PROPOSAL FOR A CONTEXTUALIZED LEAN APPROACH FOR PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT IN CEREAL PROCESSING SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED ENTERPRISES IN BURKINA FASO

In Burkina Faso, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) involved in cereal processing face several constraints that can affect the performance of their production activities. The objective of this article is to characterize the knowledge, perception, and use of production management tools associated with Lean management by stakeholders in cereal processing SMEs and to analyze the influence of certain socio-cultural factors in order to propose a contextualized approach. The study combines a review of academic and institutional literature with a field survey conducted with nine (9) cereal processing SMEs located in Ouagadougou, Bobo-Dioulasso, and Ziniaré. Data were collected from January to March 2026 through semi-structured interviews and a questionnaire administered using KoboToolbox, and then analyzed using a thematic content analysis approach. The results highlight a limited understanding of Lean management tools, as well as constraints related to skills, planning, equipment availability and maintenance, energy, financing, and certain sociocultural factors. Based on this assessment, a contextualized Lean approach for cereal processing small and medium-sized enterprises (CL-CP- SMEs) is proposed, focusing on three key areas: skills and organizational strengthening, equipment adaptation and maintenance, and continuous improvement. This approach is a proposal derived from the empirical assessment and will require further experimentation to evaluate its feasibility, adoption, and impact on performance.