A STUDY OF LEAN FACILITIES MANAGEMENT AND OPERATIONS IN LIBRARIES

Abstract

Lean, among many other names like Just-in-Time Production and Toyota Production System, has been in existence for more than thirty years. Its production has successfully altered the manufacturing industry, and its philosophy and implementation continued to leave its footprints in both the academic and corporate world. Lean became a popular management method in the operations industry due to improved efficiency, shorter lead times, and better flexibility in offering a wide spectrum of services in small quantities that helped the system remain competitive. For systematic productivity improvement, Lean management is becoming the gold standard. The goal of this study is to find out how academic libraries feel about Lean implementation. The thesis aims to shed light on the existing status of Lean awareness in academic libraries, as well as the potential impediments and problems that limit successful Lean implementation. This study will look into the usage of Lean manufacturing in the academic library industry through surveys, interviews, case study analysis, and participation by library personnel. The survey's numerical and statistical results will be examined by the SPSS software and three hypothesis tests. According to the analysis of case studies, and quantitative and qualitative findings, most library staff are generally more supportive towards section three (add value to the organisation by developing the people) and section four (continuously solving root problems drives organisational learning) of the Liker’s model, which will be further elaborated on in Chapter 3. A list of Lean FM principles for academic libraries was proposed after reviewing the research data.