Abstract:

Lean Manufacturing is currently used by companies from around the world, constituting   a modern paradigm of managing production companies. Despite the undisputable popularity of the Lean concept, it turns out, that the successful implementation of its principles is still a big challenge for many organizations. Considering above mentioned issue, the research objective of the paper was to develop a Lean Manufacturing maturity model, which could support systematic and comprehensive implementation and assessment of this concept in manufacturing companies. In order to achieve this goal, review of twenty-six existing lean assessment models and instrument was performed. Based on findings of the literature review, the initial model was developed and verified through four case studies in manufacturing companies. As the result of the process, the Comprehensive Lean Manufacturing Maturity Model was developed. The instrument enables quick, simple and objective self-assessment, indicating the current level of company's maturity and defining the improvement activities recommended to take. It constitutes also a coherent summary of the most important principles of the Lean Manufacturing concept. Another outcome of the research is development of the maturity assessment procedure, which provides comprehensive instructions of how to perform measurement of lean implementation level.