A SURVEY ON THE ADOPTION OF LEAN PRACTICES IN INDIAN MANUFACTURING SECTOR

Lean manufacturing is a production strategy to eliminate waste and nonvalue added activities in a process while maximizing the value added tasks as required by the customer. The adoption of lean approaches in India has been much slower. Indian industries find many challenges in adopting lean thinking as a standard manufacturing practice. it has been proved from certain studies that implementation of lean thinking in manufacturing sector is highly useful in terms of elimination of waste, proper utilization of workspace, proper organization of workforce, to reduce inventory, to increase productivity and to increase customer satisfaction. This study will guide the Indian industries in selecting lean tools based on the characteristics and expected wastes. The current study comprise of a survey of Indian manufacturing industries. The survey will be useful to explore the current status of lean initiations in Indian manufacturing industries and to prioritize lean practices which are highly useful.