Lean Practices And Operational Performance Of Automotive Firms’S Workshops In Nairobi

Abstract

This study is about lean practices and operational performance carried out in various workshops in Nairobi operated by selected automotive firms to establish the use of selected lean practices and to find out if the lean practices applied actually lead to operational performance. The study looked at the various lean practices as applied by the various organizations and went further to look at the effect of these lean practices on the operational performance of these organizations. On operational performance, the study went past the mere fact of looking at performance in terms of profits alone and looked into issues like customer satisfaction, talent retention, throughputs and accident levels. These lean practices are therefore highly recommended and the performance measurement measures must be applied so that they are not applied blindly for the sake of using them. In general, lean practices are widely applied in most automotive industries in Kenya. The commonly used practices include service booking, inventory control and use of supply contracts or use of one reliable supplier. The least applied lean practices are in issues like ensuring service parts availability, talent retention activities and ensuring that on vehicles in work in progress are in the workshops. The study also observes that lean practices affect the operational performance of these organizations. Notably, when applied, the practices highly increased the profits, sales while reducing the training costs. On the other hand these practices were to have little influence on talent retention, workshop accident level and customer complains. The study further recommends cross training of all workers in this organizations on the use of the lean practices. This will ensure good results from every member of the organization. Since lean practices as observed are so many, the study recommends further studies on each and every practice for elaborate and more meaningful results.