of a framework for assessing the use of PD. No reference was found
on methods, which had been tested and validated in real-world
settings, which could be used for assessing the use of PD.
From both a practical and theoretical perspective, the need to
develop a framework for assessing PD is part of the need to develop
methods for assessing the use of lean practices. In fact, compared
with the efforts made to address “how to become leaner”, the
issue of “how lean the system is” has received less attention [12].
Although a number of methods have been drawn up to assess the
extent to which a company adopts lean principles [12–14], fewer
methods [15,16] aim at assessing the use of lean practices, the
implementation of which takes place directly and visibly on the
shop-floor (e.g., PD). Survey has been the preferred strategy for
assessing the use of lean practices, aiming at investigating large
samples of companies [16–20]. While these surveys have merits,
they tend to be of little use as tools to companies that aim at assessing
how their particular lean practices are performing.
Thus, similarly with previous studies on the assessment of lean
practices [15], this study adopts the method of auditing as an alternative.
This method is well-known in most industries, combining
both qualitative and quantitative assessments [21], which can
provide more pragmatic insights for individual companies, in comparison
with those provided by surveys. An audit is a systematic,
independent and documented process to obtain evidence and to
assess them objectively, measuring the extent to which audit criteria
are met. Auditing allows the gap between desired and actual
performance to be identified, as well as to enable the assessment
of information that can be used to improve performance [22].
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