Resilience of Lean Production Systems: A Systematic Literature Review

Abstract

Manufacturing companies worldwide are facing increasing volatility on international markets. The ongoing digital transformation, characterized by the widespread use of information and communication technologies, is leading to a sharp increase in complexity along value chains and in production systems. Unpredictable events with a global impact, such as the Covid-19 pandemic or the war in Ukraine, cause massive disruptions and even complete production stoppages in these complex systems. Established approaches to design production systems, such as the lean production approach, focus so far mainly on meeting customer requirements and the three targets quality, costs and time. In view of the political and economic developments, however, it is essential to also take into account resilience as a main target when designing future production systems. This paper evaluates the resilience of lean production systems. Based on a systematic literature review, it is investigated whether there is a correlation between the design of a production system according to lean principles and the resilience of this production system. A descriptive and a content analysis of the results of the systematic literature review is performed out and the results are graphically displayed. The current state of research in the field of resilient and lean design of production systems is highlighted and research gaps are identified. From this future research directions are derived and presented.