Critical Analysis under the Lean Thinking Point of View of a Supply Chain Management Implementation

Abstract

The 1990s initiated the development of the concepts of lean production, broadening its scope to all the strategic areas of the organization so that the performance of logistics, previously limited to the transport and distribution of production inputs (raw materials) and finished products has also evolved into the broader scope of the supply chain management. From 2000 onwards, the interactions between these two movements of evolution converge into an increasing application of the lean thinking principles and tools: not only at the production level, but also in the analysis and restructuring of the supply chain, as a whole. This paper intends to show this convergence through a brief review of the main concepts involved and through a critical analysis of a case of management system supply chain implementing in a flat steel processing plant and distribution company.