From lean production to lean 4.0: a systematic literature review with a historical perspective

Over recent decades, the increasing competitiveness of markets has propagated the term “lean” to describe the management concept for improving productivity, quality, and lead time in industrial as well as services operations. Its overuse and linkage to different specifiers (surnames) have created co...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Gil Vilda, Francisco, Yagüe-Fabra, José Antonio, Sunyer Torrents, Albert|||0000-0003-0154-4811
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2021
País:España
Institución:Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)
Repositorio:UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:upcommons.upc.edu:2117/357172
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/2117/357172
https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/app112110318
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Lean manufacturing
Lean production systems
Lean 4.0
Systematic literature review
Producció ajustada
Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Economia i organització d'empreses::Direcció d'operacions
Descripción
Sumario:Over recent decades, the increasing competitiveness of markets has propagated the term “lean” to describe the management concept for improving productivity, quality, and lead time in industrial as well as services operations. Its overuse and linkage to different specifiers (surnames) have created confusion and misunderstanding as the term approximates pragmatic ambiguity. Through a systematic literature review, this study takes a historical perspective to analyze 4962 papers and 20 seminal books in order to clarify the origin, evolution, and diversification of the lean concept. Our main contribution lies in identifying 17 specifiers for the term “lean” and proposing four mechanisms to explain this diversification. Our research results are useful to both academics and practitioners to return to the Lean origins in order to create new research areas and conduct organizational transformations based on solid concepts. We conclude that the use of “lean” as a systemic thinking is likely to be further extended to new research fields.