Even though the maturity of lean production (LP) systems is mostly associated with the integration of lean principles into the organizational culture, the assessment of shop-floor practices associated with LP provides an overview of how lean a company is. In this context, this study presents a qualitative assessment of the implementation of LP practices in a heavy machinery manufacturer that has been adopting LP as its production philosophy since 2001. The assessment was undertaken in the harvesters assembly line based on four sources of evidence: direct observation; interviews with fifteen managers and supervisors; interviews with thirty operatives; and analysis of documents related to the LP system. Those evidences were a basis for fulfilling a checklist with eighty-eight items distributed among twelve typical lean practices. Regardless of the shortcomings of the qualitative approach adopted, such as the subjectivity involved in the assignment of performance levels for each practice, it was possible to identify strengths and weaknesses of the existing lean system. Moreover, this study also pointed out guidelines to improve existing LP assessment methods.
Lean production; Performance measurement; Qualitative assessment; Automotive industry
