Determining critical success factors for lean implementation

When making the transition to a lean enterprise, many companies seek to understand if they are ready to begin the culture change required, or perhaps how far along they are in the journey. Organisations need to understand how they are doing, how far along they are, and if they are ready for a transition. This paper describes the data collection, analysis, and results of an internationally deployed survey aimed at understanding what factors are critical for a successful lean implementation. The survey respondents represented regions all over the world, with a combined experience of approximately 2000 years. The survey results were analysed utilising regression techniques. Through the analysis several critical factors were identified that directly correlated to a deeply rooted lean culture. The results found that 13 attributes, which correspond to specific survey questions, were identified that accounted for over 90% of the variation in the survey data. Additionally, four factors were identified that accounted for over 82% of the variation. In addition to the details of the survey, review of relevant literature is also discussed. Further, a thorough review of the regression analysis and results is presented, along with a discussion on the conclusions, limitations, and future work.