Vol. 02, No. 3 (2020) 247-258, doi: 10.24874/PES02.03.

004

Proceedings on Engineering
Sciences
[Link]

ENHANCING COMPETITIVENESS THROUGH

INNOVATIVE LEAN MANUFACTURING (IN
CASES OF ETHIOPIAN METAL AND STEEL
INDUSTRIES)

Shimelis Tilahun1
Eshetie Berhan
Daniel Kitaw

ABSTRACT
Keywords:
Innovation; Competitiveness; Lean This paper examines the drivers and barriers that influence the implementation of
manufacturing; Innovative Lean lean manufacturing. Before direct investigation on the field, selected lean elements
Manufacturing; Steel Industries. are identified from the literature using keywords related to lean production and
implementation techniques. From literature, Lean manufacturing and innovation
practices can bring continuous improvement. However, holistic approach studies
and implementing lean production in continuous based process industries has
found as a limitation. In addition to that, under this research investigation, the lean
production system appears to be unknown and misinterpreted in selected sectors.
Skill shortage, adoption of new technology, the linkage between upstream and
downstream activities, product diversification and development, labor productivity
and product quality, technological capability, and management problems are
raised as problems. The most four critical problems have selected and conceptual
frameworks and suggestions proposed for further improvement. On the leanness
assessment, the necessity of having a contextualized and systematic approach to
solving continuous improvement related problems facing metal and steel industries
have given emphasis based on data analysis findings. So, that innovative leanness
strategy is contextualized as an Ethiopian farming system.
© 2020 Published by Faculty of Engineeringg

1. INTRODUCTION competitive advantage by perceiving and entirely new

market opportunity (Porter, 1990). Pablo (2013)
Continuous improvement refers to a set of management recognized that to survive in such an increasingly
practice which facilitates and support incremental and competitive world, there is a need for continuous
experience-based improvements to existing products or improvement in every type of industry. Meanwhile,
processes (Demeester, 1995). The improvements made According to Josef Greitemann (2013), the competitive
on products and process is an innovation which has a environment gives the capability to react to changing
really significant impact on the new global competition conditions then, manufacturing companies have to
(Schaufeld, 2015 ). In addition, Innovations create a identify and preselect potentially useable technologies in

1
Corresponding author: Shimelis Tilahun
Email: [Link]@[Link] 247
 Shimelis et al., Proceedings on Engineering Sciences, Vol. 02, No. 3 (2020) 247-258, doi: 10.24874/PES02.03.004

order to stay competitive. With this in concern, Lean 2. METHOD

manufacturing and innovation practices can bring
continuous improvement (Ferro, 2013; Kováč & DrSc., Investigations from government documents, and a vast
2013). While that practice is measured in terms of amount of literature exposed that, Ethiopian Basic Metal
producing things better, faster, and cheaper and being and Steel sector is not competitive because of
more agile (Nicholas, 1998b). philosophies coming to it is bounced back due to its
nature of a continuous production system. So again,
problems faced this sector is collected from documents
investigated by government bodies and lean production
elements which could be applied for the neglected
continuous process industry has been nominated from
researches done in similar cases especially researches
focused on steel production in an innovative way. The
Figure 1. Conceptual Framework of a research questionnaire is prepared based on Likert scale with lean
production elements which are appropriate for the case
Lean and Innovation are not odds (Matthew, 2013). But they and it is investigated to check the magnitude of
can be used together to manage knowledge value streams availability, the extent of scope, the form of their
which are essential for systematic problem solving (Allen, existence in the industry, and the level of understanding.
2007 ) and systematic innovation ideas generated to give after that, the returned questionnaire is investigated using
solutions (Bart, 2004). According to Nordin et al. (2010 ), Microsoft Excel, and information’s inferred from the
the main barriers to implementing lean manufacturing result is organized for further intensive interpretation and
systems are the lack of understanding of lean concepts. Due an integrated model of those elements applicable to the
to that, this research clarifies how to implement lean company is proposed.
concepts with innovative and systematic approaches.

Figure 2. Research Methodology

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3. LITERATURE REVIEW 3.2 Lean manufacturing in steel production

industries
3.1 Introduction to innovative lean
manufacturing Investments in R&D activity and innovation could help the
steel industry to lower its future capital requirements and
According to Nicholas (1998a) one challenge facing operating costs, while also increasing yields and reducing
modern day production is to meet growing demand for resource and energy use. These investments would ultimately
ever more diversified products. Longer production lead help the industry become more efficient and economically
time due to high work in process, high rework, viable(Silva & Paris, 2016). Just-in-time production system is
unnecessary transportation and repetitive changeovers one of these initiatives that focus on cost reduction by
(Tizita, 2013) are also problems seen in most of eliminating non-value added activities (Temesgen, 2004).
manufacturing industries. While lean thinking focuses on Various Survey demonstrate that most of the researcher focus
reducing costs, innovations create new business value by on one or two elements for finding out the existence of wastes
transforming original ideas to products or services that and suggest their views on implementing these elements
satisfy customers’ certain needs, and thus enlarge the ([Link], 2014). According to AVCI (2016), Benefits of
market size and strengthen a company’s overall Lean Manufacturing in Steel Industry are Optimal Inventory,
competitiveness. An organization that effectively Low rejections, Negligible machine down time, Reduced
accommodates both lean and Innovation will benefit the rejections, Quick Changeover, Spares Management, High
most and be competitive in the long term (Kováč & OEE, high MTBF and reduced MTTR, and Highly
DrSc., 2013). But Lean and Innovation are not Organized and Visual Plant.
odds(Matthew, 2013). In other ways, Managing the
knowledge value stream, systematic problem solving All lean techniques may not be easy to apply to all industries
with analysis of the trade-offs between various design due to that lean tools such as JIT, setup reduction, TPM, and
option(Allen, 2007 )and solutions generated from 5s(Abdullah, 2003; AVCI, 2016; Deepak Kumar, 2014; El-
ideas filtered by systematic innovation method (Bart, Sharief, 2013; Hamed, May 2014; Moghaddam, November
2004) are viewed as methods within the lean design 2008; Tourki, 2010) are mostly applied in steel production
process. From those literatures it is true to conclude that, industries. JIT is related with Small lot Production, Work
innovation (Macmillan, 2007) is a new idea, method, or cells and Cellular manufacturing, Pull production
the latest technological innovations and lean innovation system(Nicholas, 1998a). Set up reduction leads to JIT, Pull
value system is a mapping system that defines values for production system, Pokayoke, TQM. Appropriate concept
an innovation project based on to the R&D facilities to for Maintaining and improving equipment is TPM whereas
generate product differentiation with reduced resources 5s is implemented related with standard operations, and
and waste (Kováč & DrSc., 2013). So that, Lean kaizen philosophy which stands for continuous
manufacturing dominates innovation because of their improvement on the process.
concern is subjected with continues improvement
philosophies. However, it’s application is hindered due 4. DATA INTERPRETATION AND ANALYSIS
to , the misconception of the lean philosophy (Tourki,
2010). This is a literature gap that, lean philosophy seems 4.1 General overview Lean Production the
solely implemented and applicable only discrete based selected sector
processes rather than continuous based process
industries. But now few articles are trying to evaluate the From the survey result it’s easy to understand that, metal
implementation of lean philosophy on continuous and steel industries are affected by continuous
process industries. Based on Tourki (2010) lean improvement infectious diseases, they understand they
philosophy was driven by some main ideas as: customer have tightened with a lot of problems which they can
values. While Porter (1985 ) defined value as the amount easily mention but they are not ready to be cured by
buyers willing to afford. According to Allingham (1983); philosophical treatments coming from external sources.
Erlach (2013); Velamuri (2013) the term is related with For long time, they have tried to medicate themselves by
production of goods, which are useful for the consumer. enforcing management teams into extreme control
However, according Laselle (2016) the traditional mechanisms of the shop floor workers but still they are
manufacturing approaches will no longer pace with a in problem. Those industries are still tightened with, low
current dynamic new consumer-driven age. Thus, a productivity, low quality, and related production and
manifestation new smart thinking approach is required human resource problems which contained them from
for competitiveness (Bartodziej, 2017). In this line there becoming worldwide competitive industry.
is a value network which value is co-created by a
combination of players in the network (Peppard & They may have a lot of reasons why they are not accepting
Rylander, 2006). very important and improvement ideologies, but as Daniel
(2016) suggested in his book in titled with እንሆ መንገድ
ለኢየጵያ meaning “Here is a road to Ethiopia” a limited
attitude for paradigm shift is a main problem for change.

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Industries run with traditional practices with a limited process, lack of alignment of management practice with
commitment for new ideology. For instance, Industries continuous improvement philosophies, lack of system
feared that the coming new ideology of improvement may thinking mentality, lack of coordination, lack of
damage their entire profit. In the other side, they also commitment, and lack of qualified experts in the field are
forecast the coming new ideology will be grounded as the factors prioritized as causes for visible improvements
forefather philosophies which was once a slogan. So, didn’t come as rate of it is required.
diagnosing the cause of those company’s sickness is a
responsibility whom claimed to be devoted in philosophies. 4.2 Challenges of Innovative Lean
manufacturing for its existence and
It is clear that Ethiopian kaizen institute has put its effort for associated gaps
companies serving for change and willing to accept their
sermon. But in reality, the institute effort is not still coming In the literature survey developed nations lean production
out from its apartment and change the way of life that the system is reached on its ultimate pick and produced extra
“philosophy” kaizen demands to bring. Starting from its time ordinary changes on industries. For instance, Toyota
of creation by a former prime minister Melese Zenawi, till Automotive production, Motorola electronic company and
now it is on the 5s stage of making ready industries for further others could be mentioned as pioneer in this philosophy
step of its implementation even if the 5s principles are also which flourished the idea of eliminating waste in production
mostly implemented on workshops. Industries are also still system and become worldwide competitor company.
working on identifying the muda’s that the philosophy Besides, lean production philosophy is originated from
claimed to remove while improving their process, product automotive industries and flourished in electronics and other
development and diversified production required have given kind of discrete production systems, it’s was not applied
limited attention so that now industries are in the way of even more in continuous based industries is mentioned as a
forgetting the trainings and efforts done by kaizen institute. A literature gap. As it is explained in the literature review,
paradigm management and technical philosophies, like TPS some literatures come out to show lean production benefit
(Lean Production), TPM, TQM, JIT, and has been rarely in cement (El-Sharief, 2013; Tourki, 2010) and
known in respected companies which are parts of this survey. steel(Abdullah, 2003; AVCI, 2016; Deepak Kumar, 2014),
Mostly Initiatives for change are coming from top which they tried to magnified the application of lean
management or front line department heads. The shop floor production in continuous production system. According to
employees at the downstream don’t want or, had a chance to those literatures lean production has been mostly
think about continues process improvement, or on implemented on discrete production systems. This gap is
understanding the benefits on continuous process existed not because of lean production philosophy cannot be
Improvement and implement themselves independently implemented, but it is misinterpreted with kaizen
without management support. This had a significant philosophy so that it is forced to be buried in the ground and
implication on the productivity of companies who wants to companies are still breathes with their thousands of
change their competency at the pick of any local competitive challenges and bulky wastes which dangling industries to
company and beyond at the globe. According to this study, life and death. Due to that skill shortage, adoption of new
even if companies accept that it is very essential to strive for technology, linkage b/n upstream and downstream
perfection, and there is a need for implementing a reward and activities, product diversification and development, labour
incentive system for successful continuous improvement productivity and product quality, technological capability,
projects. and management problems are raised as a gap due to the
above critical factors which are flourished in every metal
Under this study on the selected sector, lean production and steel industry. The most four critical gaps have selected
system appears to be unknown or misinterpreted. and suggestions proposed for further improvement in the
According to this survey there are a lot of cases for it. following sections.
Lack of visible leadership at the senior management
level, lack of understanding the fundamental change

Figure 3. Gaps that critically forced for industries not to test changes from CI philosophies

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Skill gap it is still on the shining stage of 5s. This shows that, the
theoretical aspects that changed originator japan didn’t
All nation and people within it demands improvement in seem conceptualized (or, contextualized) unless
their way of life and business they perform for survive. industries were not still on the shining stage for this long
The question is how this improvement originates and period of time since the philosophy bring into Ethiopia.
become real in their day today activity. Regarding to
improvement there are Far East and western ideologies To enhance this sector competitiveness the above skill
and sticking with one give the impression for development process should be followed strictly. First there
practitioners on the field. The former ideology demands should be a policy and regulation which is targeted to skill
gradual and infinite process improvement while the later development on sectors regarding to continuous
one requires rapid change which may require totally improvement. Institutions should have a synchronized
changing the way the business is performed. Such kind development program on continuous improvement and they
of ideologies was tried in developing countries and should be a controlled strong chained on their performance.
remained as an old fashion for change since it is not very In this case institutions refers to, educational and training
cost effective to implement. Due to that, those nations institutions (both private and gov’t), gov’t institutions
especially in Africa continent they tried to bring directly related to this sector (MIDI), Kaizen institution,
philosophy for continuous process improvement like Government and Non-government organizations who are
kaizen which requires less amount of effort with less concerned for a change in this sector and have a cumulative
investment cost while compared with the previous and knowledge on the process.
now it is on loom process of its implementation stage.
When government policy and regulation is so strong and
According to this survey, having kaizen philosophy is a committed to bring change by creating those integrated
good start for improvement because it changes the world. institutions which may have a common goal in the skill
The problem is, a gap from stakeholders implementing this development of the particular philosophy then it is
philosophy as it demands to change. The survey indicates obvious that there will be committed company managers
that, from the nominated lists of gaps 19% is accounted for working for the particular philosophy which can convey
skills limitations related to tools and techniques on their development problem into trash. If managers are
implementation process. This gap is created since there is no committed to change, the way employees motivated in
sustainable follow ups from institutes and industries are not changing their old habit and having a new cloth of
willing enough to take it as their business seriously because development skill will be easy since managers have an
of previous failing experiences. ability to enhance employee’s perspective in any
direction when they become a true leader. Leaders in the
Identifying tools and techniques directly belonging into industry can inspire employees under their league and
the particular cases is an indication that, skill gap is really they can make their industry a competency center. But
existed. Improvement philosophies tried to be squeezed committed industry manager should have been supported
and emerged into one cup of tea and industries are forced with consistent trainings and supports from institutions
to take it whether they are in need or not. A feasibility and from industry R&D Department. In this case to get a
study suited for a particular industry doesn’t seem to be fully transformed skill R&D department should be
implemented during this survey. Kaizen implementation installed in each sector industry and it should have a full
is an example. Their implementation is remained on the responsibility on issues the company needs to overcome.
corner of workshops and limited on few companies while

Figure 4. Skill development process for innovative lean manufacturing

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The skill development is a never end process. It should experienced. Whether philosophies coming from east or
be done again and again by solving gaps existed in each west it looks doesn’t work in their condition. But it does.
and every dime activity and each activity should have a The problem is they are not willing to accept it. Since the
feedback loop to gain the check and balance advantage initiation is not from industries themselves, process
on the process. Government policy also should be improvement philosophies couldn’t get a chance to be
updated and fill a gap created during a skill development accepted. Nobody can be salvaged if someone not need
process using free and accountable feedback loop. When to be saved.
this process loop keeps, then the existed skill gap in those
sectors could be resolved with a matter of time. Industry without active R&D department means a man
without a leg. A man without a leg can try to run but it
Adoption of new technology gap needs a lot of support and mechanism similarly
committed manager without a dedicated R&D
Working with old fashion machineries, old fashion department cannot go further an inch either to inspire
working procedures and principles, and trying to create a employees or even further to keep constant its
new system and broking the old habit is the strongest motivational feeling.
challenge facing most humanity. Change starts with
replacing deep-rooted conditions with new and refreshed For making the above skill development process practical
one. If somebody could not break bondages but wishes to industries should have R&D department installed in their
change a system will remain within it how mush organizational structure with full responsibilities so that
powerful it is or how much potential it has. So, changing it can help to keep motivation of managers for constant
starts with broking bondages which limits for it. skill development process. In this case, we can say that
there is a fertile ground for adoption of new technologies.
Most industries included in this survey are not willing
enough to come out from their oldies activities they are

Figure 5. New technology adoption process for innovative lean manufacturing

The initiation for change in industries could be started by managers trust more their R&D department rather than
installing active R&D department in their structure and government imitated process. But if the R&D finding and
when this department starts to work strongly they can the government initiated program find similar gaps and
identify gaps existed in in day one of their duty. At this reach on the same consciousness on the solution it will be
moment, it is expected to spark the light of change very easy to implement any new innovation, philosophy,
attitude and transform it to managers which is already and what so ever the government policy wants to
ignited by the skill development process initiated by the implement in the sector will come true.
government policy and regulation start-ups are is the
point, the skill development process started to brighten Finally, it can be concluded that as humans have soul to
the managers mind to show away of change but it doesn’t live, mind to think, legs to run similarly industries need
have a capacity to transform their condition into a new motivated manager as a soul, inspired employee as mind
environment. It is in humanity nature trusting a person and consistent R&D performance for run on the process
belonging only for himself. In this case industry of development.

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Management commitment gap

Unnecessary motion also take the lion share which is 21%
Manager could be very reluctant for change with different with regard to the other kind of wastes available and it is
reasons. At this survey especially reported from kaizen accounted with, poor workplace organization, poor
institution the main challenge they did faced right now is ergonomics, and related to this excessive bending or
lack of commitment from the manager’s side. Managers stretching and frequently lost items are the most visible
don’t need kaizen programs as their own and they don’t causes for this kind of waste. Whereas, waiting is also
want to concern on the progress the institute wants to bring. account 11% with respect to long period of inactive due to
Eventually this gap can be filled by integrating the skill machine breakdown and other related downtimes, power
development process and new technology adoption process fluctuations, and waiting for information and goods coming
together referring figure 2 and 3 respectively. downstream and upstream value chain. Excessive motion,
overproduction, and unnecessary inventory accounted to
4.3 Waste management practices 18% in total while compared to others. According to this
survey result, company managers of metal and steel
In this survey, is has been found that wastes have been production industries have a huge problem of raw materials
labeled only for defects. Those defects which are related supply. Most of steel producers import scrap materials from
to frequent errors, product quality problems and poor abroad and Martials arrive without the company control.
delivery performance are understood as critical wastes. Banks, government officials and port related issues affected
According to the interview result this covers 26% among their supply chain and this kind of problems make them
other kind of problems occurred in the process. This don’t think about overproduction. Companies tried to
signifies that, companies only considered defected produce a product as soon as they get a row material. They
products as critical waste. The second critical waste don’t care whether there is demand or not. Since there is a
identified in this survey is inappropriate processing vast amount of construction activity in Ethiopian, losing
which is claimed to be the cause of defect related wastes. their customer is a least of their problem. So, over
This waste account 24% of the total wastes available with production is a success not a waste for such kind of
respect to using wrong set of tools, using wrong particular case sector.
procedures, having a wrong production system.

Figure 6. Pie of Pie diagram for criticality in the seven muda

In general, Defect related wastes, in appropriate 4.4 Leanness assessment

processing related wastes and unnecessary motion related
wastes should be given a priority. Overproduction, Taking all philosophies as a tool will have a problem in
unnecessary inventory, and excessive motion are wastes implementing very diverse techniques form each
which is not currently concern the selected sector. But philosophy. Ethiopian kaizen institute is tried to
waiting related wastes is expected to be solved implement kaizen using diverse philosophies as toolkit
immediately after the elimination of the first three for it. As philosophy, it may not have any problem. But
prioritized wastes. Overproduction, unnecessary in real implementation stage, tools and broad
inventory, and excessive motion is not considered as a philosophies will be mixed up and confused even
waste in the selected case industries not because they had expertise involved in the implementation process. In
a continues steel production system but they had ignored addition to that it will be very difficult to grasp the main
such kind of wastes due to their raw material related concept of each tool and implementation procedure
problems and an increased demand which will take any unless there is a strategy to follow up to reach at the
produced inventory at any time in any capacity. Despite, desired stage. Leanness of the case company is tested by
they had an outdated steel production technology which evaluating their rate of using lean tools in in their
limits their production capacity, unnecessary inventory is company by comparing it with kaizen institute whom
steel a waste that they had denied to accept its existence responsible for the implementation of kaizen philosophy.
due to the reasons explained above.

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Figure 7. Lean toolkit assessment

SPC tools tried to be used by quality department even if government itself, and institutes. The following leanness
they are on the stage of QC (Quality control). strategy is composed with three stakeholders Institutes,
Management committee is responsible 5MQS. Man, Government, and Industry. These stakeholders are good
material, method, machine and management related players which decides on the fate of country with all their
wastes have tried to be identified through routed reports responsibilities and rights they have. If it is required to
from shop floor till top management. Quality and safety have a lean manufacturing philosophy implemented in
issues are also included in the report. VSM (Value stream industries the three stakeholders should work as hand a
mapping), SMED (Single minute exchange of dies), glove. All these elements could create a board of
production smoothing, Kanban, Total productive directors to sustain the implementation of leanness and
maintenance techniques such as OEE (Over all this board should have all representatives from each
equipment effectiveness), and operation standardization element. Any initiative or response coming from those
techniques are rarely known in the surveyed industry. As elements should get an approval to have an agreement
it is showed in the figure above there is a huge gap in and believe on the implementation process. Board of
implementation of tools which are belonging to lean directors should create a bond between the three elements
production. Those voids are created due to limited and work for the prosperity and success of manufacturing
understanding leanness for sustainable development industries by solving problems by the continuous
purpose. It is a responsibility of government to close a Plan_Do_Check_Act (PDCA) Deming’s principles.
gap by providing indirect and direct support to have a
complete three-way collaboration between industry,

Figure 8. Innovative Leanness strategy

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The bond between elements also should be strengthen by their own objectives and reasons for existence, enhancing
the three fundamental enacts called Strong diagnosis and the life conditions by transforming enterprise
guidance system, commitment and initiatives, and performances is the common factor for them. Institutions
Trainings and follow-ups. In addition to each elements are expected to generate knowledge, experience, and
Plan_Do_Check_Act process a general explore new way of doing business for enterprises. This
Plan_Do_Check_Act (PDCA) Deming’s principles is is an act which should be implemented on sustainable
also a part of this strategy. All the enacts are discussed way through panel discussions, conference meetings,
as follows. projects and research programs, feasible trainings, and
tangible consultations about lean manufacturing. The
A. Commitment and initiatives process of all this activates should be supported by check
and balance of PDCA Deming’s principle.
As it is investigated in the previous sections lack of
management commitment is huge problem for C. Strong diagnosis and guidance system.
implementation of continuous improvement
philosophies. One indication for this case is kaizen Institutions may fail before their act of objectives,
implementation. Kaizen is a kind of philosophy which industries may become reluctant and loss hope in those
requires a bottom _top decision process which solutions institutions when they ruin their plan of improvement. At
for detailed problems are proposed by the lower workers this moment government, should intervene and play a
and top managers put their only approval and budget for leading role of supporting those elements in every
implementation. This kind of process is not usual in dimension and reason of failure. Due to that a strong
Ethiopia since the attitude of industrial managers seems diagnosis and guidance system is required for the
to follow a monarchical approach. A monarchical attitude sustainable development and implementation of those
will not accept the lower-class ideology without his/her lean production principles.
willingness even if an idea is key for success. So, that for
the achievement of this leanness strategy managers Diagnosis is a process to examine industries based on
attitude should be shifted automatically into icebreaker to symptoms of failure to utilize ideologies emerged from
accept every dime idea of improvement for the company institutes and in another side when institutes couldn’t
and approve based on its effect and play a good harmonize implementation of lean production ideology.
leadership act to motivate them as a payment of their pure The guidance system instructs about what institutes and
idea and concern for the industry. In this study, it is also industries should do or how should they behave and
known that, skill gap is a very huge void in lower class control the process of lean production system. A
workers. Most of shop floor workers have a limited diagnosis and a guidance process should be controlled by
capacity to understand every detailed and scientific the Plan_Do_Check_Act cycle within the government to
techniques of lean manufacturing tools so that it may take create a sustainable diagnosis and guidance system.
a lot of time and effort and even replacing human
resource with skilled and experienced ones is a price that D. Over-all Plan_Do_Check_Act cycle.
could be paid for change. This is not the only
commitment that should be taken by industrial managers, Independent government, institutes, and industries
initiatives for change should be generated from lower activities will not have an effect on lean production
class workers as it is depicted above but also initiatives implementation if their actions could be integrated by the
for improvement, initiative for getting trainings, same plan of action related to leanness, the same
initiatives for consultations, initiatives for new projects, implementation procedure or strategy, the same check
and initiatives of research for development thematic and balance system, and the same consciousness on
areas should be taken by industries then institutes will improvement and remedy action on voids found in
take the responsibility to payback their reason for implementation time.
existence to enhance companies way of life and
development. All those actions should be balanced within 4.5 An approach for leanness strategy
the company Plan_Do_Check_Act (PDCA) of Deming’s
principle to keep industries on the track of change and Contextualizing lean production philosophy should be
improvement that seek by different stakeholder. All the first step before implementing on unfertile ground.
industries act should be checked and get approval by the As it is explained above, during this survey industries
board of directors. have limited on implementing lean production due to
the following major problems. Un skill labour which
B. Training and follow-ups have limited capacity to understand and actively
integrated with new philosophies and strategic
Institutes may refer to, Academic, Technical and approaches. Limited capacity to adopt new technology
Vocational Education Training (TVET), Ministry of due to initiatives coming from outside and companies
Industry (MoI), Metal Industry Development Institute doesn’t take measurements to invest on R&D department
(MIDI), and Governmental and Non-Governmental which can pledge philosophies and strategic approaches
Organizations (NGO’s). Those different institutes have suits with their production system and technology.

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Limited management commitment results have a very and satisfaction on implementing improvement
huge consequence on continues improvement. However, philosophies. So, that a strategy is needed at list by
on this survey it is found that management is not still having the following key criteria’s: -
ready to let go some of their responsibilities into ground  Commitment and Initiatives from industries
level and restructure the improvement system into  Training and Follow ups from institutes
down top approach. Productivity and quality related  Strong diagnosis and guidance system from
problems are created as a result of skill and management government and
gaps. Labors reject a new technology proposed to them  Overall Plan_Do_Check_Act (PDCA) approach
since most of shop floor workers is not capable fitting to keep check and balance
with those philosophical approaches and change
themselves to create a promising output as it is expected. As strategy, those selected elements should work as a
Unavailability of leanness strategy is also anther farming system1 . The following figure shows how the
limitation and it leads stakeholders go through endless active leanness looks in the farming system.
roads without a light. This condition worse than ever but
it is a life that industries manage to survive by losing hope

Figure 9. Representation of Innovative leanness with Farming system

5. CONCLUSION which they can easily mention but they are not ready to
be cured by philosophical treatments coming from
Lean production philosophy is originated from external sources. For long time, they have tried to
automotive industries and flourished in electronics and medicate themselves by enforcing management teams
other kind of discrete production systems, it’s was not into extreme control mechanisms of the shop floor
applied more in continuous based industries is a literature workers but still they are in problem. It is clear that
gap. As it is explained in the literature review, some Ethiopian kaizen institute has put its effort for companies
literatures come out to show lean production benefit in serving for change and willing to accept their sermon. but
cement (El-Sharief, 2013; Tourki, 2010) and steel in reality, the institute effort is not still coming out from
(Abdullah, 2003; AVCI, 2016; Deepak Kumar, 2014), its apartment and change the way of life that the
which they tried to magnified the application of lean “philosophy” kaizen demands to bring. A paradigm
production in continuous production system. This gap is management and technical philosophies, like TPS (Lean
existed not because of lean production philosophy cannot Production), TPM, TQM, JIT, and has been rarely known
be implemented, but it is misinterpreted with kaizen in respected companies which are parts of this survey.
philosophy so that it is forced to be buried in the ground Mostly Initiatives for change are coming from top
and companies are still breathes with their thousands of management or front line department heads. The shop
challenges and bulky wastes which dangling industries to floor employees at the downstream don’t want or, had a
life and death. From the survey result it’s easy to chance to think about continues process improvement, or
understand that, metal and steel industries are affected by on understanding the benefits on continuous process
continuous improvement infectious diseases, they Improvement and implement themselves independently
understand they have tightened with a lot of problems without management support.

እርፍ ሞፈር መቀርቀሪያ፡ Fastener, ልጓም፡ rein are the

1
A farming system taken from Ethiopian traditional
farming system. ገበሬ፡ Farmer, ሞፈር፡ Beam of plough, contexts taken from the Ethiopian traditional farming
ቀንበር፡ Yoke, ጅራፍ፡ Lash, ዕርፍ፡ Beam of plow, እርሻ፡ system.
Barnyard, ማረሻ፡ Plow, በሬዎች: oxen, ሞፈር ቀንበር እና

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 Shimelis et al., Proceedings on Engineering Sciences, Vol. 02, No. 3 (2020) 247-258, doi: 10.24874/PES02.03.004

Based on the leanness assessment in the above portion it expertise, or any association which can lift up leanness
has found the necessity of having contextualized and and create common sense of understanding).
systematic approach on solving continuous improvement Government has a power to solve problems beyond
related problems facing metal and steel industries. institutes and industries. Government can connect
industries and institutes by solving, financial, legal, and
6. RECOMMENDATION logistic problems.

Contextualizing lean production philosophy should be For perfect results industries, should be work integrally
the first step before implementing on unfertile ground. a with government and institutes bonding with the board of
strategy on leanness should be evaluated using; directors.
Commitment and initiatives from industries, Training
and Follow ups from institutes, Strong diagnosis and Employees should carry the burden of improvement and
guidance system from government, and Overall lead a company into the future. Industry managers should
Plan_Do_Check_Act (PDCA) approach to keep check only play as guidance and supportive action for the
and balance. efforts made by employees.

Ethiopian industries should have a common hall to meet Where ever the research idea originates if it is related to
and pass decisions regarding to their experts’ effort of lean production and leanness strategy the lean expert
implementation on the improvement philosophies. This should be responsible to take active researches and bring
common hall could be a common group of solutions which can touch a ground and elevate problems
representatives, common associations (Like associations during the implementation process.
of Engineers from all institutions, association of lean

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Shimelis Tilahun Eshetie Berhan Daniel Kitaw

Addis Ababa Uniersity Addis Ababa Uniersity Addis Ababa Uniersity
Ethiopia Ethiopia Ethiopia
[Link]@[Link]

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