Impact of Lean Manufacturing Practices and Operational Performance of Beer Brewing Process: a Case Study of Kenya Breweries Limited

Abstract

The main objective of lean manufacturing is to create more value for customer by eliminating non-value adding activities. Manufacturers throughout industries are adapting the lean manufacturing system of production to remain competitive globally. This study was seeking to establish the impact of practices of lean manufacturing practices and operational performance of beer brewing process at Kenya Breweries Limited. The methodology of research adapted was descriptive case study using Kenya Breweries Limited as a case study unit. Interview guide was used to collect data after which content analysis was used for the collected data analysis. The impact of LM practices and operational performance of beer brewing process was cited to be highly above average for Total Quality Management, Total Productive Maintenance and Poka Yoke. Just-In-Time and 5s were cited to be averagely adapted. The findings revealed that the quality of beer has increased resulting into increase in flexibility of beer volume and also flexibility of producing different beer brands. There has been reduction on waste generated during the beer processing like; Inventory of raw materials, operator‟s movement, brewing time for one batch of beer and customer delivery time. The findings also revealed an increase in overall equipment effectiveness (OEE). OEE as a tool for measuring performance indicates areas of process improvement by measuring different types of production losses. In summary the findings indicate that all the lean manufacturing practices are in one way related to operational performance. Kenya Breweries Limited realizes the full benefit of having adapted the full implementation of lean manufacturing practices