Lean practices for product and process improvement : Involvement and knowledge capture

Innovation is key source of a company's competitiveness in the knowledge economy, and continuous improvement is a key element of such corporate pursuit. Lean production is a globally competitive standard for product assembly of discreet parts. Successful Lean application is conditioned by an evolutionary problem-solving ability of the rank and file. Such ability is in itself contingent on employee involvement in improvement programs and the implementation of appropriate practices. But the challenge of operating innovative Lean systems lacks statistically valid guidance. This empirical study is based on 294 worker responses from twelve manufacturing sites in four Brazilian industry sectors. It identifies particular practices that impact employee participation in change or improvement activities and their performance outcomes