Lean manufacturing is essential for any company to remain competitive in the global business market. Companies in Singapore’s shipbuilding industry encountering fierce competition from overseas shipyards that have lower operating costs have now started to explore lean manufacturing in an attempt to lower their costs and improve the level of manufacturing quality while continuing to deliver high value to customers. Despite the importance of lean manufacturing to the shipping industry, few organizations in Singapore have succeeded in lean implementation. Thus, this study tries to explain the barriers to lean manufacturing as well as provide clarity and guidance to the companies aiming to adopt this practice to strengthen the probability of their success in its implementation.