The Green and Lean Dairy Supply Chain Model: The case of a Libyan Dairy Company

BADI, MESBAH SALEH (2015) The Green and Lean Dairy Supply Chain Model: The case of a Libyan Dairy Company. [Dissertation (University of Nottingham only)]

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Abstract

Lean management was first implemented by Toyota in the automobile industry and has attracted the attention of many companies worldwide from various industries and sectors due to cost pressures and resource scarcity issues. Moreover, contemporary human activities have caused concern regarding its negative effects on the environment. Therefore, global agreements such as the Kyoto protocol were initiated to force companies to adopt green production and eliminate green wastes. The adoption of lean to cut wastes for cost reasons and then to separately adopt green, to cut wastes for legal and environmental reasons was questioned by researchers who believe that lean and green should be adopted simultaneously to maximise the benefits. Although, lean and green are targeting similar types of wastes, there are several contradictions related mainly to the Just In Time (JIT) tool which could decrease lean wastes but increase green wastes. The developed frameworks focus on maximising similarities and minimizing conflicts.

The dairy industry faces a lot of challenges due to its intensive use of natural resources and fierce competition. The purpose of this research is to design a green and lean model for the dairy supply chain. A model implemented in the automobile industry at the production cell developed by Pampnelli et al. (2014) was chosen because of its comprehensiveness and it was well tested. The model was adapted to the dairy industry and expanded to include the whole supply chain to make sure that lean and green wastes are removed for ever rather than moved to other parts of the supply chain. There are several prerequisites that have to be satisfied to ensure successful and fast roll out of the model. These are related, mainly, to the existence of a mature lean management approach within the supply chain. Case studies of two companies from the food and dairy industry (Arla foods and Nestlé) which have implemented lean and green were used to inform the process of designing the model. The model has five stages which are, specifying its boundaries (the whole supply chain), identifying the system inputs and outputs, measuring the environmental aspects of the current value stream map (VSM), developing an improved VSM and finally, continuous improvement.

The applicability of the model was tested at a dairy company in a developing country (Libya) called Al Naseem for Food Industries. The discussions with the company managers showed that the company does not have a lean management system which, is a condition for implementing this model. Although, the company production facilities can be easily adapted to the lean approach, there are external reasons related to the country’s lack of manufacturing base, its political instability and lack of cooperation with suppliers and customers that prevent it from implementing it across the supply chain. Therefore, Al Naseem may have to change the scope of its supply chain and seek help from international organisations to be able to implement the model.

Item Type: Dissertation (University of Nottingham only)
Depositing User: BADI, MESBAH
Date Deposited: 23 Mar 2016 13:12
Last Modified: 19 Oct 2017 14:46
URI: https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/id/eprint/29805

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