Lean deployment boundary model: From knowledge elicitation to system design

Lean has given a competitive advantage to many companies in various sectors around the world. Although it has a socio-technical character that involves behavior change, many managers have seen it simply as a cost and job-cutting program. This has prompted an overstated focus as a toolbox, owing to the lack of a standard definition. The result was many misconceptions that have remained unsolved since the 1990s. This article proposes a model considering Lean as a System of Systems, which allows to formalize the interdependencies among the different elements of the value chain when implementing this strategy. For that purpose, knowledge elicitation from literature review has first been performed, leading to the characterization of what should be a productivity-based deployment. Then, loop diagrams reflecting the interdependencies at three levels of analysis have been proposed. The results provide a guidance and a support for decision makers to better understand these interdependencies, including social-technical aspects that are relevant for productivity, but generally neglected or misused when deploying Lean.