Sustainable Manufacturing Performance Enhancement Using Lean Competitive Strategy: A Case Study in Plastic Molding Industry

Abstract

The regulation, market pressure, and company image have motivated the company to consider sustainability issues in their production process. A lean production competitive strategy enables the company to identify waste and improper activities during production, thus enhancing the sustainable manufacturing performance (Sustainability Index). This research aims to provide empirical evidence of how the lean production competitive strategy improves the Sustainability Index (SI). A case study was conducted in an Indonesian plastic molding company. This research consists of three main phases. The first phase defines the Sustainable Value Stream Mapping (SVSM) and SI indicators, the second phase focuses on creating current SVSM and measuring SI, and the third phase focuses on the results achieved after improvement. There are 2360.89 seconds, 1450.86 seconds, 3.2%, and 1.06 seconds time reductions for non-value added activities, necessary non-value-added activities, process cycle efficiency, and cycle time, respectively. Moreover, there are improvements of 0.05, 0.02, 2.14, and 0.21 for the economic, social, environmental, and overall SI. The results of this research can guide practitioners in implementing a lean production competitive strategy to enhance the SI. For academicians, the research provides empirical evidence of the positive impact of lean production competitive strategy making a company more sustainable.