From Lean Production to Lean 4.0: A Systematic Literature Review with a Historical Perspective

Francisco Gil-Vilda,José A. Yagüe-Fabra,Albert Sunyer

doi:10.3390/app112110318

Francisco Gil-Vilda, José A. Yagüe-Fabra + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/app112110318

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Abstract

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.

Highlights

ESEIAAT—Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, C/Colom, 11, 08222 Barcelona, Spain; Abstract: 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
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 conducted an systematic literature review (SLR) in accordance with the five steps proposed by Denyer et al [12]: question formulation; locating studies; study selection and evaluation; analysis; synthesis; reporting; and using results

Summary

Introduction

ESEIAAT—Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, C/Colom, 11, 08222 Barcelona, Spain; Abstract: 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

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