International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research, Volume 5, Issue 8,August-2014 635 ISSN 2229-5518 IJSER © 2014 http://www.ijser.org Manufacturing Competitiveness through Lean Principles – Analysis of Readiness Level and Comparison in Small and Medium Enterprises by Identification and Modeling the Critical Success Factors Nidhin K, Ramkumar P N, Dr. Satish K P Abstract— The purpose of this study is to identify the critical success factors influencing lean production in Small and Medium Enterprises. A survey is conducted within the manufacturing organizations of Kerala to find out the current level of Lean practices within the manufacturing organizations in Kerala. The results are then analyzed to understand the relationship between variables. This study helps to determine whether the organizations have the foundation to implement Lean Systems. The competitive market pressures and other issues challenging the survival of small and medium size enterprises have been the motivating factor for conducting this study. Lean manufacturing offers an ideal solution in initiating cost reducing strategies like, the identification and elimination of wastes and also enhancing their productivity and competitiveness. Index Terms— Lean Production, Lean Readiness level, degree of adoption of lean production principles, Small and medium enterprises, SMEs in Kerala, critical success factors, multiple regression analysis ——————————  —————————— 1 INTRODUCTION oday, the Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs) are getting more focused due to various reasons such as they are the real engine for growth of the Indian economy, provide employment to a large chunk of population, it is breeding ground for entrepreneurs, its considerable contribution to GDP and export earnings, etc. This is the time when the SMEs in India should brace up to face new challenges of the modern times. So, the SMEs have no choice but to improve both in quality and standards as well as costing and pricing to sur- vive. Lean manufacturing offers an ideal solution in initiating cost reducing strategies like, the identification and elimination of wastes in the entire manufacturing environments and also enhancing their productivity and competitiveness. Lean man- ufacturing is like taking to a systematic approach for identify- ing and eliminating waste in operations through continuous improvement for doing everything more efficiently, reducing the cost of operating the system and fulfilling the customers desire for maximum value at the lowest price. The mantra is: lowest inputs for highest output and quality. 1.1 Objectives 1. Identification and modelling the critical success factors influencing lean production in SMEs 2. To conduct a survey and find out the current level of Lean practices within the manufacturing organizations in Kera- la. 3. To analyze the relationship between the factors affecting lean implementation and to develop a mathematical mod- el. 4. To compare the lean readiness level of various groups of organizations 1.2 Scope The scope of this study is in the premise of lean manufactur- ing utilisation within the SMEs community who are engaged in the manufacture sector in Kerala. 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Lean manufacturing basic concept and definitions Lean manufacturing is based on finding efficiencies and re- moving wasteful steps that don't add value to the end prod- uct. There's no need to reduce quality with lean manufactur- ing – the cuts are a result of finding better, more efficient ways of accomplishing the same tasks. The core idea is to maxim- ize customer value while minimizing waste. Simply, lean means creating more value for customers with fewer re- sources. A lean organization understands customer value and T ———————————————— • Nidhin K is currently pursuing masters degree program in Manufacturing Systems Management in Dept of Production Engineering, Govt. Engineer- ing College Thrissur, under University of Calicut, India. e-mail: knidhinmenon@gmail.com • Ramkumar P N is Phd. Research scholar in Dept of Mechanical Engineer- ing, Govt. Engineering College Thrissur, India. e-mail: rampavutty@gmail.com • Dr. Satish K P is Associate Professor in Dept of Production Engineering, Govt. Engineering College Thrissur, India. e-mail: satish.kp@gectcr.ac.in IJSER