Lean manufacturing and internet of things – A synergetic or antagonist relationship?

This paper explores the relationship between five LM methods (JIT, TPM, Autonomation, VSM and Kaizen) three IoT technologies (RFID, WSN Middleware) implications that arise from their combination. Four hypotheses four complimentary research questions were formulated tested. 136 responses obtained through a questionnaire survey analysed using descriptive statistics, 2-Sample proportion, Kruskal-Wallis, ANOVA Pairwise comparison tests. The findings indicate can significantly improve operational performance of manufacturing organisations. advocate all methods, apart Kaizen, benefit improved effectiveness by combining them with IoT. results suggest this be attributed to general perception about IoT, which despite support benefits it provides people, is seen reducing human involvement whereas Kaizen more people-focused. Improvements in information flow, decision-making productivity also found most important motivations used organisations wish embark into new digitalised era businesses seeking combination traditional efficiency-based I4.0 technologies.