Lean Production in small and medium sized companies from the Free Economic Zone of Manaus: a reality or just fiction?

Abstract Given the current market demands, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are under pressure to change their working methods, implying changes in concepts and practices in order to improve their production systems and processes. Thus, the search for production methodologies, techniques and tools becomes urgent and imperative. One way to achieve this goal is to adopt the Lean Production (LP) methodology. This document presents the results of a survey, developed in the north of Brazil, involving 75 SMEs from the free economic zone of Manaus to assess the degree of LP implementation. The results showed a limited implementation of LP. Moreover, palliative practices (momentary relief), hopeful implementations and impediment factors are common. Attending to these results, the authors are tempted to say that LP is still a fiction for SMEs in this region.