacity. The interviews will be analysed to provide relevant infor-

mation and a holistic view of the current production system and develop proposals for

improvement and how they work with continuous improvements. The authors were

conducting 15 unstructured interviews with some of the operators from the case com-

pany. These interviews explore the purpose to gain “everything” from the information

perspective (Patel & Davidson, 2011a). In the unstructured interviews, the interviewers

asked some questions and discussed them while taking notes from the contenders. Three

original semi-structured interviews were held with a seller, constructor, and the tech-

nical manager online. One of the interviewers asked the questions, and the other acted

as a secretary during the semi-structured interviews. The semi-structured interviews

questions in Appendix 2 is for the seller and constructor, and the technical manager's

questions are in Appendix 3. Some data was missing from the seller, constructor, and

technical manager; therefore, and were contacted once more. Table 3 presents each in-

terviewee's role and the date, time for each interview.

Table 3. Semi-structured interviews.

Role Date Time

Seller 22/4 1h 30 min

Constructor 26/4 1h 10 min

Figure 2. Design versus Data Collection: Different Units of Analysis, Yin (2014).


18

Technical Manager 27/4 1h 30 min

Seller 28/4 30 min

Constructor 28/4 30 min

Technical Manager 29/4 40 min

Comparing and analysing the semi-structured interviews to the unstructured interviews'

data decreased the risk of missing valuable data. Both authors would exchange infor-

mation between them to secure and verify the data. Typical questions that the authors

asked the operators during the unstructured interviews were “How often do you produce

the objects?”, “What are the reasons for time differences for each product?” and “Is this

a normal day in your process station?”.

3.2.2 Observation

Observations are the most familiar concept to gain primary data by observing the whole

process flow. Each observation was planned systematic, and the information was reg-

istered systematically to achieve a more profound validity and reliability. Observations

often explore the circumstances and often compare or base on other information gaining

techniques (Patel & Davidson, 2011a).

Before each visit, observations were planned the day before by investigating these ques-

tions to conduct the observations to gain data for answering the purpose and the RQs.

The questions beneath were answered before each planned visit to be better prepared

for the observations, and the last question is due to COVID-19 restrictions and to be as

safe as possible for the researchers and the personnel:

• What should we observe? • How can we note these observations? • How should we, as observers, act?

The observations are to collect information for the VSM by measuring the real-time

actions in the different processes and the employee’s behaviour, and how they com-

municate and work. Since the facility has several flows (several processes within them),

it was required to collect data from all processes. Since the production system has many

different parameters and a wide product range, some of the processes were more chal-

lenging to collect data to establish a balanced VSM (further observations in the execu-

tion of VSM is in chapter 3.3). However, with unstructured interviews with the opera-

tors, the data became more reliable since it gave an unbiased view. The authors have

visited the plant 16 times; these visits have included discussions, meetings, unstructured

interviews, and sidewalk during production and closed production. For the case, the

observations were made from door to door in the entire material flow. Observations

have been a vital part of understanding the processes and the flows within the facility

fully. The observation was beneficial since it played an important role in the collected

qualitative data and provided ideas on complementary approaches. The observation

gave insight and knowledge on the production system, employee movement behaviour

while performing work tasks, and real-time actions. The data was to provide ideas for


19

new possible literature scope (Yin, 2014). Table 4 presents the dates, times and context

of the visits/observations.

Table 4. Observations and visits at case Company A.

Date Time

(hour)

Context

25/1-21 3 Pre-study, short interview and observation of closed

production

9/2-21 3 Measure and CAD the layout of the facilities (closed

production)

11/2-21 6 Guiding and observation around the production flow

4/3-21 4 Finalise the CAD of the layout (closed production)

9/3-21 4 Count the raw material buffers for VSM (closed pro-

duction)

11/3-21 4 Count buffers/WIP between the processes (closed

production)

12/3-21 6 Count buffers/WIP between the processes (closed

production)

16/3-21 9 Observed Stringer flow and took cycle times

17/3-21 9 Observed post flow and took cycle times

18/3-21 12 Observed other flows and took cycle times, counted

buffer once more

23/3-21 4 Observed other flows and took cycle times

25/3-21 5 Observed the painting, packing, and assembly areas

1/4-21 5 Measured the rest of the cycle times for the VSM

15/4-21 4 Observation and interview with painting manager

22/4-21 5 Observations of the whole production system on

what can be improved

3.2.3 Gemba

Gemba is originally a Japanese concept and describes as the place where the action is

often used in a production approach and is a part of Lean production, according to Ellis

(2016). The authors Investigated the facility, employees, and process as a part of un-

derstanding the production system fully. Gemba is often used to solve problems directly

on the shop floor where the knowledge and information exists, but usually, managers

try to solve the issues in a conference room. Gemba can provide different reasonable

solutions in many different circumstances, which can support and improve the organi-

sation (Ellis, 2016).


20

In the study, the authors used the concept Gemba to be where the actual problem is to

gain knowledge about the production system to conduct the VSM and develop new

ideas and recommendations for both the case company and the literature. The Gemba

approach was made by observing what happens on the shop floor and try to gain insight

to come up with possible solutions for the future as a result of the purpose. By collecting

data directly from the production floor and understand some of the root problems in the

production system from their perspective, the study found a solution or a guideline for

improvement.

3.2.4 Literature review

The literature review will help to extend and expand our knowledge about SMEs (in

wood industries), Production Development, Change Management, Lean Production

(VSM) and flexibility and changeability in a production system. By reviewing the lit-

erature, we can find solutions and methods to achieve the purpose of the case, according

to Saunders et al. (2016). Furthermore, newly acquired theories were to validate the

created solutions for the case company to increase the capacity.

The first part of the literature review was by stating the theoretical topics of this project

to gain basic knowledge about the case. The holistic overview of which literature is

crucial since it benefits the further process of the comprehensive literature review (Patel

& Davidson, 2011a). The theoretical topics in the first literature review assisted in de-

fining the purpose and research questions of the case. There is a lot of existing research

on each academic topic presented in Table 4. However, when combining each topic,

there is not much information available in the literature, e.g., flexibility combined with

VSM, which is the central core of this study. In addition, combining flexibility and

VSM with SMEs in the wood industry and Change Management, there is no literature

found. The literature review, therefore, supports this research taken the abductive ap-

proach.

The literature review consists of books and scientific papers with basic knowledge and

more profound knowledge. The basic knowledge provided a fundamental perspective

on the research to strengthen the theoretical background. The information from the lit-

erature provides the author with a possibility to summarise the information gained for

the chosen field (Patel & Davidson, 2011a). The primary databases were Scopus since

the authors are familiar with Scopus, and it is easy to read the abstract and combine

search combinations. Figure 3 depicts that reviewing the literature is an iterative process

and is inspired by the Stage of the hermeneutic circle model from Boell & Cecez-

Kecmanovic (2010). This approach for the project is suited to give the readers and prac-

titioners a holistic view of the theoretical topics. The list below presents the steps of the

literature review process:

• Searching: Used the keywords and filters in the database Scopus.

• Sorting: Observed the relevance of the case and the date.

• Selecting: Mainly selected due to the title and abstract and promising papers.

• Acquiring: Used the “Inter-Library Loan” to gain the peer-reviewed papers.

• Reading: A more profound understanding


21

• Identifying: The central terms and sentences to use.

• Refining: Make citations in our report. Then start from the beginning if more

is required.

In the project, the handbook by Rother et al. (2001) has been helpful since it provides

information and examples on how to conduct the VSM. Since some theoretical topics

combined are missing in the literature review, snowball sampling was applied. A non-

randomised sampling technique provides referrals for more literature within the same

subject (Dobrovolskyi & Keberle, 2019). It made it easier for the authors to find new

sources and information for the case.

Table 5 shows the structured literature review and the papers' search results, which pro-

vided more profound knowledge and theoretical background for the case. Transforming

the academic topics to literature reviews keywords supported the search for relevant

articles and theories. The review consisted of three selections after the first number of

hits.

1. Reading the topic and abstract of the article. 2. Get an overview and reading the conclusion of the article and later a thorough

reading. 3. Final selection of the articles to use for our theoretical framework.

Figure 3. Stage of the hermeneutic circle, Boell & Cezec-Kecmanovic (2010).


22

Table 5. Literature Review of the theoretical topics.

Flow mapping of the current production system

To depict the logical connection between the activities, from supplier to customer, cre-

ating a VSM was needed within the production system. The chosen product to be stud-

ied and observed was a wood-based stair with high variations but manufactured in low

volumes and made to order. The VSM was established and finished by investigating

the information- and material- flow in the production flow. The inspecting process

started from the inbound of the facility and continued upwards until the painting pro-

cess. The last process decided the pace for the rest of the production system and its

processes (Rother et al., 2001).

By investigating the entire production system, the authors acquired information about

how the processes are implemented on the different components and fully understand

how to execute the primary method efficiently. Collecting information was mainly by

observation and unstructured interviews without disturbing the personnel and the pro-

duction system. It was required to clock the cycle times, which is from one point of a

process until the operator starts the next component at the same point. A stopwatch was

for measuring set-up times and different time measurement. Other factors estimated to

strengthen the VSM were the distances between the workstations and the scrap rate

from every process. The lead time was by calculating the value of counting all the buff-

ers before and between the stations. The buffers contain several components and trans-

form into a time value measured in days. When calculating the material and buffers, it

was advantageous to do it in closed production since there were no goods movements

at those times. The authors started to count the buffers before the different material flow

for each stair component in the evenings. Cycle times are value-adding activities, and

lead times are non-value-adding activities. By dividing cycles times with lead times, a

quota value represents the percentage of how much time value is added to the product.

The lower quota, the more non-value adding activities exists; this means material flow

120

"Value Stream Mapping"

AND Flexib*

345 15

4

216

Language: English Document

type: Article Subject Area:

Engineering

"Lean Production" AND

SME



Engineering

19 10 5 3

63 31 10

7 2

50 10



Engineering & Business

Management and Accounting

SME"SME" AND wood

industr*



Engineering

"Change Management"

AND SME

Change

Management"Change Management"

AND Flexib*





1st selection (topic/abstract) 2nd selection (overview) Papers usedNumber of hitsFilters usedKeywords usedTheoretical Topic

"Lean Production" AND

Value Stream Mapping



EngineeringLean Production:

Flexibility/Changeab

ility, VSM and

Change

Management

20 7 4

134

52

3

28 13 7 2"Change Management"

AND "Lean Production"






23

or a specific process can be further improved. This can either be improving the pro-

cesses or removing bottlenecks of the production system. Figure 4 illustrate the symbols

for the material- and information flow.

Figure 4. Symbols for material- and information mapping flow (Rother et al., 2001).

A value flows analysis analysed the value-adding, necessary, and nonvalue-adding time

in the current production system. The authors used the value flow analysis to identify

the current bottleneck and why wastes emerge, clarify processes, show connections be-

tween material- and information flow within the production system, bridge communi-

cations, expertise, and competence between operators. Combined will be the foundation

for suggestions of improvements and how to modify the VSM accordingly to the current

production system (Rother et al., 2001). The goal is to create a future state which is to

increase capacity in the production system.

3.3.2 Time-related key indicators

Time parameters for this study are presented and described in Figure 5; these are lead

time, process time, value-added time, and cycle time stated by Rother et al. (2001).

These were considered to complete the VSM and give a holistic view of how the pro-

duction system worked. Takt time is the time it takes to produce one unit due to the

customer demand.

𝑇𝑎𝑘𝑡 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 =𝑎𝑣𝑎𝑖𝑙𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒

𝑑𝑎𝑖𝑙𝑦 𝑐𝑢𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑟 𝑑𝑒𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑑

𝐶𝑦𝑐𝑙𝑒 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 =𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑐𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒

𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑡𝑠


24

𝐿𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 = 𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑞𝑢𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑡𝑠

𝑑𝑎𝑖𝑙𝑦 𝑐𝑢𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑟 𝑑𝑒𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑑

Figure 5. Time-related key indicators (Rother et al., 2001).

Sketching of layout

To fully understand the arrangement of the processes and material flow visually, sketch-

ing the complete layout of the production system was necessary. The reason was to

analyse and map the material flow and visually show the layout's complexity and its

effects on the VSM. It was done by first measuring the outer walls of the building and

further mark out every pillar in the building. This was to have a more accessible refer-

ence when sketching out the positions of the machines and processes. The layout meas-

urement data was then imported into a CAD program named AutoCAD, and the sketch

was in 2D and only required for this case. AutoCAD was to sketch on a 1:1 scale to

gain a holistic and complete perspective of the production system and its layout with

every process, material placeholder, and other equipment.

Reliability & Validity

The authors in this project have used several methods to increase reliability. Patel &

Davidson (2011b) states that reliability is about how well a method has resistance to

random influences. The selected methods to answer the research questions are inter-

views, observations, literature review, and using these methods, a VSM of the produc-

tion flow. The cycle time is from when an operator grabs the first item until he takes

the other, it is possible to argue that the outcome would be the same for whoever collects


25

the data for the VSM. The literature review gives the authors a more broad perspective

which increases the reliability of this project. The authors made the measurements and

observations to improve reliability and reduce the risk for secondary data. Since when

conducting a VSM, it is crucial that the observations are of primary state data and not

done by others who could have made it differently since it is the authors who will ana-

lyse the data.

According to Patel & Davidson (2011b), the validity regards the ability and accuracy

of the selected method is to answer the research questions and hopefully fulfil the pur-

pose of the study. “Construct validity” is used in this case which means to have empir-

ical measurements of the theoretical practices (Yin, 2018). The validity of this case

could sometimes be complex since the enterprise has a high level of flexibility and

several flows unify into one flow to become a complete product. It would mean the

entire material flow can be unstable due to different circumstances to disrupt the data

collection. The interaction between reliability and validity is essential to get as valuable

a result as possible to fulfil the purpose. For each step and investigation of the project,

the different concepts and methods analysed to see reliability and validity. When the

primary purpose is gaining insight on how VSM works in a production system with

high flexibility, it is crucial to consider and apply the other influential aspects to the

system, such as the soft and change management aspect. The purpose will be answered

with the methods and could be the foundation of the validity and reliability factor.

Ethics and Morale

The ethical aspect is an integral part of the research since ethical perspectives must

occur in the early stages of the study (Yin, 2014). All research aims to gather reliable

knowledge, but also the research should be necessary for both individuals and the de-

velopment of the society (Yin, 2014). It is also important to consider the human aspect

in research and have the physical and psychological elements in mind when investigat-

ing new concepts. It thoroughly practised when, e.g., conducting interviews not to dis-

turb or violate the personnel. The COVID-19 created a particular situation during the

study; therefore, the authors kept their distance from the employees; if not, the operators

themselves contacted the authors. Patel & Davidson (2011a) states four broad ethical

principles in the humanistic-societal scientific research aspect. The first principle states

that the researchers should inform those involved in the research about the purpose. The

authors have always described the goal for all personnel that has been participating in

the study. The second principle is that the participants in the study should decide if they

want to participate. In this case, everyone agreed on participating in the study. The third

principle is confidentiality. Everyone in the research should get as much confidentiality

as possible to ensure that no one can take part in their information or personal data. The

information and interviews of specific thoughts and opinions were between the authors

and the personnel. The reason is to avoid unnecessary conflicts within the organisation

and keep the data anonymous. The last principle consists of all collected data from the

persons just for research (Patel & Davidson, 2011a). The authors make sure that the

information is just for the study to fulfil the purpose of the case.

Findings

26

4 Findings

The chapter findings consist of a description of the case company, interviews, flowcharts, a

VSM of the current state, and a summary of soft and hard issues at the case company.

Case company A

Company A is producing customised stairs in wood and selling to several different

housebuilders and private customers. The case company consists of 40 employees, with

a majority of older employees with a wide range of experience and expertise in crafts-

manship. The stairs are drawn, constructed, and manufactured due to customer require-

ments and demand. Company A is included in a group that consists of two other firms.

The case company strengths are high knowledge of craftsmanship and a modern ma-

chine park in their facility. Company A’s competitive advantages are speed, dependa-

bility, quality, and flexibility. Company A is market leaders in development and design;

together with designers, they contribute with premium products for their customers.

The company purchase material with a delivery time from six to twelve month due to

rarity of material type, cost, quality, and availability. Furniture made in wood material

can be fragile, complex, and considered luxury goods. Operators need to execute their

processes carefully and with care so they will not be damaged. A wooden stair consists

of several parts produced for the customer demands, the variation within these parts is

vast both in shape, design, and dimension perspective see Appendix 1. The stair can be

straight, L- or U-shaped (see Figures 6-8). The list below describes the function and the

average number of components for a standard stair.

• Posts: a stair can consist of 0-10 posts, often in the corners, to stabilise the stair.

The average amount of posts is five.

• Stringer: a stair can consist of 2-6 depending on straight, L- or U-shaped; the

stringer is alongside the stair and carries the Threads and risers up. The average

amount is four stringers/stair.

• Thread: a stair consists of 12-18 Threads. The average amount is 15

threads/stair.

• Railing/handrails: indefinite amount and variants of a railing.

• Riser (55% of all stairs) or child-protection lath (45% of all stairs): a stair con-

sists of 11-17 child safety + 1 riser or 12-18 risers. The average amount for riser

is 16 risers/stair, and child protection lath has an average of 15/stair.

Findings

27

Interviews

4.2.1 Unstructured interviews

While observing the production system, unstructured interviews and casual conversa-

tions occurred with the shop floor employees. The topic was mainly about their roles in

Company A and their connections with the management department and their work

task. The majority of the employees worked independently and rarely had direct com-

munication with other flows but processes stationed before or after would increase the

communication and thus occur more often. Their methods of communication were ei-

ther by noise or visible gestures. If they were close to their workstation, they would

communicate; otherwise, they had to walk over to the other process. For an employee

to start a manufacturing order, they head over to a room to receive it and decided by

themselves when and how to start the task. The employees explained that no production

leader exists to plan or control them when stopping or starting a manufacturing order.

The same was with the quality control; it was entirely in their power to accept the

product's quality before sending it further in the production. Every operator said it was

their responsibility to plan and control the production with some sub assistance from

the production manager. When asked about how they perceived changes, for example,

moving to another process or changing the process entirely, the responses were mixed

from the operators. Some were positive for changes, but others were not; the reasons

could be trust issues, or the employees were satisfied with their current task.

Most of the operators were positive moving to another process, but only to gain expe-

rience on how it works in a holistic perspective for the product. Some operators were

negative, though, gaining new competence and then start working on that process due

to worker absence or solving a temporary bottleneck. Some operators wanted to dedi-

cate themselves to only one process, and some wanted to learn and increase their expe-

rience of several processes but were not permitted.

During the visits, the operator sometimes had to visit the constructor department be-

cause the program did not match the sketch in their CNC machine; this mainly occurred

on the most advanced shapes of components. Some employees perceive there are poor

communication and engagement from the manager department. They also explained

Figure 8. U-shaped stair. Figure 7. L-

shaped stair.

Figure 6.

Straight stair.

Findings

28

that it is difficult sometimes to understand the purpose of the manager's or organisation

actions and rarely include them in improvement changes. There were many complaints

about bad production planning, restoring defects or scraping the item. Since there were

none to stop or control each flow, the fitting station would receive many components

faster than they could process through. The input was higher than the output in the

fitting station. According to several employees, many times, components had to be dis-

carded and requested anew, which resulted in hold orders and unnecessary space taken

by the rest of the components of that order. The operator requests a new component

from the previous processes by walking over and informs them about the missing piece.

Prioritising the requested component was mainly up to the operator, and it is their re-

sponsibility to retrieve it to finish the order.

Many of the operators pointed out that most of their time was searching for material,

which annoyed them. The operators stated they had informed the manager about this

issue because this often led to irritation and lowering their motivation. The operators

shared their opinion that they could be irritated when too many customer orders by

accepted accident into the production. They further explained that when operators were

absent and a process vacant, the manufacturing orders could still keep coming into the

production system, which caused an unbalance workload between the material flows.

4.2.2 Semi-structured interviews

Three interviews occurred with three employees at Company A: Person 1, Person 2,

and Person 3. All three interviewees stated they are independent in their work and de-

cision making. Regarding the connection and how involved they are with the produc-

tion, Person 1 & Person 2 work closely to the production except Person 3. However,

all three interviewees think it is a good experience to contribute to their quality of work

and a good communication is an essential part of it.

The level of influence differs between Person 3 and Person 1 & Person 2. Person 3

believes in customer feedback to trigger improvements and changes; meanwhile, Per-

son 1 & 2 thinks feedback from the production floor is the key for development and

essential for positive changes. According to all three interviewees, employee involve-

ment is important and was more active before but has stagnated lately. Person 2 thinks

there is poor communication between managers and production and feels a need for

communication to be improved. It is due to involving the customer too much and risking

damaging the company branch. Person 1 thinks the employees should regain their re-

sponsibilities and commitment to deliver good quality products. In contrast, Person 3

believes the employees at each flow should communicate and be enough. When asked

about how important motivation is to performance and changes, it was a mixed response

from all three interviewees. Person 1 sees variation and challenges in their work as

good motivation and good colleagues whom he can contact. Person 2 thinks that posi-

tive feedback from the production, the customer, combining physical and computer

work contributes to increasing motivation. Person 3 mentions that various work tasks

and improvements contribute positively to others, thus increasing their motivation and

give an opportunity to be creative. When regarding motivation in the production, the

Findings

29

responses were a mixed and diverse point of view. According to Person 1 & 3, the

bonus system influences employees' production performance and motivation, not the

salary. Person 3 believes that salary should factor according to performance and needs

a carrot to initiate improvements and changes. Person 2 believes the camaraderie and

tasks motivate the employees to perform better, which keeps the production together.

Continuous improvement and development are important according to all three inter-

viewees and is necessary for the future of Company A and were positive for changes.

Person 1 thinks the challenge to changes in the communication and getting a balance

in the production, low engagement from employees for improvements. Person 2 sees

communication and group influence as a challenge for changes; while people are neg-

ative, some individuals may hold different opinion if talked to alone. When employees

quit, competence in the production disappear, and the proactive actions are not there,

which all three interviewees mention. Person 3 states that every employee should voice

their opinion and decisions; to influence their process and changes can be a challenge.

Resistance for changes perceives very low at Company A, but there are some among

the employees. All three believes resistance exists in the production but are diverse

between the older and younger generation of workers, in both experience and age. They

mention that employees are afraid of changes due to more workload or uncomfortable

with new work tasks if they do not gain anything. Person 3 believes employees are

worried because they do not want to be the weak link in the production and then get

performance anxiety. Person 1 thinks forcing the employees to change can be the only

development solution. Meanwhile, Person 2 & 3 implies good arguments, benefits, and

statements for the employees to change. Employees influence each other in-group, and

a newly hired individual can fall for group pressure to not risking be excluded from the

rest; person 2 & 3 mention this and state it can be a challenge for future changes. Em-

ployees are neglected for changes if they think their work task will become more com-

plex and uncomfortable. Progressing from craftmanship culture to industrial approach

is seen as positive from each interviewee and going from labour work to more automa-

tion is suitable for development. Though Person 1 & 2 wants to keep the craftsmanship

culture as much as possible and believe that some processes are better with manual

labour than machine handling, Person 3 believes in more automation. All three agree

with the independence for production planning at the operator level and thinks it is

favourable for production. However, Person 2 thinks there are some negative aspects

with it too; some processes need additional controlling due to quality and material flow

issue.

Sketching of layout and material flow

As depicted in Figure 9, the production layout on Company A is open, and there are no

distinct manufacturing departments and consist instead of flows of components for the

product. The production is a functional layout with five material flows, and these inter-

twine each close to the fitting station and at the wide belt sanding machine. Figure 9

was made in AutoCAD and PowerPoint for sketching the arrows to illustrate the path

of the components through the production system. The process of creating the layout

Findings

30

was by visiting the company while production was offline. Identifying the material flow

was with the help of the case company and by visiting during production.

The material enters the building down the right corner and exist in the outbound at the

top left corner, and have an old warehouse distance of approx. 500meter. The company

purchase raw material and store it in the warehouse. If the production requires material,

the company sends a request, and a truck delivers the requested goods; this occurs daily.

The raw materials are stored at different locations for respective production flow and

transported throughout the facility. There are some designated locations for the raw

materials, but these are dynamic according to the employees, which means the location

can shift places if needed. For example, if the spot occupied by another material, they

chose another empty area. The distance between some processes is long, and there are

some narrow spaces, especially between the post station and wide belt sanding machine

and fitting station where all flows connect. Much material accumulates near the wide

belt sanding machine and fitting station due to all flows coming together.

Figure 9. Production layout and material flow of Company A.

Value stream analysis

4.4.1 Flowchart

Figure 10 illustrates how different components are progressing through the production

in each separate and designated flows. The authors present the flowchart in portrait

mode to illustrate how each part progresses from inbound to the customer (Painting)

and processes components cross and sharing process time. Creating the flowchart was

by observing each respective component from the start until it reached the painting. The

company provided some extra data on the product's material flow to compensate and

verify the flowchart.

Findings

31

The component Stringer starts with picking the material, cutting it in an appropriate

length, and then straightening the pieces for glueing. The glue needs to dry for approx-

imate 30min before it can be processed in the Reichenbacher milling cutter and reform

the Stringer into its supposedly form. After the Reichenbacher milling cutter, the

Stringer transports for trimming, filling, and drilling, sometimes sawing and zinc cutter,

depending on the Stringer size. The Stringer is then processing through a wide belt

sanding machine before arriving at the fitting process.

The component thread begins at the mill cutter Maka 55 and makes two threads from

one piece of material. The threads are then transported to a planer and then processed

in an edging machine. The threads then undergo a filling process, either at the edging

machine or at a separate station, to prepare for the wide belt sanding machine. The

threads are loaded in batches of three and then arrive at the fitting process and stock-

piled.

The riser component travels through the production, starting at the saw if made of MDF

or directly from the storage if made in pinewood. The riser then processed in a milling

cutter, which later directly travels to the wide belt sanding machine and loaded in eight

to nine pieces in each batch. The riser is then transported and stockpiled at the fitting

station in designated spots.

The post component starts its process at the Biesse milling cutter and then transported

to a workbench for shaping the posts before entering the wide belt sanding machine.

The posts load in batches of eight and go through twice to be polished on all sides and

then directly returning to the same workbench but for finishing polishing. After the

finish, the operator transports the posts to a space for storing at the fitting station.

First, the child safety component began going through a saw, secondly to a drilling

process and then directly to the fitting station for inspection before putting in the con-

necting staircase. This flow only operates about 30% of its time at this flow.

When all components arrive at the fitting station, the operators check the quality and if

every component fits together. All components must meet the quality check before pro-

gressing together to the painting departments. The components, Stringer, threads, riser,

posts, child safety, are transported and processed together after the fitting station and

through the painting department. No manufacturing order can proceed to the painting

until every component is acquired and approved at the fitting station.

Findings

32

Figure 10. Flowchart of Stringer, threads, riser, posts, and child safety.

Findings

33

4.4.2 VSM findings

As depicted in Figure 11, the information flow for a customer order is transported man-

ually by paper and a management information system. In theory, the company's manu-

facturing order is on a weekly schedule, but in practice, a manufacturing order can be

in production the same day the salesmen receive the order. The production planning is

at an operator level, and they are independent of quality and material flow decisions.

The production manager sub-optimises the production, if it is necessary, trying to fix a

temporary bottleneck. Operators extract manufacturing order by walking to a room

where the order is placed in boxes by the construction department. When a manufac-

turing order progress in production, the operator receives a paper placed together with

the components. The same order paper goes through production until it arrives at the

fitting station; then, it replaces the paper with a new and adjusted manufacturing order

for the painting. The order progress can be tracked by looking in a management infor-

mation system called monitor, which displays the delivery date and state of the order

and its components.

Figure 11. Information flow for a customer order in the production system.

The production system at Company A is complex with a high product mix and tracked

their customer demand as stairs/day. Company A mainly views the flow as stairs since

every customer order in the flow represents a complete stair. Since an entire stair con-

sists of different components, the authors decided to deconstruct from stairs/day to com-

ponent x/day, for example, Stringer/day, to facilitate the reader to understand the pro-

duction flow more thoroughly on each flow. Figure 12-13 depicts the product path in

each material flow in the production system.

Customer

Stringer flow

Sell department

Construction department

Production planning

Riser flowThread flow Child safety flowPost flow

Weekly scheduling

Findings

34

For each flow, the cycle time was measured by observing and interviewing corre-

sponded operators. The availability of worktime was collected by interviewing the em-

ployees and from the case company. The work time is 26100 sec/day; this is after total

work time subtracts with time for breaks and cleaning. Each process has a majority of

only one operator of the time except for the fitting station with two operators that work

separately. However, some processes have irregular patterns; for example, the planer

process or wide belt sanding machine could have two operators if many components

are waiting. In the Post flow, the two buffers between the workstation to the wide belt

sanding machine and the wide belt sanding machine to the workstation could be zero in

one of them but never in both buffers. Because the operator always finishes the whole

pile of components before the start of a new pile.

Each flow starts with material storage and contains existing material connected for each

flow at the target date. Some material storage is dynamic and could change location

when necessary if space requires other purposes. Every component progresses through

the push method in the production system separately until the wide belt sanding ma-

chine, except the child safety, progresses directly to the fitting station.

Once each component had arrived at the fitting station, it could be processed and placed

in the buffer. Only complete stairs were shipped into the painting and had an overall

lead time of five days before reaching through the painting. The fitting station and

painting department is using a push system, and another company owns the painting.

For each process, the cycle time and change over time were measured and documented

in the VSM. The cycle time for each process could be started by gathering samples and

then calculated for the average time. Some processes were only needed a few samples

due to the simplicity of the process and could be concluded direct. The initiation began

with asking questions to know what, how, and how many variants occurred in the pro-

cess. This method was to understand when and what to observe and when to start the

timer on what. Change over time was measured by simply observing and taking the

employee's time a few times for documentation.

Findings

35

Figure 12. VSM Thread, Stringer and Post flow.

475sec

31,8days

145sec

1,5days

Biesse Milling cutter

C/T = 475sec

C/O = 180sec

26.100 sec avail

17sec

0

232sec

0,6days

360sec

1,7days

Workstation post

C/T = 145sec

C/O = 240sec

26.100 sec avail

Wide belt sanding machine

Costa

C/T = 17sec

C/O = 360sec

26.100 sec avail

Workstation post

C/T = 232

C/O = 0

26.100 sec avail

Fitting station

V/T = 1229sec

L/T = 36.1days0,5days

Painting

Post flow

C/T = 360 sec

C/O = 0

26.100 sec avail

2 worker

40 (90x90)

89(70x70)

022

(70x70)1322

(70x70)

583 (90x90)

24+24 (70x70)

60 Posts /day

1 Shift

Takt Time = 435sec

11 (90x90)

13 (90x90)

30

80m 30m 23m 21m

240sec

16,4days

504sec

1,7days

Pick out

Stringer flow

C/T 240sec

C/O = 0

26.100 sec avail

176sec

1,5days

150sec

0,6days

450sec

1,9days

Reichenbacher Mill cutter

C/T = 504sec

C/O 40sec

26.100 sec avail

Workstation stringer

C/T = 176sec

C/O = 0

26.100 sec avail.


Costa

C/T = 150sec

C/O = 360sec

26.100 sec avail

Fitting station

V/T = 1520sec

L/T = 22.6days0,5days

Painting

C/T = 450sec

C/O = 0

26.100 sec avail

2 worker

80 71 29 92785

48 Stringer /day

1 Shift

Takt Time = 544sec

24

10m 35m 25m 25m

104sec

30days

40sec

0,6days

Maka 55 Mill cutter

Threads flow

C/T = 104.5sec

C/O = 0

26.100 sec avail

100sec

0,2days

30sec

0,4days

50sec

0,2days

120sec

2,3days

Planer

C/T = 40sec

C/O = 0

26.100 sec avail

Edging machine

C/T = 100sec

C/O = 0

26.100 sec avail

Filling

C/T = 30sec

C/O = 0

26.100 sec avail


Costa

C/T = 50sec

C/O = 360sec

26.100 sec avail

Fitting station

C/T = 120sec

C/O = 0

26.100 sec avail

2 worker

V/T = 444sec

L/T = 34,2days0,5days

Painting

41+58 17+12 12+29+28 43 121+39+2615362

180 Threads /day

1 Shift

Takt Time = 145sec

90

18m 10m 20m 5m 11-25m

Findings

36

Figure 13. VSM Riser and Child safety flow.

7sec

69days

15sec

1,7days

Saw

C/T = 7sec

C/O = 0

26.100 .sec avail

120sec

6,4days

Drilling

C/T = 15

C/O = 0

26.100 sec avail

Fitting station

V/T = 142sec


Painting

Child safety flow

C/T = 120 sec

C/O = 0

26.100 sec avail

2 worker

137404

(45mm)

117(65mm)

3556m (45mm)

650m (65mm)

81 Child safety /day

1 Shift

Takt Time = 322sec

41

Close proximity 33m

74sec

54days

12sec

0,9days

HC 57 Mill cutter

C/T = 74sec

C/O = 0

26.100 sec avail

113sec

6,2days


Costa

C/T = 12sec

C/O 360sec

26.100 sec avail

Fitting station

V/T = 199sec


Painting

Riser

C/T = 113 sec

C/O = 0

26.100 sec avail

2 worker

163+256+240935753

106 Riser /day

1 Shift

Takt Time = 246sec

53

57m 10m11m

Findings

37

Findings of soft and hard issues at the case company

After investigating the findings, issues identified in the production system were sum-

marised in Table 6; the issues consist of soft (change management and communication)

and hard (layout, material, and processes) perspectives. The implications further de-

scribe how the issues are seen and provide a deeper understanding of the readers' sum-

marisation.

Table 6 The key production issues based on the current state findings.

Issue Implication(s)

Large/Unbalanced WIP Long lead times and sometimes waiting for the

material in the proceeding flow

The equipment placement does not always support the production flow

Long distances and narrow passages between the stations --> create other wastes

At the fitting station, much time wasted on searching for material

The operators searching for components that are missing, which waste time and effort

Unbalanced product portfolio Man-hours spent in setups of the processes

Lack of up-to-date information Extra time in finding the correct information which

is inefficient, and rework occurs

Lack of communication between the flows

Operators are too busy in their flow, and there is no one to communicate between the flows

Employee’s knowledge not utilised Low motivation and the employees are lacking in

coming up with development suggestions

A large amount of different raw mate-rials

Lack of space, high ordering and holding costs

Long distances Long distances in the production layout take time

Subjective thoughts of quality The view of a quality product finished from one

station are subjective

Fitting station tests all components Must test every component before progressing fur-

ther

No production planner Can create an unbalanced flow when there is no

communication between the flows

The synchronisation between the flows

No or bad communication/planning between the operators

Analysis

38

5 Analysis

The analysis chapter will compare findings in the case study and literature. The analy-

sis will be stated against the research questions to elaborate and find new insight into

the problem, and there will be two tables and two figures.

Investigation of the VSM characteristics in a parallel material flow

The literature shows that the classical VSM by Rother et al. (2001) is a useful Lean tool

to investigate the holistic view of the processes in the production system and reduce

non-value-adding activities. Increasing the production capacity can be done by improv-

ing the flexibility of the manufacturing system (Lucherini & Rapaccini, 2017). There-

fore, choosing a suitable production layout that supports increasing flexibility is neces-

sary (De Carlo et al., 2013). As presented in findings, the case company focuses on high

flexibility, low volume, high variations, and high WIP. Their production layout is a

functional layout with a parallel production flow of five materials flows combined into

a single flow. In the material flow figure 9, some processes for each flow are spread out

and far from the previous process, and the different material flows intersect. Figure 10,

flowchart, facilitated the execution of the VSM since it provided the holistic view of

the components path in the processes. This layout contributed to the difficulty of iden-

tifying the relative buffer for each process. Many different components could reside in

the same area but belong to several different stages in the flow.

Pasqualini & Zawislak (2005) and Ramesh et al. (2008) state that VSM is for a line-

based production flow focusing on mass production and low variations, but nothing

about including several materials flows. It is possible to utilise VSM in a production

system with parallel material flows, but only if it is not too big with few parallel pro-

cesses and too clumsy to display the information on the map (Rother et al., 2001). Dur-

ing the study, creating a single VSM proved to be too difficult, and a VSM for each

flow were more suitable to conduct. Usually, the practitioner chooses a product family

to follow in a VSM. However, in this case, it had to be separated into each product

component to map the material flow more precisely.

Due to a parallel material flow system combining into a single flow, the synchronisation

affected the effectiveness of VSM conducted on the production. Exposing problems to

the surface in the production facilitates a continuous and stable production flow (Liker

et al., 2009). According to Lugert et al.(2018), the VSM in nature has a static behaviour

and vulnerable to fluctuations and irregular manufacturing order pattern in production

and states that management of employees and organisational elements can eliminate

this weakness of VSM. In the findings, there were fluctuations and irregular manufac-

turing order pattern, such as the absence of worker in processes, sick leaves, production

planning at the operator level in the production system. Due to this, it proved challeng-

ing to execute the VSM when not all processes were operational daily which causes a

disturbance and unbalances when observing the product's path in the material flow.

Data from interviews indicates that operators are supposed to communicate with each

other and between each production flow to solve this issue. SMEs usually are central-

ised with decision making, flexible structure and information flow, informal

Analysis

39

communication, and planning (Elkhairi et al., 2019). According to Baharudin (2020),

managers contribute to good communication flow, information sharing and transpar-

ency between the operator and the organisation. However, at the case company, the

decision making is very decentralised, and every operator has their responsibility re-

garding the quality, production pace, and planning. What was detected from this was

that the speed and balance of the production caused disturbances for the VSM.

Decentralised decision making at the shop-floor level creates shorter communication

channels, fewer error in information sharing, and support knowledge sharing between

operators (Forza & Salvador, 2001). Defects and overprocessing are non-value adding

activities and create waste in the material flow; these can be avoided or eliminated as

much as possible (Liker et al., 2009). From the findings, it is pointed out that the em-

ployees have a different view of quality; they can assess if the quality is adequate and

ship it to the following process. However, they can also evaluate the quality as insuffi-

cient and discard the component, even if the quality was enough. When discarding a

component, the operator is obliged to request a new component by informing the oper-

ator at the start of the material flow. The amount of processing the component differs

between operators as well; without a standard, a subjective perspective can cause over-

processing on the component. One operator may think that the quality is adequate, but

another operator sees it as insufficient. The operators are not communicating and teach-

ing each other what quality should be standard, leading to defects and overprocessing.

Operators in SMEs have often difficulties viewing the production in a holistic perspec-

tive and identify wastes that affect the financial outcomes (Gazoli de Oliveira & Ribeiro

da Rocha Junior, 2019). The theory confirms the data of the case company; only some

operators have a holistic view and know what is going on in each material flow, but this

is due to experience and skills. There were no signs of instructions or intentions from

the management to expand the operator’s knowledge or get a holistic view of the pro-

duction. Since the operators plan the production, they complete control of the manufac-

turing order once it is in the material flow. It is usually in order by delivery date, but

the colour, model, and set of pieces also affect the order. The operators pile up the

components together in the same manufacturing order, but this is something that the

operators have agreed on doing, not a standardised way of working. The interviews

show that when an operator is assigned in the material flow and does not care or does

not know this way of working, it can cause aggravations, waste of time, and disruptions.

From observations and interviews with the employees, it points out that communication

between the material flows was poor. The operators are to communicate with each other

by the company policy with little assistance from the production manager, but that was

not the case. The operators only close to their proximity or in the same material flow

communicated with each other, not with additional material flow. Baharudin et al.

(2020) state that communication and collaboration are crucial tools when increasing the

desired objective in a production system; the communication can be formative and in-

formative. Further exploring the fitting station, the authors discover that the communi-

cation with the other flows was poor, and collaboration did not exist at a higher level to

support synchronisation. All components travel and arrive at the fitting station and wait

for all components for the product to arrive. With only two operators at the fitting

Analysis

40

station and the large number of components arriving, it was unavoidable to stockpile

many WIP.

From the findings, the level of experience, commitment, and expertise of the employees

differed and affected the balance and pace of the material flow. The cycle time was

affected by the human factor, thus increasing the variations and amount of sample

needed for the cycle time. It was further investigated that the age difference and time

spent in the company affected the performance. Though the older and more experienced

operators knew their way of working, managers could affect their commitment, leading

to decreased performance. The younger and fewer experienced operator committed and

wanted to show off to the managers; their performance was influenced by the experi-

ence more.

As was analysed earlier, this affected the execution of the VSM; it took longer than

planned when going by its design. According to Rother et al. (Rother et al., 2001), con-

ducting a VSM should only take few days, and then improvements are to be imple-

mented. The scheduling of the data collection had to be flexible and ready to change

due to sudden changes in the production. Sometimes the manager had to move operators

to other processes to handle a temporary bottleneck, or the amount of workload in the

material flow was low. It caused the authors to risk missing valuable data or samples

from variants that did not often occur in the production. Due to inconsistent material

flow, the authors had to walk around to see which process was occupied and active.

When more data or samples required from a specific process, the authors had to be

lucky if operators were present or the relevant data was there.

Literature proclaims that VSM has no correlation with flexibility and even negative

correlation, and therefore is a bad choice for analysing the value flow (Belekoukias et

al., 2014). While Lugert et al. (2018) also state that the VSM has difficulties within a

production system with high flexibility, it still proposes using it with other Lean meth-

ods and tools to handle the flexibility. In comparison, Chen et al. (2010) proclaim that

VSM can be combined with other Lean methods in a flexible system to facilitate the

VSM method. In the case study, the VSM has had difficulties managing this functional

system with many variants, especially the selection of product family, finding the cor-

rect procedure for relevant cycle times, and coordinating the buffer levels for each flow.

The choice of product family in the case was different to the classical VSM approach

since the stair consist of several models; straight, L- and U-shaped models. It was un-

clear how to conduct the proper selection. The execution, therefore, was divided into

different components for the shapes and not the entire product themselves to tackle the

variation in the flexible system when conducting a VSM. In the VSM, measuring the

cycle times are meant for a production system with single-piece material flow. How-

ever, in the case company with high variety and unbalance flow with different compo-

nents each day, finding a balance in a typical workday was necessary. Therefore, the

components for a year were calculated to a typical day and then the meantime for one

component were calculated for the cycle times in the VSM. However, measuring with

a stopwatch was still the same procedure as for the VSM. Since the purchase of material

has a delivery each six to twelve months, the buffer before each flow is unbalanced.

The pre-buffer amount can be huge when the ordering has arrived and low before the

Analysis

41

arrival. The time measurements and buffer calculations themselves are practically iden-

tical at the case company compared to the VSM by Rother et al. (2001). As seen in

Figure 12 & 13, the VSM is extensive since there are several flows in the mapping and

could not fit into a single and complete chart. Belekoukias et al. (2014) stated that sev-

eral companies failed or had a negative impact on their production by executing a VSM

in a production system with high flexibility. Still, some processes were measured as

smooth as a VSM since the processes were simple with low flexibility and variation.

In order to answer the first research question: “What are the advantages and disad-

vantages when using VSM as a tool for analysing the current state in a production

system with a parallel material flow?”. The summary of positive and negative aspects

has been gathered in Table 7 to illustrate the advantages and disadvantages when using

a VSM in a production system with a parallel material flow in a functional layout.

Table 7. Summary of positive and negative activities/phenomenon for a VSM in a production

system in a functional layout.

Activity/phenome-

non Description

Positive/Nega-

tive Reason

Cycle time Average time from a

set of samples Negative

No accurate picture of

the exact cycle time

Observing buffer Counted the compo-

nents at that time Positive/negative

Same as the classical

VSM / affected by the

balance of the material

flow

Deciding Product

family

Deciding component

or stair Positive/negative

Broken down into com-

ponents/uncertainties in

execution

Identification of

wastes

VSM visualises the

wastes in the produc-

tion system

Positive

Find wastes that can be

eliminated to increase

the value in the produc-

tion

View of the process

flowchart

A holistic perspective

of the process

flowchart

Positive

Facilitates the under-

standing of the produc-

tion system to conduct a

VSM

View of the material

and information flow

Holistic perspective

upon the material

and information flow

Positive

The VSM visualise the

material and information

flow in the system

Feasibility grade Possible to complete Positive

Possible to conduct a

VSM in a flexible system

with several flows

Measurable

execution of VSM

Same approach in

the measurements of

buffer and cycle

times as the classical

VSM

Positive/Negative

Easy to measure buffers

and cycle times / Harder

to calculate the balance

in a flexible system

(mean time calculation)

Analysis

42

Mapping of VSM Big size of VSM Negative A lot of information,

which requires space

Synchronisation in

production

The synchronisation

from parallel- to a

single flow

Negative

Can create unbalance

when becoming a single

flow

Vulnerable produc-

tion flow

Unbalance in the

flows Negative

The flows can have a

negative impact on an-

other flow

Communication barri-

ers

Lack of communica-

tion in the production

between the flows

Negative

Can create misunder-

standings or uncertain-

ties among the employ-

ees

Subjective thoughts

Subjective thoughts

upon the quality and

the order of pro-

cessing

Negative

The quality and order of

products can be too high

or low depending on the

personal view

Design of a conceptual model based on modified VSM

To successfully implement a continuous improvement strategy in the production sys-

tem, it is important to include human elements and have good communication between

employees and managers (Hasle, 2014; Sahoo, 2021). Soft aspects such as human re-

source management, job satisfaction or commitment, and working climate affect the

probability of success to implement changes in a production system (Lenka et al., 2010).

The findings indicate that performing the VSM and maintaining the changes may be

affected by the soft aspects. In a craftsmanship-oriented production system, it is bene-

ficial to include soft aspects due to how much the human elements affect the whole

process chain. If an employee is unsatisfied, mismanaged, has poor health conditions,

or lacks communication with other employees, the performance can be affected. Thus,

more difficult to implement continuous improvement strategies such as VSM (Ferreira

et al., 2020).

A classic VSM design does not include soft aspects, so it is common for SMEs to fail

to implement improvements with VSM. A VSM does not visualise any soft aspects or

mention why it is essential to include them in the practice when mapping the material

and information flow. While VSM focus on identifying the hard aspects and wastes, it

is easy to exclude the soft aspects that can affect the probability of success. Therefore,

it is crucial to analyse what soft aspects to include in the hard aspects of a VSM to

expand further the holistic perspective of a production system within a functional lay-

out.

The findings can interpret that a production system is the hard aspects that affect the

VSM and the human and organisational elements in a parallel material system. As

Alefari et al. (2020) states, a Lean production is a socio-technical approach that means

that all parts of the production system should consider applying a Lean method such as

VSM into a production system.

Analysis

43

Lean methods help identify wastes, eliminate them, and increase profits and a cleaner

production system (Rother et al., 2001). Though human elements often are excluded in

lean practices, it is important to include soft aspects when managing employees to de-

velop and prosper along with the production system. The study heavily implies inves-

tigating the technical (hard), human, external environment, and the work organisation

(soft) when applying a classical VSM in a production system, regardless of its design.

When observing the soft aspects while performing a VSM in a production system,

proves that it is vital that the employees have a holistic view of the system and not only

their own material flow or process. Chen et al. (2010) & Liker et al. (2009) state that

cross-functional training of the personnel could be a possible solution when implement-

ing a holistic view; It can be done by changing, trying or just mixing workstations for

the personnel. The possible results will be a better flow when the personnel are more

involved and have more knowledge since much of the decision-making is at the em-

ployee level. By training personnel in Lean philosophy with the Muda aspect, the

wastes can be identified and eliminated (Chen et al., 2010; Liker et al., 2009). The per-

sonnel will then see what is prioritise and if the component has the right quality accord-

ing to the specifications.

In the interview findings, most opinions are positive towards gaining experience to get

a holistic view and interested in learning new processes in the production system. How-

ever, some have resistance and thinks that there is no time and the focus from the em-

ployees should be dedicated to one processor flow and not focusing on other objects

than their own in the production system. SMEs often have difficulties seeing the holistic

view and waste reduction in production (Elkhairi et al., 2019; Gazoli de Oliveira &

Ribeiro da Rocha Junior, 2019). Witnessing this at the case company confirmed this

theory which aligns with the data in the findings. Sahoo (2021) proclaims that SMEs

need to have the courage to change into a more Lean approach and work more with the

involvement of the personnel. By increasing the holistic knowledge and experience for

the personnel, Kasemset (2014) suggests the concept of ECRS that can be used in the

system by combining stations, rearrange unnecessary personnel at stations that gives no

value to create a task that provides more value for the organisation. This Lean concept

can assist in making the production more efficient by, e.g. reducing lead times, cycle

times, Mudas, and transport distances (Kasemset, 2014).

The subjective thoughts of the operator at each process go against the Lean approach

where standardisation can be beneficial, e.g. with templates and work procedures for

quality and set-up processes (Liker et al., 2009). Creating an objective view of each

process enables the reduction of waste and the production to be more fluent with more

value-adding activities. Liker et al. (2009) have a template called ”14 principles of

Lean”, where it implies building a culture to get the quality right the first time and have

standardised tasks for continuous improvement. Subjective thoughts of an employee

can disrupt the concept of Muda, where there is a risk of overprocessing if the quality

is not sufficient and defects on material create extra work, thus leads to waste. This can

further on in the process leads to overproduction and waiting in the production system

(Liker et al., 2009). At the case company, it could be beneficial for the existing

Analysis

44

employee and a newly hired employee (with less experience) with a more objective

view with templates for work tasks and quality to facilitate the work procedures.

For a company to trigger a production development of a production system, it can be

the desire to increase capacity or improving the working climate (Bellgran & Säfsten,

2010). When increasing the capacity, a restructuring of the production system can sup-

port achieving the decision in the development due to how much it affects the whole

process chain (Ballestín et al., 2020). Changing the production is more than moving or

changing the process/machines; it also involves the employees that run those processes.

When executing a lean implementation on a production system, it is essential to con-

sider the employees in the involvement of the development for a smoother transition to

the new change (Hasle, 2014). The findings mention that feedback from a customer and

the production floor is the key to triggering improvements. Though that perception is

diverse among employees, some believe that customer feedback stands higher than the

production floor regarding starting a change. It is often the customer that initiates a

product development in the case company and rarely is it the production floor, but it

has emerged some suggestions in the past but stagnate through the years. The findings

pointed out that the employees are not much involved regarding changes in production

and working with continuous improvements strategies. The organisation policy is that

the production is to be involved and their opinion voiced. However, in practice, the

employees were rarely involved and not asked for their opinion regarding significant

changes in the production. The only time they were involved is when moving to another

process, but the intention was to handle a temporary bottleneck or fill an empty spot

due to the absence of a worker.

Managers raise the probability of implementing management changes and involve em-

ployees with continuous improvement strategies (Sahoo, 2021). Managers with strong

decision power contribute to succeeding with change management. By involving em-

ployees, having previous expertise and experience can empower their decision power

and impact employee motivation and engagement (Moeuf et al., 2016). The decision

power at the case company is relatively low and not impactful towards the employees.

The interview findings mention that the majority of the employees expect a manager to

have previous knowledge and experience from the production system. If a manager

fulfils these requirements, it will impact the employees more with convincing and

agreeing to changes. According to Alefari (2020), the manager's engagement with the

employees generates the most impact to increase motivation, not with the salary. The

findings stated that salary is not a factor for the motivation and performance level in the

case company; it is more the variation and camaraderie that impact. However, the em-

ployees explained that the manager's engagement with the employees with production

improvements is more impactful to their performance.

SMEs are often centralised, and without management it is difficult to initiate change

management in the organisation and these decisions are often affected by humans fac-

tors (F. Tolner et al., 2021). At the case company, it is mixed of centralised and decen-

tralised level. This means that the management can initiate changes but leave the pro-

duction planning at a shop-floor level to the operators. It points out that no production

Analysis

45

leader gathers information from each individual but implies that operators deliver sug-

gestions to their managers instead. The production operators were positive for having a

production leader in supporting the communication between managers and the shop-

floor personnel to facilitate the synchronisation. However, the finding implicates that it

was another cost and thus believed it was unnecessary for the production; the reason is

that every operator has responsibilities to plan, control, initiate continuous improve-

ments and communicate.

To answer the second research question: “How can a conceptual model be created and

visualised by combining VSM with hard-, soft aspects and change management prac-

tices in a production system?” a table and a visual model has been created.

By analysing the findings from the case and comparing it with the literature, a concep-

tual model summarises how a VSM can be implemented and sustained in a production

system with an extensive product range, high flexibility, and parallel material flows.

The conceptual model in Table 8 is to facilitate understanding how VSM can be used

in a production system and including the soft aspects further to extend information

about the involvement of the employees, as well as to ease the understanding of people's

reactions and behaviours around change work in the implementation phase.

The conceptual model divides into three sections. Section 1 gives an insight into how

to execute the VSM regarding the hard aspects. Section 2 promote the awareness of soft

aspects that can affect the production system. Section 3 is how to include human ele-

ments when implementing changes and strategies to sustain them.

Table 8. Conceptual model of VSM in a production system.

Section 1 – Hard aspects

• Knowledge about the product & production system – Understand the variation of the

product and flexibility of the production system.

• Do you measure cycle time? – wide product range? Pick an average cycle time.

• Selection of product family - Choose the volume product and deconstruct it into com-

ponents.

• Management information system – Utilise digital information system to benchmark cy-

cle time or other relevant data.

• Simple and straightforward VSM – Divide into several smaller VSM to avoid clutter.

• Use concept Gemba for data collection – Learn how the flows work to understand the

holistic view of a production system with a functional layout.

• Make a flowchart - To facilitate the holistic perspective of the flows and processes.

• Key questions for investigation.

o Is this a typical production day?

o How often do you produce these components?

o What are the reasons for time differences for each component?

o How do you work in the process?

• Key questions before observation.

o What will be observed?

o How can you note these observations?

o How should you act as an observer?

Section 2 – Soft aspects

• Different quality perspective – Create standardise quality perspective.

Analysis

46

• Production leader – Facilitates communication and work planning for the employees to

hold the production system together.

• Motivation – Motivate the employees with bonuses or encouragement to increase job

satisfaction and commitment to the organisation.

• Increase experience and competence – Movement of personnel to learn the whole pro-

duction system.

• Holistic perspective – Involve personnel and let them try new experiences.

• Leadership – The leaders have more knowledge of everyday processes on the produc-

tion floor.

Section 3 – Change Management

• Keep momentum - Continue and develop changes in which employees can be in-

volved.

• Personal connection – Create engagement and involve employees to raise motivation

and commitment.

• Communication – Create transparency and an open channel between the management

and employees.

• Common purpose – Create a vision to share between managers and employees.

• Competence – train and educate employees for a smoother transition, Muda aspect

and lean philosophy.

• Immediate results – Utilise ECRS to showcase to employees for fast results.

Figure 14 depicts how to utilise the new modified VSM combining hard-, soft aspects

and change management. The organisation initiates an improvement VSM program and

then progress into the hexagon. The four corners represent the key factors in sustaining

the newly implemented changes; these expect to be included during the program for a

better transition, creating a common purpose and personal connection to increase com-

mitment and motivation. Educate employees to prepare for the new change and utilise

ECRS for faster result if needed. Management must have two-way communication with

the production and operators while identifying hard- and soft aspects. Hard- and soft

aspects exist both in production and management, which is why it is a back-and-forth

process for concluding and eliminating misinformation. This will, in the end, result in

a successful improvement and an increased probability to sustain the change. The model

encourages keeping momentum and initiating improvement VSM program while the

employee’s motivation and commitment are high. Taking the opportunity to exploit the

situation may reduce the necessity to put in extra effort to raise the motivation and

commitment of the employees once again to save time and financial resources.

Analysis

47

Figure 14. Visual, the conceptual model of modified VSM in a production system.

Conceptual model relations to long-term effects

To tackle change management, soft- and hard aspects in a parallel flow in a production

system can be advantageous for SMEs since the holistic view is essential to sustain

positive long-term effects.

As Luburić (2019) states, when creating a continuous improvement strategy, it can be

beneficial when unforeseen threats occur. The author further mentions that the employ-

ees' involvement can help develop an organisation to be more sustainable.

It is possible to implement Lean tools such as VSM in a functional layout in an organ-

isation; however, Chen et al. (2010) argue that it is essential with cross-sectional train-

ing for the employees to understand the purpose and execution of the change activity.

The production floor employees explained that it is sometimes difficult to understand

the purpose of the actions in the organisation and that they are not involved in the ac-

tivities. This would solve the employee's issue about not understanding the purpose of

the actions in the organisation and supporting the involvement in the improvement ac-

tivities.

Some of the production floor personnel has resistance against change. However, this

barrier can be managed within the organisation by solid leadership, according to

Elkhairi et al. (2019), which can involve all production systems. Collaboration, com-

munication and leadership are three key factors that can facilitate the implementation

of change in an organisation; therefore, Baharudin et al. (2020) proclaim that the im-

plementation majorly depends on human factors and their commitment to change.

Analysis

48

However, there is another challenge for making change within an organisation, espe-

cially for SMEs, which often has a centralised decision-making approach (Ferenc Tol-

ner et al., 2021). Often centralised decision-making organisations struggle with the

management for change and are more affected by the human aspects. Lugert et al.

(2018) argue that implementing VSM is possible in several circumstances, but the man-

agement of human and organisational elements must support implementation to reduce

external influences.

Creating a sustainable organisational culture and a guideline that supports implementa-

tion for change is a possibility for success when conducting a VSM in a parallel flow

system. According to Sahoo (2021), it is important that managers involve the employ-

ees with continuous improvement strategies. Creating good information sharing, com-

munication flow, and holistic transparency between the organisation and the employees

is necessary to change and sustain a competitive advantage in the market.

To answer the third research question: “How can the conceptual model be further vis-

ualised to provide a long-term effect on an organisational level in a production sys-

tem?” a figure was created. Figure 15 is a visualised guideline that can facilitate how

managers can improve the production system in a functional layout with high flexibility

when conducting a VSM. The model can assist in involving all parts in the production

system to gain a long-term effect for the organisation by involve the personnel, facilities

and targeting the same goal in the development processes.

Figure 15 illustrates the visual model with hard and soft aspects and a Change Manage-

ment perspective, which simplifies Table 7. The three concepts/sections should be com-

bined and executed to gain new insight with a holistic view on how to increase effi-

ciency, target decisions such as capacity, value-adding activities, and climate in the

Figure 15. Visual conceptual model of VSM for long-term effect in a production system.

Analysis

49

production system in a functional layout. The result would be a long-term effect with

change for an improved production both in the hard and soft aspects and how to achieve

these through change management practices.

Compared to Figure 14, Figure 15 covers growth and profitability in a long-term effect.

The model can assist SMEs in reacting to sudden changes in the market or external

threats, which is important for an enterprise with high flexibility in their production

system, according to Matejun (2014).

Discussion and Conclusion

50

6 Discussion and Conclusions

This chapter starts with a discussion of the chosen methodologies in this work. Then it

will continue with a discussion of the analysed findings, followed by suggestions for

improvements for the case company—finally, the chapter ends with conclusions and

further research.

Discussion of method

The methodical approach was chosen carefully to have high reliability and validity in

the study. The qualitative approach provided with thorough and deep perceptions, as

Patel & Davidson (2011a) states, is important to discover the scientific area of the study.

Since the case study was on a single company case, it is possible to view it as biased

and with one view perspective, which can negatively impact the validity. Therefore it

could have been beneficial to observe other similar production systems to gain larger

validity scope (Saunders et al., 2016). However, to ensure the reliability and validity of

a single case study, performing an extensive literature review was required. The litera-

ture review provided a holistic view of Lean production, flexibility, Change Manage-

ment and SME in the wood industry. Even though the literature review was extensive

with many reviewed articles, there was a risk of missing valuable data; however, utilis-

ing snowball sampling reduced this risk (Dobrovolskyi & Keberle, 2019). Using snow-

ball sampling allowed the information gathered to cover the scope of the case and in-

crease the reliability and validity.

To gain general thoughts and opinions from the case study, semi-structured and un-

structured interviews helped achieve this. The semi-structured interviews were held

with three different management departments to get a broader insight into their thoughts

on the production system and their view upon change. Unfortunately, there was no in-

terview with the production leader due to a high workload. It would have been benefi-

cial to get his point of view on the production system and change. However, in addition

to getting information from the management perspective, the production floor employ-

ees were also asked some questions in an unstructured interview approach while ob-

serving the data for the VSM to get views from different hierarchical levels. By asking

both the managers and the production floor similar questions, it was possible to gain a

holistic view, analyse, and compare the opinions. Getting several opinions and views

makes it easier to get a more justified conclusion for the purpose and RQs, increasing

the validity and reliability (Patel & Davidson, 2011a; Yin, 2018). Due to the COVID-

19 situation, the study could only conduct at a single case company, and by involving

many employees in the study, the results are of high validity.

The method VSM conducts on several materials flows with high flexibility; the time

measurements and buffer counting have the same approach, but it can vary on how the

measurements are done and decrease the method's reliability since the executors can

make it differently. However, the reliability and validity can be high since the aim of

conducting a VSM is to get a holistic view and observe the value propositions of the

production system. Due to the lack of time, resources, and the virus, the VSM,


51

interviews and observations could only be at one company. The VSM method design is

not suitable for a production system with a functional layout and high variations, ac-

cording to Rother et al. (2001), and therefore was tested to see if it works and can further

develop. The method itself was doable in the production, but not without changing and

create parameters. The method is usually a quick analysing method. However, with high

variation in the production, the authors had to go outside of the classic VSM “template,”

e.g., count the buffer in components and not the product itself to get a balance in the

VSM. To fulfil the ethical and moral aspect for the methods was by following the four

principles of research ethics stated by Patel & Davidson (2011a) to safeguard that there

are no jeopardising ethical and moral aspects.

The chosen methods functioned well to have high validity and reliability to evaluate the

purpose and RQs. However, the qualitative approach would have higher validity and

reliability if it was not only a single case. Therefore, it enables other researchers further

to investigate the concept of VSM in other wood industries and come up with new

valuable research.

Discussion of findings

The purpose of this study is to gain insight into how a VSM is used in a production with

parallel material flow and create a new perspective on challenges to lean approaches

and change management in SME wood industries.

The outcome is a conceptual model for what is necessary and how a VSM can be uti-

lised in a flexible system with a high number of variants when observing soft aspects

such as Lean and change in the production. The conceptual model will facilitate how to

conduct a VSM to get the holistic view of this type of system in SME for the wood

industry in the academic approach. The content of the conceptual model bases on re-

search in the field’s Lean philosophy, Change Management, hard-, soft aspects, and

VSM, the literature provided with derived enablers for the study to fulfil the purpose.

One aim is to provide the case company with new insights and perspectives to increase

the capacity and suggestions for future improvements.

The conceptual model heavily bases on comparing theories and practising and studying

the concept of VSM at the case company. Having several interviews to gain a holistic

view and conducting the VSM can further be used in industry and give input to aca-

demia.

6.2.1 Hard and Soft aspects for VSM in a production system with a

functional layout

As the analysis indicates, the classical VSM is not suited for a production system with

a functional layout, with high variations and an extensive product range, but instead

developed for a single piece flow or a production line. The previous research argues

that VSM is very ill-suited for a production system with a functional layout. Bele-

koukias et al. (2014) state that VSM has a negative correlation with flexibility, which

is a distinguishing characteristic factor for a production system with a functional layout.

Though, it must be pointed out that the study from Belekoukias et al. (2014) is base on


52

a survey and questionnaire sent to other companies. The result of the correlation could

have been heavily affected by human factors.

A negative correlation would be only a half-truth, though, if it were the only utilised

continuous improvement strategy. The authors argue that it is possible to conduct VSM

in a production system with high flexibility, but only if other methods support the

method. This goes align with Lugert et al. (2018) study and support that it is possible

but with additional effort and modifying of the VSM. Although the VSM design is for

a less complex production system with low variations, the hard aspects are still the same

when conducting on a production system with a functional layout. Interestingly, the

analysis indicates the soft aspects affect the VSM more in a functional production and

is the key to its success in implementation. This is similar to what Ferreira et al. (2020)

discuss and suggest to include human elements in the process. The hard aspects mainly

stated the cycle time that was the issue due to variations, but with enough pre-study,

even eliminating those implications is possible.

What posed the most challenge was the imbalance of the production flow and long

process time. These were affected mainly by the soft aspects, such as production plan-

ning, communication, human resource management, working climate, commitment,

and job satisfaction. As the analysis and findings present, the operators control the flow

with only a little sub-assistance from the production manager but only on a couple of

target processes. The quality management is also on the operators, and there are no clear

instructions on the quality requirements, thus leave the operators with a subjective per-

spective. This gives the production fast decision making but is vulnerable to instability

in the material flow. When discovering a defect component, the material flow needs to

be informed about this and hold the current order, so components do not keep progress-

ing and stockpiling at the end. This effect multiplies even further with the parallel ma-

terial flow; in this case, when five material flows connect at one process for fitting, a

large number of components will stockpile and will not progress further without all

connected components. It did not help the labile production system with stability when

there was no production leader to lead and commute between operators with infor-

mation and was noticeable to be a contributing factor in increasing stability in the pro-

duction system. Forza & Salvador (2001) mention that decentralising decision-making

would help communication be faster and less misinterpreting in information sharing

and sharing knowledge between operators. This would be true in our case, but even

when the decision making was at a shop floor level, it did not seem to work as the theory

suggest. Even if that would be the case, the operators did not have the time to com-

municate to others due to strict working hours and cannot stop producing components;

otherwise, it would create an imbalance in the production flow. Each material flow is

so far apart and disconnected from each other they would only care for the directly

involved process. As mentioned before, these conflicts contribute to the barriers for

succeeding change management practices and the probability of success for continuous

improvements strategies.

The majority of the reasons that a continuous improvement strategy implementation

fails are the soft aspects, according to Hasle (2014) & Sahoo (2021). The company


53

employees did show some resistance towards changes. However, some of the employ-

ees showed positive expressions for changes in the production system, but only if it

would benefit them. Based on the findings, this kind of behaviour occurred more fre-

quently with the experience and older employees. Apparently, they had more courage

to voice their opinion than the younger or recently hired employees. It is the commit-

ment and management that contribute to the success of changing people, especially the

veteran employees who have worked at the company for a long time and are accustomed

to their work. The analysis and findings indicate that the employees appreciate involve-

ment in continuous improvement practices and changes. According to interviews and

observations, it lies more in their culture to not respect the manager decisions with low

decisions powers. Employees mentioned that a manager expects to hold a certain level

of expertise and experience regarding the production system and even about the product

before they are respected and is align with what Moeuf et al. (2016) stated. But this

perspective was more common in the older employees than the younger ones. Engaging

with the employees is important for managers to improve their motivation and commit-

ment to change management (Alefari et al., 2020). Involving and communicating with

the employees would help managers gain decision powers and increase the probability

of success for changes. This would prove significantly useful when managing change

management and the implementation of lean methods. Hence, it is important to consider

human factors even more during production development and conduct continuous im-

provement strategies. Therefore, the authors created a conceptual model that companies

could utilise to gain insight and understand how to conduct a VSM on a production

system with parallel material flows and human reactions and behaviour towards long

term and short term changes.

6.2.2 The conceptual model for SMEs in the wood industry

SMEs has a disadvantage in developing production due to scarcity of knowledge about

Lean implementations and resources which enable these practices (Gazoli de Oliveira

& Ribeiro da Rocha Junior, 2019). This leads to VSM not being common in SMEs due

to unclear guidelines on conducting it in a production system, especially in the wood

industry (Belhadi et al., 2018). As customised products and innovation are becoming

more prominent in SMEs business strategies and increasing competitive power, a model

would be beneficial for them to create a sound strategy to achieve that goal. The model

would especially benefit the furniture industry since product customisation, flexibility,

and high responsiveness give SMEs higher market power. However, the innovation can

have a negative and positive impact if not executing the implementation carefully.

However, both the employees and manager need to communicate and commit to the

changes to success. Trust issues and low decision power would prove significantly dif-

ficult for a manager to engage with the employees. As the authors did a literature study,

no research or model could be found, thus concluding there is a knowledge gap. VSM

included soft aspects and human elements to increase the probability of success for

change management and SMEs in the wood industry. The conceptual model from the

analysis is to facilitate the understanding of how important it is to include human


54

elements when conducting a production system with a functional layout. The addition

is also that parallel material flow when designing the conceptual model will give insight

into how the VSM acts and behaves in a complex production system. It also provides a

perspective and insight on the soft aspects, and including these, it will increase the

probability of success. What is interesting to point out is that the case company orient

heavily on craftsmanship culture. Only a handful of processes utilise machines to add

value to the product; meanwhile, the rest of the processes utilise human labour to add

value. These employees have a high level of expertise and experience in craftsmanship

due to many years working in the furniture industry.

The conceptual model will give an insight and understanding of the soft aspects and the

hard aspects of conducting a VSM on a production system with parallel flows. As stated

in the analysis, the soft aspects affect the performance of the VSM and the implemen-

tation of improvements. In fact, it was necessary to include these perspectives for deal-

ing with soft aspects during change management since these are the main factors that

affect the probability of success.

The model is not without weakness; however, despite being a guideline for organisa-

tions, the model needs further development. The conceptual model is generalisable, but

the case company is an SME and is orienting around these perspectives in the wood

industry. Table 9 presents the pros and cons of using a conceptual model for VSM:

Table 9 Pros and Cons with modified VSM model

Pros Cons

Including soft aspects together with hard as-

pects Time-consuming

Provide an insight on change management

to increase the probability of success with

the implementation

More complex holistic view due to including

soft aspects compared to classical VSM

Example of methods combining with VSM Might need more pre-study to function

properly

Instructions on how to conduct a production

system with a functional layout and parallel

flows

Requires full commitment from both employ-

ees and management

The studied case informed us that it was evident that a production system with high

flexibility is more affected by the soft aspects than the hard aspects when performing a

VSM. The conceptual model may benefit organisations in their pursuit of increasing

competitive factors using a VSM and being proactive regarding human reactions and

behaviours towards change management. Hence, for the conceptual model to be effec-

tive, the commitment and knowledge about VSM and production is a prerequisite. Oth-

erwise, it might cause more harm than good by only doing it halfway and losing the

employees' future interest and trust in changes, financial damage, and disruptions in the

production.


55

6.2.3 Suggestions for improvements at the case company

After investigating the findings and the analysis, some suggestions for improvements

directly to Company A. Table 10 presents suggestions for improvements at the case

company. The development need expresses in the waste category (Muda), and the

proposals guide how to tackle these issues.

The suggested improvements in the layout and the future state VSM is in the appendix

chapter. Appendix 4 illustrates the future state of VSM and the crucial parts of the pro-

duction system. Since the bottlenecks and high WIP are between the wide belt sanding

machine and fitting stations and the operators often wasting time searching for the ma-

terial, it is necessary to optimise these stations. The future state map provides sugges-

tions for improvement. The list below presents additional advice from observing find-

ings:

• Create a supermarket between the wide belt sanding machine and the fitting station to decrease the WIP amount between the stations.

• Make the stringer to be the pacemaker of the components. • Add a production planner to control the system. • Apply a FIFO approach at the fitting station and the painting area (the customer) • Reduce the raw material to 14 days (see Figure 15-16) for each component and

flow to avoid defects in the material, create space and reduce non-value-adding activities.

The suggestions for a new layout is in Appendix 5 and includes the crucial parts in the

production. In the recommendations, there is a combination for the future VSM and the

layout, e.g., when moving the railing stock and creating a supermarket at the same place

for the fitting station. The layout improvements:

1. Move the plastering bench against the wall 2. Move the three railing benches to plastering bench former place to create

space to transport material 3. Move the “Laxfräs” more to the right and “Vertikal puts” to the left to

make space to transport material

Table 10 - Suggestions of improvements for case company A


56

4. Move the storage of the railing to the railing department against the wall in several layers

5. Create a supermarket at railing stock´s former place

Conclusions

There were no conceptual models to be found in the academic fields that supported the

execution of a VSM while including the human element in both the current and imple-

mentation phases in a production system with high flexibility.

Understanding how to conduct continuous improvement strategies and implementing

these changes is a fundamental pillar in production development on a current produc-

tion system. Covering all the necessary aspects and creating a conceptual model was

difficult since it must be as generalised as possible because each production system has

its own requirements. The study showed how much impactful soft aspects and change

management were when practising the VSM. The issue with a classical VSM is that it

is not suited for a production system with a functional layout with high variations that

are labile with parallel material flows and a very decentralised production planning.

Confronting this issue was by combining literature and input from the case company,

thus introducing the study's conceptual model, Figures 14 & 15. The conceptual model

developed through the study can provide the readers with a guideline on how a VSM

can apply in a production system with high flexibility in SMEs within the wood indus-

try. However, following this guideline requires commitment and knowledge from the

practitioners who tries to execute the VSM. It is also necessary to involve and change

the production system in both hard and soft aspects. By following the guideline, it is

possible to gain a holistic view of the production system. However, it requires time and

effort since the system is not as simple as in the original case for the classical VSM.

Conducting the study at the case company has given insight and new perspectives on

how to utilise a VSM in a production system with high flexibility in the context of the

wood industry setting. The study has increased the knowledge about combining the lean

approach, change management, hard and soft aspects to cope with a VSM in a produc-

tion system with high variations and parallel flows. The context of the study has been

around SMEs with wood industry settings. Therefore, developing the conceptual model

support and decrease the knowledge gap in this field and create a connection between

industry and the academic. Manufacturing companies can benefit from these assets and

relate their production due to real-time usage in the industry. The conceptual model can

be further investigated and improved in the research scope and used as an asset in the

industry environment.

Implications and future research

The study´s implications can be dividing into two factions, the practical one with the

VSM approach at the case company and the other theoretical with other cases and con-

cepts. The first research question is more practical and provides insight and knowledge

about how the hard and soft aspects of the VSM can distributing in a production system

with high flexibility and several variants. In comparison, the second question is majorly


57

about factors that can influence the VSM in a soft aspect with Change Management and

Lean approaches. The second question is finalised with a model to facilitate the imple-

mentation of VSM in a production system within a functional layout in an SME in wood

industry settings. The VSM is an important Lean tool to eliminate non-value adding

activities in a holistic view in the production system. By adding soft aspects and change

management, it is possible to implement in several different circumstances.

Regarding future research and possible areas for improvement, the capability aspect can

be considered since the study aimed to improve the production capacity. Another future

research area is regarding the keep momentum aspect. It can be interesting to further

develop the aspect into a more concrete illustration to facilitate the practitioners what

type of activities can keep momentum in the VSM program. If investigating the capa-

bility or keep momentum aspect, it is possible to take the research area to a higher level.

Another research can test the general model in other manufacturing areas to sustain the

connection between industry and academia and further derail the model into a more

reliable and valid approach for several business environments.

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Appendix

64

8 Appendices

Appendix 1 Wood stair and the components (Swedish)

Appendix

65

Appendix 2 Interview questions to salesman and constructor

1. What is your role at Company A?

2. How does your work look like on an ordinary day?

3. How does the cooperation between the managers and the sales/construction

department work?

4. How much influence does the production managers have in your work?

5. How self-dependent are you in your work?

6. How close do you work to the shop floor?

7. How does your work affect production?

8. Do you communicate with the production? If so, how?

9. Are you a part of any development improvements at the enterprise?

10. How do you get motivated in your work?

11. What is your view about change at the enterprise? Would you change for

Company A?

12. What do you believe are the significant challenges for change at Company A?

13. What do you think of changes from a craftsmen culture to a more industrial

approach (i.e., machines and automation)? Is there a resistance to this at Com-

pany A?

Appendix

66

Appendix 3 Interview questions to the Technical Manager

1. What is your role at Company A?

2. How is the production planned and structured at Company A?

3. Does the enterprise have any production leader? How is the production

planning working?

4. How much influence do you have in the production processes?

5. How does the enterprise keep the different flows together in the produc-

tion?

6. How does the communication between the different flows work?

7. How does the individual responsible work and, how independent are they?

8. Does exist any standardised work procedure in the production, e.g., toler-

ances or quality measures?

9. Are there any work instructions or templates the employees can work on

after?

10. How does the personnel get motivated? Do you have any reward system?

11. How do you and the enterprise work with improvements? Both in the pro-

duction and at a management level?

12. Are the personnel involved in improvements for the enterprise?

13. What are your visions for enterprises development, how does the future

look like?

14. What do you think is the challenges in the production? What do you think

the personnel feel about changes? Is there any resistance to it?

15. What do you think of changes from a craftsmen culture to a more indus-

trial approach (i.e. machines and automation)? Is there a resistance to this

at Company A?

Appendix

67

Appendix 4 Future state VSM at the case company A


Costa

Fitting station

Painting

2 worker

max 3 transport carts of stringer

FIFO

1 day

Stop Full?

Appendix

68

Appendix 5 Suggestions for improvements in the layout at the case

company A

a conceptual model for vsm in a produc- tion system with

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