Literature generally agrees that lean manufacturing (LM) impacts several operational performances such as efficiency, throughput time and on-time delivery. Though the usefulness of lean links with suppliers (LS) is also well known, literature does not provide strong empirical evidence to demonstrate whether companies implementing LS and LM practices show better operational performances than companies that don’t implement LS. This paper aims to investigate whether the relationship between LM and operational performances is positively moderated by the presence of LS. A questionnaire-based survey database of 266 medium and large enterprises from different countries (Korea, Japan, US, etc.) and operating in machinery, electronic and transportation components sectors was used to address the research question. The analysis demonstrates that LS positively moderate the impact of LM on punctuality, while the moderating effect is absent when considering efficiency and throughput time performances.
