Application of benchmarking for assessing the lean manufacturing implementation

Purpose In recent times, many organizations have attempted to implement or have already implemented lean manufacturing (LM). Some companies have implemented a few tools/techniques/practices/procedures (i.e. “elements” in short) of LM, while others have implemented a whole spectrum of LM elements. Under such circumstances, it becomes very difficult to gauge which organization has really embraced the lean philosophy and where it stands in...