Lean manufacturing performance in China: assessment of 65 manufacturing plants

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to investigate the adaptation of lean production and assess its current state of practice in selected plants in electronics, telecommunication, wireless, computer, food beverage, garment, pharmaceutical, chemical, petroleum, printing, A C and heating, and a few others in China.Design methodology approach - An assessment tool is used to evaluate actual manufacturing practice related to key areas of inventory; team approach; processes; maintenance; layout handling; suppliers; setups; quality; and scheduling and control. Manufacturing executives at manufacturing plants answered 40 questions in the assessment. Each response in the assessment is scored and a total score for each plant is recorded by adding average scores for all areas.Findings - Application of lean production in China started in the late 1970s in the automotive industry, much earlier than by American and European manufacturers. The results of assessments show that the petroleum industry is in lead among all industries, followed by computer, telecommunication wireless, and electronics industries. The findings from lean production system design-related questions show low scores in layout design, volume mix flexibility, setup, visual factory, and point-of-use delivery. However, plants earned high scores in materials flow, scheduling control, on-time delivery of finished goods, and overall defect rate. The findings have some similarity with recent studies about Chinese manufacturing firms' performance and competitiveness.Research limitations implications - Research findings are from some selected manufacturing plants in China and they should not be interpreted as an indicator of that particular sector in China.Originality value - This study investigates actual lean manufacturing practice and performance in Chinese plants.