Assessing interactions between Lean Six-Sigma, Circular Economy and industry 4.0: toward an integrated perspective

Abstract

Knowledge about the three paradigms namely Industry 4.0 “I4.0”, Lean six Sigma “LSS” and Circular Economy “CE” has been largely explored separately or in dual combination. However, the connection of the three concepts is not yet well explored in the literature and needs to be developed. The main purpose of this paper is to review the research trends on the connection between the three based on content analysis. Studies published on the Scopus database from 2017 to 2021 were explored resulting in 76 papers. Six themes were identified. Most papers discuss the combination of “LSS and I4.0 "and “The perspective of CE in industry 4.0 context” to improve operations management and achieve sustainable performance. We proposed an integrated framework based on the findings of the literature for the integration of circular, smart and lean six sigma in the manufacturing context. This study is novel because it fills an important gap that is lack of an integrated framework and provides insights into the relationship between LSS, I4.0 and CE. Our results remain to be discussed and enhanced in future studies.