THE ROLE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF LEAN CONCEPT

Abstract

Achieving and strengthening competitive advantage represents the key factor for survival and success of the modern businesses. It is a fact that successful implementation of Lean management leads to increased productivity and competence. However, in order to maintain profitability and business stability, it is necessary to support Lean concept, which can be provided, above all, by the application of modern information technology. In that sense, by applying the ERP system, it is possible to adapt basic Lean principles to the requirements of a modern environment characterized by constant change of demand and needs of the consumers/users. The main goal of the research is to examine the existing level of application of modern information technologies, as well as the level of attention paid to the integration of Lean concept and software solutions in enterprises in the Republic of Serbia. Theoretical aspect of the research is related to finding appropriate grounds for concluding on the basis of the existing literature. In this paper, research gaps and proposed further research directions have been identified. By applying the appropriate statistical tools (descriptive statistics, cluster analysis, correlation analysis) it was finally concluded that the enterprises which have substantially implemented the practice and principles of lean management are at the same time those who implement IT in their business, i.e. the information systems which support the implementation of lean practice.