The relationship between lean and environmental performance: Practices and measures

Abstract

Lean production has emerged in the past decades as one of the most popular themes in the business and manufacturing literature as it is the most extended production paradigm currently applied in industry. The lean approach is characterized by five principles (value, mapping the value stream, flow, pull and continuous improvement) that facilitate the reduction of waste (muda). In parallel, the environmental performance of a company in terms of pollution prevention, reduction and use/waste of resources is an issue increasingly concerning companies and customers in recent years. The focus on these issues has spurred an area of research that is commonly known as green production. Lean and green production concepts are both focused on waste reduction, and several authors have studied their relationships (commonalities and divergences) and the synergic effects of integrating these two management approaches. This research conducts a literature review in order to: (1) identify if firms which have applied lean principles and methods have improved their environmental measures; (2) highlight the environmental measures that are positively affected by lean practices adoption; and finally (3) underline the most important lean practices in relation to impacting environmental performance. The results are condensed in a final matrix that links some key lean practices to specific environmental measures. This matrix is of great interest for both researchers and practitioners since it suggests some possible relationships between various lean practices and the improvement of specific green performances. The findings give light regarding the state-of-the-art relationships between the lean and green production approaches.