Waste Reduction

This study investigated the impact of lean manufacturing practices on waste reduction in selected building block industries in Benin City, Edo State. The research was motivated by the persistent challenge of material wastage, process inefficiency, and delays that hinder productivity in the Nigerian building block sector. The main objective was to evaluate how the implementation of lean manufacturing principles such as 5S (Workshop Organization), Kaizen (Continuous Improvement), Total Productive Maintenance (TPM), and Just-In-Time (JIT) influences the level of waste reduction in block production operations. A descriptive survey research design was adopted, and data were collected using structured questionnaires administered to eighty (30) respondents drawn from production, maintenance, and quality control departments across selected block industries. The data obtained were analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) and Microsoft Excel to ensure accuracy and robustness. Both descriptive statistics (percentages and mean scores) and inferential statistics (OneWay ANOVA, correlation, and regression analyses) were employed to test the hypotheses and establish relationships between variables. The results revealed that Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) has the strongest and most significant positive relationship accounting for 54% of material waste reduction, 5s showed a moderate positive but marginally significant relationship accounting about 35% of waste reduction, while Kaizen and JIT exhibited weak and insignificant correlations. The ANOVA result with a p-value of <0.001 further demonstrated that the difference in waste reduction across the lean tools and waste reduction are statistically significant. The study concludes that lean manufacturing practices have a moderate but significant impact on waste reduction with TPM emerging as the most influential tool. It recommends that building block production firms strengthens their lean adaptation strategies so as to achieve a higher level of productivity and sustainability.