Med Lean i bagaget - En studie om Leans förmåga att öka produktiviteten av en bagagehanteringsprocess

Sammanfattning: Although Lean has received an increased amount of attention in the service context, research still has not established how successfully Lean manages to increase service productivity; since service productivity consists of both efficiency and quality. Research regarding productivity discusses the risk of a tradeoff between efficiency and quality in service production processes. Therefore, this thesis aims to explore if the tradeoff in a production setting with low variability in demand and low customer participation exists, after Lean has been implemented. With a qualitative approach, a case study has been conducted at Scandinavian Airlines Ground Handling to evaluate the effects of Lean in the baggage handling process. The result of the study shows that the tradeoff has not been overcome; efficiency has increased at the expense of quality. Through the use of a productivity model separating the productivity into internal efficiency, external efficiency and capacity efficiency, the existing tradeoff has been investigated. The findings of the study suggest that the use of Lean principles has been limited due to the nature surrounding the production process; factors that restrict the ability to reduce variability. The reason behind a suffering quality boils down to an issue concerning supply and demand. In the investigated production process an excess demand has a direct negative effect on the quality. Due to a relatively larger increase in capacity efficiency compared to internal efficiency, the production faces excess demand, causing a decrease in quality. The study contributes to the research on productivity in the service sector through its qualitative approach and suggests that additional factors than the ones established in earlier research should be taken into account.