Assessment of lean manufacturing effect on business performance using Bayesian Belief Networks

The challenge of agility for adopting new business norms creates the need for measuring performance under changing conditions. This study aims to demonstrate the financial and non-financial consequences of implementing different combinations of lean techniques on the business performance. Bayesian Belief Network is used in studying the effects of factors under changing conditions. There are seven lean factors and four achievements studied to analyze the impact on three performance indicators. Bayesian Belief Network is constructed on the lean aspects that stimuli flexibility, reliability, quality and time of operations, which will have positive impacts on the financial, non-financial and sustainability performances of suppliers. A case study is carried out for suppliers in the automotive industry and scenarios with different combinations of lean factors are studied. This study gives a new vision in applying Bayesian network for business performance measures considering both the tangible and intangible results under changing business conditions. 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.