Malihe Manzouri

Lean supply chain practices in the Halal food

Purpose – This study aims to assess the possibility of implementing lean practices in the Halal food supply chain, and the barriers to their implementation. Design/methodology/approach – A survey was used to identify the perceived issues and attitudes towards implementing lean practices in the supply chain. The questionnaire was distributed to 300 Halal food firms in Malaysia. A total of 61 usable replies were received. Findings – More than 70 percent of the firms reported that lean supply chain (LSC) has not yet been implemented in their firm. Data analysis shows that 14 percent of non-lean firms urgently need to implement lean manufacturing. Market competition and uncertainty was highlighted as an important barrier in implementing LSC among lean firms. In contrast, lack of customer awareness of LSCM practices was recognised as a major barrier in non-lean firms. Originality/value – There is little documentation regarding the status of LSC implementation in the Halal food industries, and therefore identif...

Adaptation of theories of supply chain management to the lean supply chain management

In the today global market, lean supply chain management (LSCM) has gain increasing attention within both academic and industrial research. However, its potential has remained largely underdeveloped in the SCM arena. Concerning the gap in the literature regarding to theory development in SCM, the possibilities of adapting some SCM theories to LSCM practices are investigated through extensive reviewing the related literature in this paper. Given a background on the definition of SCM theories, a review on LSCM definition and practices is provided. Based on the recent lean manufacturing literature, five important lean principles have been categorised to investigate the possibility of adoption with some SCM theories. As a result, 13 SCM theories were matched with these lean principles and they are concluded as LSCM theories.

Barriers of supply chain management implementation in manufacturing companies: a comparison between Iranian and Malaysian companies

Supply chain management (SCM) not only supports a companys goals and information sharing, but also supports a company in meeting and satisfying customer needs better than its competitors. Managers are faced with many barriers in implementing SCM. Implementing SCM in a developing country, such as Iran or Malaysia, is still considered to be a major challenge due to several barriers. It is essential for all managers to understand these barriers and try to minimize them and improve competition strength. This article presents the SCM implementation barriers between Iranian and Malaysian companies and suggests significant variations between these two countries regarding the barriers faced. This article also compares and highlights the results obtained from a literature study. A survey questionnaire and structure interviews were used to gather the data needed. The questionnaire was distributed to 600 automotive companies in Iran and Malaysia and a total of 132 replies were usable. The data were analyzed using SPSS software. The survey revealed that both Iranian and Malaysian companies suffer from a lack of expertise and lack of awareness about SCM, which are major limitations to implementing SCM. However, Iranian companies showed that lack of information and awareness about SCM is another major barrier as compared to Malaysian companies. The follow-up interviews were conducted with 10 Iranian and five Malaysian managements to investigate proper methods to counter these obstacles. The findings of this research provide invaluable information to all researchers who investigate the barriers of SCM implementation and to company managements who desire to implement SCM and to assist the development of an effective strategic plan as well as to design programs to overcome the SCM barriers.

How implementing SCM affect different manufacturing companies

Presenting products with a shorter life cycle, intense competition among enterprises and the highest level of customer satisfaction, have forced organisations to invest more on their supply chain. Managers always tried to design effective business to meet customer demands better than competitors. So, understanding the main issues related to supply chain management (SCM) implementation can help managers to make an effective strategy in managing their customers’ demands and fulfilling suppliers’ requirements. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the important problematic issues which hinder companies to implement SCM. To achieve these goals implementing SCM in two important industries in Malaysia (automotive and food) have been considered. A questionnaire was used to identify the perceived problems and attitudes towards SCM. The questionnaire was distributed to 600 food and automotive organisations in Malaysia. A total of 62 usable replies were received from the automotive industry, and 140 from the food...

Cutting down the Difficulties of SCM Implementation: A Comparison between Iranian and Malaysian Companies

Although management of organizations are faced with a number of problems which come up during implementing SCM projects, intense competition force them to overcome these difficulties on order to be successful in the fierce global market . In Developing countries, such as Iran and Malaysia, this matter is still considered as a major challenge due to facing several troubles for implementing SCM across their organizations. This paper presented several problems which have occurred when SCM were implemented across Iranian and Malaysian organizations and also suggested a proper framework for cutting down the most important of those difficulties. A survey questionnaire was used to gather the data needed and the review of literature leads authors to propose two frameworks. The survey reveals that both Iranian and Malaysian companies suffer from the “lack of information” as a major difficulty in implementing SCM. Framework A and B were suggested for sharing point of sale (POS) data across the SCM to overcome the lack of information across the chain. The findings of this research would give invaluable information to all managements who investigate for the proper method to conquer the SCM problems.

Emergence of Difficulties among Organizations in Applying Supply Chain Management

In this study implementing Supply Chain Management (SCM) among Malaysian automotive industries are considered to recognize what kind of problems suffered by those organizations when SCM was applied. Survey questionnaire was used to gather the data needed. The questionnaire was distributed to 300 Malaysian’s automotive organizations and a total of 62 replies were usable. The survey reveals that companies suffer from the lack of information as major difficulty during implementing SCM. The findings of this research would give invaluable information to all researchers and practitioners in the field of SCM.