Implementation of Lean Manufacturing tools in emerging countries: evidence from Uzbek SMEs

It is known that Lean Manufacturing (LM) practices play a significant role in achieving lower costs, higher flexibility, and efficiency in production processes, in order to fit the requirement of today’s dynamic customer demand. A lot of literature contributions deal with the application of Lean in developed countries. However, few studies have been focused on integrating various Lean tools to optimize manufacturing processes in developing countries. In particular, a limited number of case studies address manufacturing in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Central Asian countries. Thus, the purpose of this work is to investigate through a case study how LM can enhance the operational efficiency of an Uzbek aluminium profiles manufacturer. The proposed combination of different LM techniques, such as Value Stream Mapping (VSM), 5 W +1 H, and 5S, improved the overall performance of the production process at issue. Wasted time was reduced to 2% and 8% in press and painting shops respectively. Additionally, the total daily production rate was increased up to 30.1 t/day. LM application to emerging countries’ SMEs improves production effectiveness and helps to achieve higher levels of production standards, which leads to an increase export capability and market share in the international context.