See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/329103941

Sustainability in lean manufacturing: A systematic literature review

Article  in  International Journal of Business Excellence · November 2018

DOI: 10.1504/IJBEX.2019.10024618

CITATIONS READS

0 822

2 authors:

K. Mathiyazhagan Kumar Naveen

Amity University Hero Motocorp Limited
78 PUBLICATIONS   1,619 CITATIONS    10 PUBLICATIONS   191 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

Special Issue on: “Green and Sustainable Practices in Supply Chains” in International Journal of Productivity and Quality Management View project

Invited to contribute a paper in our Special issue in IJBPSCM journal (Inderscience) - Scopus Indexed - "Reverse Supply Chain and Low Carbon Footprint" View project

All content following this page was uploaded by K. Mathiyazhagan on 11 February 2019.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

Int. J. Business Excellence, Vol. X, No. Y, xxxx 1

Sustainability in lean manufacturing: a systematic

literature review

Naveen Kumar
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
The NorthCap University,
Gurgaon – 122017, Haryana, India
Email: naveenkumar42906@gmail.com

Kaliyan Mathiyazhagan*
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Amity School of Engineering and Technology (ASET),
Amity University,
Sector 125, Noida – 201303, UP, India
Email: madii1984@yahoo.com
*Corresponding author

Abstract: The aim of this paper is to explore and evaluate earlier work done on
sustainable lean manufacturing (SLM). Some business structures are
deliberated and discovered in the previous literature. Sustainable lean
manufacturing includes varied integration and correlation of variables in the
manufacturing industries. This paper explores the combination of lean and
sustainable manufacturing and their implementation effects in the
manufacturing industries. Researchers and experts explained the lean and
sustainable manufacturing relationship in form of socio-economic and
environmental aspects. In this study, major gaps explored in a sustainable lean
environment in automobile manufacturing industries. In continuation of gaps,
97 key research papers were reviewed extensively to explore the research gap
of SLM. Role of employee involvement in SLM implementation need to be
explored in Indian automobile industries. Learning workshop on lean culture is
found as important key for SLM implementation. Descriptive analysis of
sustainable lean manufacturing explored and further scope of improvement
suggested.

Keywords: sustainability; lean manufacturing; LM; waste; cost reduction;

systematic review.

Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Kumar, N. and

Mathiyazhagan, K. (xxxx) ‘Sustainability in lean manufacturing: a systematic
literature review’, Int. J. Business Excellence, Vol. X, No. Y, pp.xxx–xxx.

Biographical notes:

Copyright © 20XX Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

2 N. Kumar and K. Mathiyazhagan

Comment [j1]: Author: Please

provide the biographical details of each
author (not more than 100 words for each
This paper is a revised and expanded version of a paper entitled [title] author).
presented at [name, location and date of conference]. Comment [t2]: Author: If a previous
version of your paper has originally been
presented at a conference please complete
the statement to this effect or delete if not
applicable.
1 Introduction

Sustainability encourages growing business practices and manufacturing capabilities in

the market. The Florida 1996 suggest relationships between ‘green lean’ and
environmental sustainability based on literature review. The lean statement-waste
reduction and ‘produce more with less’ is directly related to the economy and
environmental benefits. In a literature review, sustainability directly relates to the
environment, a social and economic subset of growth. Some researchers identified lean
and green relation towards effective utilisation of energy and reduction in pollution
through waste optimisation (Dombrowski and Mielke, 2013; Liker and Convis, 2012).
Bergmiller and McCright (2009) explained the positive relationship between lean and
green operation with significant results. Today’s small medium size enterprises (SMEs)
need to understand a product’s life cycle considering base as increasing customer
demands and global competition (King and Lenox, 2001). Sustainable manufacturing
helps to achieve market share by improving the environmental efficiency of
manufacturing SMEs, which need both technical and financial assistance.
Though lean is swiftly and attractive tool to reduce waste but companies may
experience difficulties to sustain long-term success. Sustainable lean needs attention for
performance improvement and capability development. Though still evolving the context
to add theory and practice by relating developmental stages which helping lean capability
development and sustainability. Lean manufacturing (LM) is a decision-making approach
for refining processes based on a complex system of organised socio-technical practices.
In addition, successful lean plants use soft LM practices more broadly than unsuccessful
lean plants (i.e., lean practices concerning people and relations, like small group problem
solving and employees’ training to perform multiple tasks, supplier partnerships,
customer involvement, and continuous improvement), but they do not differ significantly
from hard lean practices (i.e., lean technical and analytical tools).
The strategy for sustainability system will be driven by customer requirements and
environmental conditions. Many researchers gave a lean model in which cost is given by
customers and as a manufacturer, we have to deliver a final product with respect to fit,
form and function. In past decades lot of research evolved for lean and sustainable
manufacturing but no clear directions towards sustainability in manufacturing come
across. Sustainability considering new manufacturing systems to understands the
requirements of the manufacturing sector in large scale to identify bottlenecks and
limitations.
 Sustainability in lean manufacturing 3

Management should focus on waste elimination, in direction of profitability by lean

implementation in their small scale/medium scale/large-scale organisation (Shingo,
1989). LM helps organisation to achieve world class manufacturing awards with the help
of total employee involvement in small group innovations like kaizen, suggestions and
quality circles (Ramesh and Ravi, 2017). According to Ahmed et al. (2003), inventory Comment [j3]: Author: Please
reduction, just-in-time, kanban, poka-yoke helps to reduce cost occurred due to seven provide full reference or delete from the
text if not required.
wastes. LM system implementation can perform with the help of human resource
management practices (King and Lenox, 2001; Shah and Ward, 2007; Kaepernick and
Kara, 2006; Allwood et al., 2008). In past, when LM system has not considered human
resource management as a key pillar, then negative results came in manufacturing
performance. In human resource management practices lean includes communication of
objectives, employee training progress, kaizen and suggestions, relationship
development, rewards and recognition, employee safety and health (Shah and Ward,
2007). Strength and skill set of employees’ leads to industrial growth and development
(Narkhede and Gardas, 2018). Organisations’ are doing different level of improvement in
process to control waste, improve production and to reduce defect with the help of
employee motivation (Saljoughian et al., 2014; Nahm et al., 2012). Workplace safety
implement considers 5s, poka-yoke, visual management, work standardisation and
ergonomics (Westkamper et al., 2001).
Customers and suppliers linkage create a healthy working environment in plant and
increase delivery success rate (Orr, 2005). With reliable delivery, customer may adopt
different supply chain activity like a focused factory, uniform workload, and group
technology. To meet competitive market demand and connect with customer volumes
suppliers’ are using upgraded technology for possession efficient performance with
respect to competitors (Singh el al., 2015). Flexible manufacturing is need driven by the
customer orders, to achieve market demand and increase production; in the journey of
lean production (Kramer, 2010; Dornfeld, 2009). Increased production with same
resources is the best example of flexible manufacturing and achieve hundred percent
delivery rating from the customer is an effective performance indicator for customer
satisfaction (McMahon, 2014; Kramer, 2010). Flexible manufacturing, advanced
technical competency and clean manufacturing facilities are effective tool of LM which
affect total manufacturing cost and reduce market selling price (Kumar et al., 2015;
McMahon, 2014). Waste focused by identifying non-value added activities and increase
engagement of equipments, tools, materials and manpower by simplification of process
(Wright, 2015). Usages of resources for adding value towards customer satisfaction,
which helps in effective and efficient manufacturing system (Wright, 2015). As today
market demand is performed by low cost and high quality of product and competitors are
ready to increase sale so to get quick changes we need to adopt LM system and its
techniques. Imai identify new idea generation and lean culture are most important
competencies of manufacturing industry (Imai, 1986; Brown et al., 2014). Lean
environment creates opportunity to make worker creative and improve their talent, skill,
and experience towards process control and best quality product (Brown et al., 2014;
Shingo, 1989). Industries are following structured approach for LM implementation with
help of government initiative, consultants or customer driven momentums (Sumant and
Negi, 2018). Environmental and economical outcomes enhanced by using lean thinking
for sustainable manufacturing (Hartini and Ciptomulyono, 2015). Lean thinking
implementation concept application increasing to sustainable outcome in industries
4 N. Kumar and K. Mathiyazhagan

(Garza-Reyes, 2015). Manufacturing processes supported by lean techniques like pull Comment [j4]: Author: Please
system, value stream mapping (VSM) for waste identification, and direct impact on provide full reference or delete from the
text if not required.
environmental and economic performance of organisation from last two decades (Amani
et al., 2015). Comment [j5]: Author: Please
provide full reference or delete from the
text if not required.

2 Why evaluation of sustainability in LM?

Small and medium scale industries playing important role for India in fastest economy
growth (Singh et al., 2018). Although lean has vast impact on performance of
manufacturing industries. In addition of same sustainability is required to meet
benchmarking figures. Sustainable manufacturing is contributing towards optimum usage
and conservation of natural resources (Nehete et al., 2016). Eight wastes identification
and reduction belongs to lean tools and techniques implementation in industries. In
manufacturing industries, production performance is affected by integrated
manufacturing system (Paranitharan et al., 2018). To control waste cross-functional
management discussion and acceptance should be covered in defined interval of time
(Li et al., 2014). The objectives of this study are:
a need of sustainability in industries
b effect of LM implementation on business metrices
c integration of sustainable lean manufacturing (SLM) in socio-economic and
environmental indicators.
The main objective of this study is to collect startup of SLM and impact of lean
implementation on business parameters.

3 Materials search

The aim of this paper is to find literature on SLM in the context of manufacturing
industries. A detailed process was used to analyse and collect the most reliable and
relevant papers for the study. This is attributed to the fact that good literature review lies
in creating a foundation for knowledge and theory development. A systematic review
study has focused on content deliveries. The process entailed three major searches on
LM, sustainable manufacturing, and green manufacturing as shown in Figure 1. These
include material collection, category selection and material classification, and evaluation.

3.1 Material collection

The initial phase of materials – collection involved gathering of research papers,
abstracts, and unpublished material searched through Google Scholar, Inderscience,
Emerald, Elsevier, and Science-Direct. Keywords as ‘lean’, ‘sustainable manufacturing’
and ‘SLM’ were used to search for suitable materials from the databases mentioned
above. The search generated well over 546 materials. The suitable materials (320) were
published between 1986 and 2017.
 Sustainability in lean manufacturing 5

Figure 1 Flowchart for research methodology

Literature review on sustainable lean manufacturing

Selection of reputed referred journals, master and doctoral

thesis, survey reports, ISO standards

Lean Sustainable Green

manufacturing manufacturing manufacturing

List of practices related to lean and sustainable

manufacturing

Aspects of sustainable lean manufacturing

Conclusion of review

In the second phase of material collection, materials from preferred journals Like IJLSS,
International Journal of Production Economics, IJQRE, IJSSCA, the TQM Magazine,
and similar platforms were selected. The second phase was developed to identify the
most relevant materials from popular journals. By the completion of the second phase,
251 materials selected earlier were narrowed down. Of the 251, 181 materials were
deemed irrelevant. In the third phase, the contents were studied and categorised based on
the type of paper, year of publication, research methodology, and type of industry. The
outcomes of phase II were further narrowed down to 27 articles. Further filtering was
done to narrow the articles considerably.
Regarding keywords, we used different alternatives to SLM from process
development literature. Sustainable was replaced by the green manufacturing system as
green manufacturing controlled the environment and economy. We use ‘lean model for
sustenance’ in place of sustainable lean, sustainability development was used for different
type of industries includes medical, automobile, food, heavy machinery etc. We totally
used around 34 keywords combined with lean, green and sustainable manufacturing.
Examples of our search for keywords are lean sustainable manufacturing, green
manufacturing, sustainable green manufacturing, sustainable manufacturing in the
automobile industry, Sustainable performance in the manufacturing industry. As shown
in Figure 2, from all the cited keywords search qualitative research input collected was
examined for further gap analysis and literature review.
6 N. Kumar and K. Mathiyazhagan

Figure 2 Flowchart for material collection (see online version for colours)

Database
Science Direct
Scopus Selected journals
Google Scholar
Pro Quest • Journal of Industrial
ISI web of knowledge Engineering and Management
Springer link • Journal of Manufacturing
Technology and Management
  • Production and Operation
Management
• Renewable and Sustainable
Energy Reviews
• International Journal of
Production Economics
• International Journal of
Keyword search between –
Operation and Production
(1986–2017)
Management
• Journal of Operation
Management

Keyword search
between 1986–2017,
CII conferences
Total-251

Irrelevant-27

Irrelevant-181 Relevant-70

Relevant-97

In the material collection, important studies about research literature will be regarding
sustainable manufacturing, LM, green manufacturing and SLM. And performance
parameters were also covered in all these topics. The author has specific views about the
sustainable development of the industry or an organisation.
For practical or experimental research keywords used were ‘case study for sustainable
development in the automobile industry’ and meeting with industry experts regarding the
current scenario of lean and sustainable manufacturing. We also attended conferences
held by the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) in various cities like Delhi,
Bangalore, Gurgaon and in Gujarat etc. These were very helpful as industry experts
 Sustainability in lean manufacturing 7

shared their practical experience and about the gap in their organisation’s performance in
term of economy, social and environmental. International standards were also found
helpful in data collection as in the current revised standard of IATF 16949 which focused
on lean for continual improvement and which was termed as a mandatory requirement for
any organisation which had links with automobile manufacturers.

3.2 Category selection

General categories were used to filter the selected materials and narrow them down from
the 251 materials to a manageable number as shown in Table 1. The year of publication
was used to narrow down the number. Latest articles were preferred for the study as they
had up-to-date information on SLM. Other selection criteria included content, the
methodology employed, authors profiles, and the language used to select the best articles
for the study. Systematic reviews and meta-analyses were preferred as they ensured a
broad understanding of literature as well as providing additional information on the study
topic.
A total of 251 articles were selected based on the year of publication. The 70 articles
that qualified for the preliminary exclusion criteria met the date of publication between
2003 and 2016. Further evaluation of the 97 articles was done. Peer-reviewed articles and
research papers were selected. Abstracts and unpublished theses were excluded. A total
of 181 redundant articles were excluded. Further, the articles excluded based on industry
specificity. Articles from the manufacturing sector were included whereas those from
other industries were deselected from the study. More specifically, articles that dealt with
the application, process changes, cost reduction, and revenue improvements were
incorporated.
Table 1 Research category selection

Category Aspects, notes

Year of 1986 – January 2017
publications
Research types Analytical (conceptual, statistical)
Practical (case study, experimental)
Theoretical Some of the articles present theoretical aspects
perspective
Lean Reduction of waste and variability control in the process to achieve
environment organisational goals and customer satisfaction
Green Pollution increases daily, industries take the initiative to control air pollution
environment and water pollution
Sustainable Market economy changes according to growth rate; society development and
manufacturing getting desirable results
Social criteria Economic growth
Good Environment
8 N. Kumar and K. Mathiyazhagan

Table 1 Research category selection (continued)

Category Aspects, notes

Sustainable ™ Create competitive environment
lean ™ Awareness for people
manufacturing
process ™ Gap analysis
• Social
¾ Society development
¾ Employee growth
¾ Motivation for society(employment generation,
educational goal setting and helping in developing the
same)
• Environmental
¾ Green environment
¾ Working environment
¾ Energy conservation
¾ Recycling, reuse, reprocess material
¾ Following international standards
• Economic
¾ Sales
¾ Profit
¾ Identification of hidden losses
¾ Efficiency improvement
¾ Resources planning and engagement
¾ System adoption and adherence
™ Action defined
™ Action implemented
™ Result sharing with society
• Positive
• Negative
™ Effectiveness in checking for positive results
™ Horizontal deployment of positive action
™ Summary of report

3.3 Material classification and evaluation

The selected papers were then evaluated and classified according to the type of research.
Descriptive papers incorporated surveys and fact-finding inquiries. The researcher
collects and describes information as it is without manipulation. Analytical research
entails the use of available facts and information. On the contrary, applied research
involves the use of available knowledge to provide solutions to current problems.
Moreover, quantitative research involves the use of numerical measurements and
statistical tools for measurements. Qualitative research is based on the phenomenon and
 Sustainability in lean manufacturing 9

exploring of opinions, ideas, and developing these to arrive at a conclusion. As such, the
various forms of research employed were considered while selecting the articles used in
the study. Considering that the area of focus was physical sciences, quantitative research
was the preferred approach/research method for inclusion. By the end of the selection
criteria, a total of 97 relevant studies were used for the systematic review. These are
further discussed in the results section of the systematic review. Cumulative year wise
research was arranged for study in lean and sustainable manufacturing as shown in
Figure 3. From 2001 onwards research publication towards sustainability and lean
increased annually.

Figure 3 Cumulative publications in years

Publisher wise study is shown in Figure 4, which shows else ever, emerald and widely
contributing more paper in SLM study.

Figure 4 Shows distribution according to publisher (see online version for colours)
10 N. Kumar and K. Mathiyazhagan

The importance of wish of different journals to begin the research on an aspect of

sustaining LM in the automobile industry is shown in distribution in Figure 5. Publishers
which are related to science citation have published more papers. Special attention is
given by researchers for implementing SLM.

Figure 5 Journal wise distribution

Table 2 Names of the journal published and number of papers referred from same journals
referred in manuscript

Name of journals No. of papers

Journal of Production and Operations Management 6
Procedia CIRP 5
Journal of Cleaner Production 5
Sustainability 3
Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management 3
Journal of Operation Management 3
California Management 2
Supply Chain Management 2
Environmental Quality Management 2
Lean and Green 2
A Study of the Toyota Production System 1
Advances in Production Management System 1
America’s Green Strategy. Scientific American 1
Balanced Automation System For Future Manufacturing Network 1
Business Strategy and Environment 1
 Sustainability in lean manufacturing 11

Table 2 Names of the journal published and number of papers referred from same journals
referred in manuscript (continued)

Name of journals No. of papers

CIRP Annals-Manufacturing Technology 1
Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy 1
Enterprises Network Management 1
Environmentally Sustainable Manufacturing 1
IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management 1
Integrated Sustainability Life Cycle Design 1
International Motor Vehicle Program 1
Journal of Cost Management 1
Journal of Manufacturing Science & Technology 1
Journal of Mechanical Engineering 1
Journals of Industrial Engineering and Management 1
Kaizen – The key to Japan’s competitive success 1
Lean Leadership in Construction 1
Lean Thinking 1
Management Decision 1
Manufacturing Fitness and NK Models 1
Metrics for Sustainable Manufacturing 1
Practical Lean Accounting 1
Procedia Manufacturing 1
Procedia Technology 1
Proceeding of the Industrial Engineering 1
Professional Safety 1
Progress in Industrial Ecology 1
Staying Lean: Thriving Not Just Surviving 1
Studying of the Toyota Production System 1
Support for Sustainable Manufacturing at the NSF 1
The Journal of Strategic Information Systems 1
The Toyota Way to Lean Leadership – Achieving and sustaining 1
excellence through leadership development
The TQM Journals 1
World Class Manufacturing: The Next Decade 1

Journal of production and operation management and procedia CRP contributing

maximum paper 6 and 5 respectively. These two journal contributing maximum related to
industrial engineerings like Six Sigma, LM, total quality management, total productive
maintenance, green manufacturing and sustainable manufacturing etc.
SLM in global and Indian perspective: The different countries shows their eagerness
to participate in the research of implementing of SLM and also helps to have knowledge
of the research as shown in Figure 6. World wide Europe (47%) is leading in LM
12 N. Kumar and K. Mathiyazhagan

research contribution followed by North America (33%). Asia contributing 17% in lean
research contribution. In Asia, top three contributors are Japan (23%), India (22%) and
China (14%). In North America, USA lead by contributing 92% and in Europe, UK is
leading with 63% followed by Spain (10%) and Australia contributing 3% worldwide.

Figure 6 (a)–(d) The distribution on the basis of the worldwide, Asia specific, North America
and Europe respectively (see online version for colours)

(a) (b)

(c) (d)

On the basis of the type of research, the distribution is shown and given in the future
scope of the research. It is clear that theoretical research has been carried out on the
chemical industry, food industry, and others industries. Practical implementation of SLM
is found in less number for the automobile industry.

4 Impact of LM

LM is a system for developing a product, operations, supply chain and customer

satisfaction with optimised resources like a man, machine, material, space, and capital in
the shortest lead time. Implementation of LM is not a direct process and there is no
procedure that if followed will surely to successful implementation (Shingo, 1989).
 Sustainability in lean manufacturing 13

Besides, unproductive implementation can damage an organisation’s resources, and

affect employees reliance on lean philosophy (Marvel and Standridge, 2009). Many
roadmaps were developed by researchers, to guide industry on a journey from their
current state to a fully lean implemented philosophy. Many lean models suggested by
researchers as shown in Table 3.
Table 3 Lean model and outcomes by researchers

Sr. no Authors and year Lean model Outcomes

1 Shingo (1989)
2 Chan et al. (1990),
Sakakibara (1997),
Flynn et al. (1999)
and White et al.
(1999)
3 Beck (1999)
4 Csokasy and Parent
(2007) and Henderson manage lean
and Larco (2003)
5 Anvari et al. (2011)
6 Mostafa et al. (2013)
Key elements of lean manufacturing
Bottleneck removal and cellular
manufacturing, competitive
benchmarking and continuous
improvement program,
cross-functional workplace, total
quality management, continuous flow
Focus on design and layout planning
Organisational culture change to
Highlighted three major stages
(preparation, design, and
implementation)
Lean implementation composed of
four phases (theoretical, realisation in four phases
design, execution and assessment and
lean renovation)
Explored 15 tools and
techniques
Tools used for lean
implementation
Ten step approach
defined
Tool and techniques used
for lean manufacturing
No unique roadmap to
‘leanness’
22 elements carried out
Comment [j6]: Author: Please
provide full reference or delete from the
text if not required.
Comment [j7]: Author: Please
provide full reference or delete from the
text if not required.
Comment [j8]: Author: Please
provide full reference or delete from the
text if not required.
Comment [j9]: Author: Please
provide full reference or delete from the
text if not required.
Comment [j10]: Author: Please
provide full reference or delete from the
text if not required.
Comment [j11]: Author: Please
provide full reference or delete from the
text if not required.

7 Kumar et al. (2013)
8 Wahab et al. (2013)
9 Wright (2015)
An interpretive structure model
explained
Workforce development and total
quality management significant in
lean practices
A roadmap for lean implementation
including 20 steps
Waste minimisation and
improving efficiency by
top management
involvement
Conceptual model for
lean manufacturing
measurement in
manufacturing industry
Requires tailoring to
specific needs of
organisation
Comment [j12]: Author: Please
provide full reference or delete from the
text if not required.
Comment [j13]: Author: Please
provide full reference or delete from the
text if not required.
Comment [j14]: Author: Please
provide full reference or delete from the
text if not required.

Shingo explained the key lean element for an organisation and suggested 15 techniques
for its implementation. Bottleneck identification and action toward continuous
improvement are considered a lean model and different outcomes shared by researchers
were explained. Some researchers explained the road map for lean between 1989 and
2015, LM model shared in various industries and organisations aimed at waste reduction
and quality improvement. Lean improves production, cost and time reduction in
manufacturing firms which lead to profits (Bergmiller and McCright, 2009). Lean is a
process driven technique to control waste and reduce usage of resources (Hines, 2004).
14 N. Kumar and K. Mathiyazhagan

However, sequencing of lean tools is important whereas VSM should be the initial
tool for lean implementation. 5-S system provides a base for LM. Although lean
implementation success rate is not good main reasons behind these failures are employee
involvement, management review, ineffective supply chain and change initiatives.
Womack and Jones (1996) focused on sustainability; industry shall be leaner in
operations. LM implementation lead by three main pillars of management, resources and
change initiatives, as Figure 7 given below.

Figure 7 Lean pillars of organisation

Training is important in implementing lean in an organisation and is a critical

sub-element in starting a lean culture. The content of training should be linked to the
trainee’s need to be supported in lean. Training is critical for top management to workers
on the machine to be aligned with understanding the needs in LM. Leadership and top
management commitment are found critical success factor during interviews, literature
survey and assessment resulting in successful implementation of LM (Salonitis and
Tsinopoulos, 2016). McMahon (2014) felt that leadership was necessary to be stable,
stimulating and strong. Approach for improvement needs to be linked with vision and the
direction of the organisation. The responsibilities and ability of lean involved personnel,
resources to be committed, key performance indicators to be employed, deliverables
while milestones of implementation need to be defined. Cost reduction may be
considered an internal reason for lean implementation but customer focus is an important
outcome of lean, and can be shown only through a better structured and improved
customer involvement. Organisation culture is found to be a key sub-element of
management for the introduction of lean(37).
Process optimisation can be done through kanban, 5S, SMED, FIFO and others
effectively (Dombrowski and Mielke, 2013; Orr, 2005). Continuous improvement is
developed through improvement in culture. Lean leadership can be sustained through
waste reduction and continuous improvement (Dombrowski and Mielke, 2013; Liker and
Convis, 2012). Employee involvement also increased with continuous improvement
 Sustainability in lean manufacturing 15

workshops like suggestion system and kaizens (Liker and Convis, 2012). Personal
development and sense of success come from the employee by involvement in daily
improvement activity (Liker and Convis, 2012; Imai, 1986). Improvement in all
processes and leaderships demand makes continuous improvement an important tool for
LM. LM has been considered an art in manufacturing systems (Dombrowski and Mielke,
2014). LM is also explained as a managerial system that correlates specific practices and
techniques to reduce variability in the process (internal and external) and recognises the
point of problem’s origin (Shah and Ward, 2007). Lean leadership is a defined system for
sustainable and continuous improvement in lean implementation.

5 Role of sustainability in manufacturing

Sustainable manufacturing considers the development of a product which passes through

processes those are non-polluting, conserve energy, natural resources and are economical,
comprehensive and safe for employee, communities, and consumers. Sustainable
manufacturing incorporates the manufacturing of ‘sustainable’ product includes
manufacturing if renewable energy, energy efficiency and other ‘green’ and society
related products are added (Malian and Walrond, 2010). Biodiversity monitoring is
treated as performance monitoring (Haden et al., 2009; Roca and Searcy, 2011).
Consumption of water, energy, and paper also consider as key environmental
performance indicators (Hajmohammad et al., 2012; Luna et al., 2011; Aguado et al.,
2013; Pampanelli et al., 2014; Brown et al., 2014).
It is a method to create technology to develop material without emission of
greenhouse gases, toxic material or generation of waste (Allwood et al., 2008). A
sustainable system is considered by the closed interactions at different levels covering
financial, environmental and public issue (Kibira et al., 2009). The US Department of
Commerce also quotes less negative impact on the environment, energy, resources,
economy and safety of employees, communities covered by the conception of sustainable
manufacturing system (US Department of Commerce et al., 2010). Jawahir and
Badurdeen (2009) have stated that sustainable manufacturing is a strategic approach to
understand the need for products, processes, enterprises, supply chain and, not only the
manufacturing process and products. Sustainability focus on recycling of products as
resources is limited. Lean organisation focusing on environment management procedure
to achieve green manufacturing while environment performance parameters measure by
management review, classifying this as a key performance indicator (Chiappetta-Jabbour
et al., 2012; Maxwell et al., 1993). The national council focused on sustainability as a
long-term thinking for financial success. Sustainability has difficult and different issues,
some researchers explained sustainability in term of long-term feasibility, relation with an
environmental viewpoint while some stated it as energetic nature in sustainability; some
see it as a simple process of change to use products (Bicheno and Holweg, 2009). Lean
social sustainability covered the management’s system towards safety and health of
people at workstations, working environment, teamwork and motivation for the bottom
layer (Womack and Jones, 1996; de Treville and Antonakis, 2006; Hines et al., 2008).
According to the Brundtland commission (world commission on environment and
development. 1987), sustainability is developing the product as per need without
compromising the skill of future generations to meet their needs. Sustainability-focused
16 N. Kumar and K. Mathiyazhagan

on a triple bottom line of people, profit, and the planet with equity, environment, and
economics (Anderson, 2006; Kleindorfer et al., 2005; Elkington, 1994, 1998).
Environmental, social and economic value ensures business decision in terms of
sustainability (Kramer, 2010). According to the US Department of Commerce,
sustainable manufacturing system activities divided into two type as activity on material
and activity in the process. Various criteria were discussed to monitor the performance of
a sustainable manufacturing model and how manufacturers will resolve future challenges
in business economics, technology and environment (Geyer, 2003).
The following aspects have been focused during the research (Dornfeld, 2010):
• assessment of process, system, and creativity by metrics and analytical tools
• involvement of technology to reduce impact and to produce energy resources
• green supply chain management for sustainable environment and manufacturing
process.
Primary activity considered in sustainable manufacturing belongs to the method which
produces and covers current products recycling, remanufacturing, reusing and designing
of the new product. Environment standards enforce innovation and usage of newer
technology. Sustainability is a set of skills and concepts that design a structure and
manage its business processes for returns on investment of its capital assets with real
needs of internal and external stakeholders [34]. The need for sustainability comes from Comment [j15]: Author: Please
the customer’s requirements, supremacy and guideline, social ethics, green initiatives, confirm what this number [34] stands for
or delete from the text if not required.
natural resources consumption and increased cost (Geyer, 2003; Dornfeld, 2010; Bi and
Kang, 2010). All units correlate with the product lifecycle and create the need for
sustainability. Current manufacturing models have been developed for manufacturing
fields, and the system is based on cost, quality, and time and product realisation. No
system model exists to meet sustainability for a long duration. Sustainability metrics help
in decision making at all level of an organisation. Categorisation could be done by
environmental cost metrics and sustainability metrics (Reich-Weiser et al., 2008;
Emiliani, 1998). Environmental metrics are like energy used per unit of output, yield, and
percent of raw material reused or from recycled sources, emissions, greenhouse
emissions both total and per unit of output.
Green manufacturing has been also called sustainable manufacturing. Green
technologies are competent in conference product necessities and ensure minimum
ecological shock. In sustainability minimising shock is not adequate for sustainable
manufacturing. Avital component of sustainable manufacturing is a measurement of
manufacturing sustainability through a selection of metrics, completion of repeatable life
cycle assessments, and minimising cost on given metrics.
The need of sustainable manufacturing: Sustainability is derived from customer
requirements and the key drivers are as:
• natural resources optimisation (Malian and Walrond, 2010)
• increment in world population (Ramani et al., 2010)
• increased global warming (Dornfeld, 2009)
• increased pollution (Kaepernick and Kara, 2006)
• global economy (Westkamper et al., 2001).
 Sustainability in lean manufacturing 17

6 Sustainable lean manufacturing

The fundamental relationship in lean and sustainability has been discussed (King and
Lenox, 2001). In a large view, sustainability can be thought of as lean. When
sustainability was introduced with LM, the most common questions were how lean helps
environment control by reducing waste of resources and energy used or economic growth
for organisations that provide growth and fortune (Johnson, 2006). Industries familiar
with lean, upgrade towards sustainability. Sustainable lean considers both worth and
resource protection through initial pilots and salvos. It focuses on the long-term and
concentrates on profitability, people and the planet. Waste reduction is a common
advantage in lean and sustainable manufacturing. And other aspects of the environment,
economy, and society is achieved through SLM. Sustainability and lean works on the
same principles, the only difference being the decision making criteria. Tools of SLM are
operator involvement, single minute exchange of die, kanban, kaizens, VSM, cellular
manufacturing, Total quality management, total productive maintenance and continual
improvement through quality circles that monitoring the effect of environment’s impact
(Chiarini, 2014).
According to Brown et al. (2014), innovative thinking plays an important role in the
achievement of SLM systems. This complete cycle requires a depth of knowledge if
system wastes go beyond environment and society (Brown et al., 2014). Many
researchers developed sustainable manufacturing with help of lean concepts: so the word
developed SLM (Dombrowski and Mielke, 2013; Bergmiller and McCright, 2009;
Faulkner and Badurdeen, 2014).
Stonebraker et al. (2009) state that an effective and sustainable supply chain helps in
improving the performance of an organisation. The operational strategy can change the
normal environment into a sustainable one in organisations. Lean help in building
potential for organisations to develop and achieve actual growth, improving
manufacturing capacity and capability and lowering unit cost (Vernadat, 1999;
Christopher and Towill, 2010). Operation and maintenance are considered the
manufacturing pillar which contributes to sustainability and economy of the industry’s
performance (Liyanage, 2007). Sustainability also focuses on new development and
captures new markets in terms of business growth and economic benefits. The total
strength of business development and planning can be captured by instance application of
actions and outcomes delivered by them (McCarthy, 2002). Lean and green process
strategy relates to each other to support environmental and economic performance
(Simpson and Power, 2005). Azevedo et al. (2012) ruminate on lean reaction with
expansive sustainability concerns further than being ecofriendly and considers a vice,
supplier selection (top management interference), and supply chain issues come in front.
We have to further explored barriers in SLM and how lean to capture sustainability with
confirmatory performance.

7 Result and analysis

LM adopted since 1986 in manufacturing industries worldwide. Overseas many

researcher focused on role of SLM in business excellence through environment and social
performance parameters. In Asia region, Japan is leading country in LM implementation
18 N. Kumar and K. Mathiyazhagan

followed by India. Change initiatives, resources and management found key pillars for
SLM implementation. Social development, employee growth and motivation of society
found grey area’s of social aspects in Indian automobile industries. Leading international
standards, reproducing cycles, energy regulations and green initiatives need to adopt in
industries for environmental aspects. System adherence, resource engagement, efficiency
enhancement, dark areas of organisation has to covered for economic strength for an
organisation. Leadership quality leads to management decisions and core values for any
organisation growth. New technology adoption and strategic approach found effective for
resource management and utilisation. Continuous improvement through shop floor best
practises like visual control, kaizen implementation, intermediate behaviour and
reactions, poka-yoke implementation, on the spot problem analysis workforce considered
as strength for an growing organisation. Workforce engagement in working area create a
way towards change initiatives and sustainability may be achieved by implementing these
initiatives. SLM focuses on resources utilisation to get maximum output in natural
conditions through redesigned or improved process. Sustainable improvement ensures
long time gains for an organisation and its builds the organisation.
Important keys required for a sustainable lean are:
• clear progression plan for lean capabilities
• organisation focus on development
• team building among employees
• learning workshops on lean culture.
The affinity of lean and sustainability identified here can also ensure over-coming
conflict to approach at multiple levels.

8 Discussion and conclusions

8.1 Integration of SLM

The analysis of literature covered considered aspects of lean and sustainability in the area
of environment, economy and the social aspects of organisation or industry. Both are
identified at the business level to meet the requirement of an organisation’s direct or
indirect stakeholders while ensuring the need for future business partners. According to
Dyllike and Hockerts, sustainability dimensions are economic growth, green
environment, and active social needs.

8.1.1 Lean green environment sustainability

Environment management system leads policies, standards, indicators, goals by
structured responsibility for any organisation (Chiappetta-Jabbour et al., 2012;
Hajmohammad et al., 2012; Luna et al., 2011). This analysis carried out within the
concept of the lean green environment used different possibilities like waste optimisation,
process orientation, people’s involvement and development, top management vision, and
review.
 Sustainability in lean manufacturing 19

8.1.1.1 Waste optimisation

Lean works on the elimination of non-value added activity but some of which are
necessary. They cannot be eliminated. For this non-value, added activity has to be
optimised to improve the total value added and non-value added ratio. The same waste
optimisation plays a key role in green environment sustainability by preventing the
environment from pollution and identifies the point of generation of waste. As lean
focused on resources optimisation and effective use of resources, the researcher make use
of the effective green environment in society (King and Lenox, 2001; Florida, 1996).

8.1.1.2 Process orientation

Process is the key to produce a product or step by step convert to the desired product.
Only in the process can we eliminate waste generation. Lean works on standardisation of
problem-solving and actions effectiveness so that such occurrences are not repeated
thereby optimising effects on the environment (King and Lenox, 2001; Sawhney et al.,
2007).

8.1.1.3 People involvement and development

People’s involvement is very important for any organisation as they build products and
general economy which help in sustainability. Training people helps to reduce waste
origin by reducing non-value added activities in the process.

8.1.1.4 Top management vision and review

Top management’s vision is very important to make an organisation align with LM.
Reviews of management focus their vision which should be pointed at waste optimisation
and green environment to ensure sustainability in a firm’s performance. Team building,
quality groups for continual improvement culture in an organisation helps implement and
adopt lean green environment for sustainability (Rothenberg et al., 2001; Soltero and
Waldrip, 2002).
Product life achievement and improvement are environmental goals as well as part of
lean sustainability practices (Gordon, 2001; Hajmohammad et al., 2012; Tseng, 2012;
Vinodh et al., 2011). Organisations have to force towards recycling culture (Aguado
et al., 2013; Tseng et al., 2012). LM systems improve resources utilisation which helps in
material optimisation and energy conservation and leads to a pollution free environment
(Florida, 1996; Larson and Greenwood, 2004). Lean green sustainable manufacturing
contributes to reducing diffusion of toxic particles through the use of raw material
(Moreira et al., 2010). Lean tools like 5S, kaizen, VSM, poka-yoke incorporating
environmental values lead to focus on green manufacturing (Simons and Mason, 2003;
Mason et al., 2008; Soltero and Waldrip, 2002).

8.1.2 Lean economic sustainability

Profit and price are the operational measure dimensions for the lean economy (Aguado
et al., 2013; Sampaio et al., 2011). Different factors were identified by researchers to
sustain organisation performance in terms of financial and operational results by adopting
lean environment for the long-term (Bateman and David, 2002; Lucey et al., 2005;
20 N. Kumar and K. Mathiyazhagan

Moyano-Fuentes and Sacristán-Díaz, 2012). Sustainability in any organisation comes

through cultural changes, driven by lean principles. Human resources place importance
on economic sustainability (Bateman, 2005; Hines et al., 2008, 2004). The lean
implementation also helps upgrade of traditional monitoring and evaluating systems, due
to which we can measure or stable results (Maskell and Baggaley, 2003; Fullerton and
Wempe, 2009; Jørgensen et al., 2007; Ho, 2010). Salary and other benefits are being
considered as economics vertical for any organisation (Roca and Searcy, 2011;
Chiappetta-Jabbour et al., 2012). Comparative management tools like competitiveness,
corporate management, strategic planning, market share and number of material supplier
considered as performance measures for economic sustainability (Hajmohammad et al.,
2012; Womack, 2011; Roca and Searcy, 2011; Sampaio et al., 2011; Pettersen, 2009).

8.1.3 Lean social sustainability

Researchers explained delivering values of lean in organisations in terms of social aspects
(Moreira et al., 2010; Taubitz, 2010). Lean focused on the business responsibility to
achieve the desired result by the management and also communicated the impact of
activities on society (Mason et al., 2008). Early lean adoption in operation management
and human resource management relates to productivity improvement (de Menezes et al.,
2010), this very complex process in today era lean working is like a drug which helps in
removing the stress of human resources (Conti et al., 2006; Schonberger, 1986).
Employee satisfaction level being related to absenteeism and turn over ration which is
being a performance indicator for lean economic sustainability (Lee et al., 2014; Freeman
et al., 2010).

8.2 Managerial implications of research

This study has covered systematic literature of SLM in industry globally. Here
environmental aspect of sustainable manufacturing covering green manufacturing
initiatives as key pillar for organisation/industry. Integration of SLM clearly stated for
researchers and industry practitioners. Various lean models has been discussed in this
study with effective outcome in manufacturing industries by which industry leaders can
derived their core processes with minimum waste. SLM pillars for an organisation and
key drivers engagement may help industries’ leaders to move at next level.

8.3 Scope for further study

Researchers explained the long-term benefits of lean implementation in literature where it
is difficult to sustain a lean environment in the long-term without the involvement of
employees, usages of new tools-techniques and efforts from the top management in the
development of a lean culture. With a clear roadmap is easy to implement and sustain this
as per a timeline. Human resources department found it important to support the vertical
development of SLM. Authors focus on education and training of the employee,
knowledge sharing workshops, reward schemes and thereby create a competitive
environment in the organisation towards sustaining LM systems. Organisational
performance indicators are linked to opportunities developed in lean philosophy. Many
frameworks were developed and empirical studies were done as evidence of lean in
sustainable manufacturing. Metrics for SLM are found very important to ensure positive
 Sustainability in lean manufacturing 21

profitability, environment and social aspects for long-term capability. SLM effects
performance and related core characteristics in term of profit, persons and process.
Research gaps were identified in the above literature as:
• role of employee involvement in SLM may be identified in automobile industry
• critical success factors for SLM have not been explored for manufacturing industries
• SLM model for automobile industries not explained
• core tool and techniques for SLM maybe describe further.

References
Achanga, P., Shehab, E., Roy, R. and Nelder, G. (2006) ‘Critical success factors for lean
implementation within SMEs’, Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management, Vol. 4,
No. 17, pp.460–471.
Aguado, S., Alvarez, R. and Domingo, R. (2013) ‘Model of efficient and sustainable improvements
in a lean production system through processes of environmental innovation’, Journal of
Cleaner Production, Vol. 47, pp.141–148.
Allwood, J.M., Laursen, S.E., Russell, S.N., Malvido, C. and Bocken, N.M.P. (2008) ‘An approach
to scenario analysis of the sustainability of an industrial sector applied to clothing and textiles
in the UK’, Journal of Cleaner Production, Vol. 16, pp.1234–1246.
Anderson, D.R. (2006) ‘The critical importance of sustainability risk management’, Risk
Management, Vol. 53, No. 4, pp.66–74.
Azevedo, S., Carvalho, H., Duarte, S. and Cruz-Machado, V. (2012) ‘Influence of green and lean
upstream supply chain management practices’, IEEE Transactions on Engineering
Management, Vol. 59, No. 4, pp.753–765.
Bateman, N. (2005) ‘Sustainability: the elusive element of process improvement’, International
Journal of Operations Production Management, Vol. 25, No. 3, pp.261–276.
Bateman, N. and David, A. (2002) ‘Process improvement programmes: a model for assessing
sustainability’, International Journal of Operations Production Management, Vol. 22, No. 5,
pp.515–526.
Bergmiller, G. and McCright, P. (2009) ‘Are lean and green programs synergistic’, Proc. 2009 Ind.,
pp.1–6.
Bi, Z.M. and Kang, B. (2010) ‘Enhancement of adaptability of parallel kinematic machines with an
adjustable platform’, ASME Journal of Manufacturing Science and Engineering, Vol. 6,
pp.1016–1025. Comment [j16]: Author: Please
provide the issue number.
Bicheno, J. and Holweg, M. (2009) The Lean Toolbox. The Essential Guide to Lean
Transformation, p.218, Buckingham. Comment [j17]: Author: Please
Bodek, N. (2008) ‘Leadership is critical to lean’, Manufacturing Engineering, pp.145–153. provide the publisher.

Bozdogan, K., Milauskas, R., Mize, J., Nightingale, D., Taneja, A. and Tonaszuck, D. (2000) Comment [j18]: Author: Please
Transitioning to a Lean Enterprise: a Guide for Leaders, Vol. 1, Massachusetts Institute of provide the volume number and issue
number.
Technology, Massachusetts.
Brown, A., Amundson, J. and Badurdeen, F. (2014) ‘Sustainable value stream mapping (Sus-VSM)
in different manufacturing system configurations: application case studies’, Journal of
Cleaner Production, Vol. 85, pp.164–179. Comment [j19]: Author: Please
provide the issue number.
Chiappetta-Jabbour, C.J., Lopes de Sousa-Jabbour, A.B., Govindan, K., Alves-Teixeira, A. and
de Souza-Freitas, W.R. (2012) ‘Environmental management and operational performance in
automotive companies in Brazil: the role of human resource management and lean
manufacturing’, Journal of Cleaner Production, Vol. 47, pp.129–140. Comment [j20]: Author: Please
provide the issue number.
22 N. Kumar and K. Mathiyazhagan

Chiarini, A. (2014) ‘Sustainable manufacturing-greening processes using specific lean production

tools: an empirical observation from European motorcycle component manufacturers’, Journal
of Cleaner Production, Vol. 85, pp.226–233. Comment [j21]: Author: Please
provide the issue number.
Christopher, M. and Towill, D.R. (2000) ‘Supply chain migration – from ‘lean’ and functional to
agile and customized’, Supply Chain Management, Vol. 5, No. 4, pp.206–13.
Conti, R., Angelis, J., Cooper, C., Faragher, B. and Gill, C. (2006) ‘The effects of lean production
on worker job stress’, International Journal of Operations Production Management, Vol. 26,
No. 9, pp.1013–1038.
de Menezes, L.M., Wood, S. and Gelade, G. (2010) ‘The integration of human resource and
operation management practices and its link with performance: a longitudinal latent class
study’, Journal of Operations Management, Vol. 28, No. 6, pp.455–471.
de Treville, S. and Antonakis, J. (2006) ‘Could lean production job design be intrinsically
motivating? Contextual, configurational and levels-of-analysis issues’, Journal of Operations
Management, Vol. 24, No. 2, pp.99–123.
Dombrowski, U. and Mielke, T. (2013) ‘Lean leadership – fundamental principles and their
application’, in Procedia CIRP: 46th CIRP Conference on Manufacturing Systems, Setúbal,
Portugal.
Dombrowski, U. and Mielke, T. (2014) ‘Lean leadership – 15 rules for a sustainable lean
implementation, variety management in manufacturing’, Proceedings of the 47th CIRP
Conference on Manufacturing Systems, Procedia CIRP, Vol. 17, pp.565–570.
Dornfeld, D. (2010) Green Issues in Manufacturing, LMAS, Berkeley, USA [online]
http://lmas.berkeley.edu/public/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/dornfeld-overview-April-2010-
1.pdf (accessed 19 August 2011).
Dornfeld, D.A. (2009) ‘Opportunities, and challenges to sustainable manufacturing and CMP’,
Mater. Res. Symp. Proc., 1157-E03-08. Comment [j22]: Author: Please
confirm what this 1157-E03-08 stands for
Dyllick, T. and Horkerts, K. (2002) ‘Beyond the business case for corporate sustainability’, or delete from the text if not required.
Business Strategy Environment, Vol. 11, No. 2, pp.130–141.
Elkington, J. (1994) ‘Towards the sustainable corporation: win-win-win business strategies for Comment [j23]: Author: Please cite
the reference in the text or delete from the
sustainable development’, California Management Review, Vol. 36, No. 2, pp.90–100. list if not required.
Elkington, J. (1998) Cannibals with Forks, New Society Publishers, Stoney Creek, CT.
Emiliani, B. (2008) Practical Lean Leadership – a Strategic Guide for Executives, Center for Lean
Business Management, Wethersfield.
Emiliani, M.L. (1998) ‘Lean behaviors’, Management Decision, Vol. 36, No. 9, pp.615–631.
Faulkner, W. and Badurdeen, F. (2014) ‘Sustainable value stream mapping (Sus-VSM):
a methodology to visualize and assess manufacturing sustainability performance’, Journal of
Cleaner Production, pp.1–11. Comment [j24]: Author: Please
provide the volume number and issue
Florida, R. (1996) ‘Lean and green: the move to environmentally conscious manufacturing’, number.
California Management Review, Vol. 39, No. 1, pp.80–105.
Freeman, R.E., Harrison, S.J., Wicks, C.A., Parmar, B. and Colle, S. (2010) Stakeholder Theory:
the State of the Art, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Fullerton, R.R. and Wempe, W.F. (2009) ‘Lean manufacturing, non-financial performance
measures, and financial performance’, International Journal of Operations Production and
Management, Vol. 29, No. 3, pp.214–240.
Geyer, A. (2003) The Challenge of Sustainable Manufacturing – Four Scenarios 2015–2020,
International Summer Academy on Technology Studies – Corporate Sustainability, European
Commission, European [online] http://forera.jrc.ec.europa.eu/documents/eur20705en.pdf
(accessed 19 August 2018).
Gordon, P.J. (2001) Lean and Green: Profit for your Workplace and the Environment,
Berrett-Koehler Publishers, San Francisco.
Haden, S.S.P., Oyler, J.D. and Humphreys, J.H. (2009) ‘Historical, practical, and theoretical
perspectives on green management’, Management Decision, Vol. 47, pp.1041–1055. Comment [j25]: Author: Please
provide the issue number.
 Sustainability in lean manufacturing 23

Hajmohammad, S., Vachon, S., Klassen, R.D. and Gavronski, I. (2012) ‘Lean management and
supply management: their role in green practices and performance’, Journal of Cleaner
Production, Vol. 39, pp.312–320. Comment [j26]: Author: Please
provide the issue number.
Hartini, S. and Ciptomulyono, U. (2015) ‘The relationship between lean and sustainable
manufacturing on performance: literature review’, Industrial Engineering and Service Science,
Procedia Manufacturing, Vol. 4, pp.38–45. Comment [j27]: Author: Please
provide the issue number.
Hines, P. (2004) Manufacturing in London: Where Should Development Effort be Focused, Theme
Paper No. 5, London Development Agency, London.
Hines, P., Found, P., Griffiths, G. and Harrison, R. (2008) Staying Lean: Thriving, Not Just
Surviving, Lean Enterprise Research Centre, Cardiff University, Cardiff.
Hines, P., Holweg, M. and Rich, N. (2004) ‘Learning to evolve: a review of contemporary lean
thinking’, International Journal of Operations Production Management, Vol. 24, No. 10,
pp.994–1011.
Ho, S.K.M. (2010) ‘Integrated lean TQM model for global sustainability and competitiveness’,
TQM Journal, Vol. 22, No. 2, pp.143–158.
Imai, M. (1986) Kaizen – the Key to Japan’s Competitive Success, McGraw-Hill, New York.
Jawahir, I.S. and Badurdeen, F. (2009) ‘Assessment of product and process sustainability: towards
developing metrics for sustainable manufacturing’, in Proceedings of the National Institute of
Standards and Technology (NIST) Workshop on Sustainable Manufacturing, Washington,
USA, 13–15 October 2009.
Johnson, T.H. (2006) ‘Sustainability, and lean operations’, Cost Management, Vol. 20, No. 2,
pp.40–46.
Jørgensen, F., Matthiesen, R., Nielsen, J. and Johansen, J. (2007) ‘Lean maturity, lean
sustainability’, in Olhager, J. and Persson, F. (Eds.): Advances in Production Management
Systems, Vol. 246, pp.371–378, Springer, Boston.
Kaepernick, H. and Kara, S. (2006) Environmentally Sustainable Manufacturing: a Survey on
Industry Practice, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium [online] http://www.
mech.kuleuven.be/lce2006/key5.pdf (accessed 2 August 2018).
Kibira, D., Jain, S. and Mclean, C.R. (2009) A System Dynamics Modeling Framework for
Sustainable Manufacturing, The System Dynamics Society, New York, USA [online]
http://www.systemdynamics.org/conferences/2009/proceed/papers/P1285.pdf (accessed 29
August 2018).
King, A. and Lenox, M.J. (2001) ‘Lean and green? An empirical examination of the relationship
between lean production and environmental performance’, Production and Operations
Management, Vol. 10, No. 3, pp.244–256.
Kleindorfer, P.R., Shingal, K. and Van Wassenhove, L.N. (2005) ‘Sustainable operations
management’, Production and Operations Management, Vol. 14, No. 4, pp.482–492.
Kramer, B.M. (2010) Support for Sustainable Manufacturing at the NSF, MIT, Cambridge, MA,
USA [online] http://web.mit.edu/lmp/news/summit2010/kramer.pdf (accessed 2 August 2018).
Kumar, N., Kumar, S., Haleem, A. and Gahlot, P. (2013) ‘Implementing lean manufacturing
system: ISM approach’, Journal of Industrial Engineering and Management, Vol. 6, No. 4,
pp.996–1012 [online] http://www.jiem.org/index.php/jiem/article/download/508/517’. Comment [j28]: Author: Please
provide the access details (date when the
Kumar, S., Kumar, N. and Haleem, A. (2015) ‘Conceptualisation of sustainable green Lean Six site was accessed/visited).
Sigma: an empirical analysis’, International Journal of Business Excellence, Vol. 8, No. 2,
pp.210–250.
Larson, T. and Greenwood, R. (2004) ‘Perfect complements: synergies between lean production
and eco-sustainability initiatives’, Environment Quality Management, Vol. 13, No. 4,
pp.27–36.
Lee, J.Y., Kang, H.S. and Noh, S.D. (2014) ‘MAS2: an integrated modeling and simulation-based
life cycle evaluation approach for sustainable manufacturing’, Journal of Cleaner Production,
Vol. 66, pp.146–163. Comment [j29]: Author: Please
provide the issue number.
24 N. Kumar and K. Mathiyazhagan

Li, B., Nahm, A.Y., Yang, Y. and Lo, B.W.N. (2014) ‘The impact of Chinese and US
manufacturing managers’ beliefs upon time-based manufacturing practices: a comparative
study’, International Journal of Business Excellence, Vol. 7, No. 2, pp.188–212.
Liker, J.K. and Convis, G.L. (2012) The Toyota Way to Lean Leadership – Achieving and
Sustaining Excellence Through Leadership Development, McGraw Hill, New York.
Liyanage, J.P. (2007) ‘Operations and maintenance performance in production and manufacturing
assets: the sustainability perspective’, Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management,
Vol. 18, No. 3, pp.304–314.
Lucey, J., Bateman, N. and Hines, P. (2005) ‘Why major lean transitions have not been sustained’,
Management Services, Vol. 49, No. 2, pp.9–13.
Luna, J.L.M., Ayerbe, C.G. and Torres, P.R. (2011) ‘Barriers to the adoption of proactive
environmental strategies’, Journal of Cleaner Production, Vol. 19, pp.1417–1425. Comment [j30]: Author: Please
provide the issue number.
Malian, L. and Walrond, W. (2010) The Path to Sustainability, RISI, Boston, USA [online]
http://www.risiinfo.com/technologyarchives/environment/The-path-to-sustainability.html. Comment [j31]: Author: Please
Marvel, J.H. and Standridge, C.R. (2009) ‘A simulated-enhanced lean design process’, Journal of provide the access details (date when the
site was accessed/visited).
Industrial Engineering and Management, Vol. 2, No. 1, pp.90–113.
Maskell, B. and Baggaley, B. (2003) Practical Lean Accounting: a Proven System for Measuring
and Managing the Lean Enterprise, Productivity Press, New York.
Mason, R., Nieuwenhuis, P. and Simons, D. (2008) ‘Lean and green supply chain mapping:
adapting a lean management tool to the needs of industrial ecology’, Journal of Industrial
Ecology, Vol. 5, No. 4, pp.302–324.
Maxwell, J., Rothenberg, S. and Schenck, B. (1993) Does Lean Mean Green? The Implications of
Lean Production for Environmental Management, International Motor Vehicle Program, MIT,
Cambridge.
McCarthy, I. (2002) ‘Manufacturing fitness and NK modeling’, Proceedings 2nd International
Conference of the Manufacturing Complexity Network, University of Cambridge, Cambridge,
p.27.
McMahon, T. (2014) A Lean Journey [online] http://www. aleanjourney.com/2014_09_01_
archive.html. Comment [j32]: Author: Please
provide the access details (date when the
Moreira, F., Alves, A.C. and Sousa, R.M. (2010) ‘Towards eco-efficient lean production systems’, site was accessed/visited).
in Olhager, J. and Persson, F. (Eds.): Balanced Automation Systems for Future Manufacturing
Networks, Vol. 322, pp.100–108, Springer, Boston.
Moyano-Fuentes, J. and Sacristán-Díaz, M. (2012) ‘Learning on lean: a review of thinking and
research’, International Journal of Operations Production Management, Vol. 32, No. 5,
pp.551–582.
Nahm, A.Y., Lauver, K.J. and Keyes, J.P. (2012) ‘The role of workers’ trust and perceived benefits
in lean implementation success’, International Journal of Business Excellence, Vol. 5, No. 5,
pp.463–484.
Narkhede, B.E. and Gardas, B.B. (2018) ‘Hindrances to sustainable workforce in the upstream oil
and gas industries – interpretive structural modelling approach’, International Journal of
Business Excellence, Vol. 16, No. 1, pp.61–81.
Nehete, R., Narkhede, B.E. and Raut, R.D. (2016) ‘Manufacturing performance and relevance of
operational performance to small and medium scale enterprises – literature review’,
International Journal of Business Excellence, Vol. 10, No. 3, pp.354–391.
Orr, C. (2005) ‘Lean leadership in construction’, Proceedings of the 13th Annual Conference of the
International Group for Lean Construction (IGLC-13), pp.345–351.
Pampanelli, A.B., Found, P. and Bernard, A.M. (2014) ‘A lean & green model for a production
cell’, Journal of Cleaner Production, Vol. 85, pp.19–30. Comment [j33]: Author: Please
provide the issue number.
Paranitharan, K.P., Ramesh Babu, T., Iskanius, P. and Pal Pandi, A. (2018) ‘An integrated model
for achieving sustainability in the manufacturing industry – an empirical study’, International
Journal of Business Excellence, Vol. 16, No. 1, pp.82–109.
 Sustainability in lean manufacturing 25

Pettersen, J. (2009) ‘Defining lean production: some conceptual and practical issues’, The TQM
Journal, Vol. 21, Nos. 127–142. Comment [j34]: Author: Please
provide the page number.
Porter, M. (1991) ‘America’s green strategy’, Scientific American, Vol. 96.
Ramani, K., Ramanujan, D., Zhao, F., Sutherland, J., Handwerker, C., Choi, J-K., Kim, H. and Comment [j35]: (1) Author: Please
Thurston, D. (2010) Integrated Sustainable Lifecycle Design: a Review, UIUC, Illinois, USA cite the reference in the text or delete
from the list if not required.
[online] https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/hmkim/www/pdf/SustainabilityReview.pdf.
Ramesh, N. and Ravi, A. (2017) ‘Determinants of total employee involvement: a case study of (2) Author: Please provide the issue
cutting tool company’, International Journal of Business Excellence, Vol. 11, No. 2, number and page number.
pp.221–240. Comment [j36]: Author: Please
Reich-Weiser, C., Vijayaraghavan, A. and Dornfeld, D.A. (2008) ‘Metrics for sustainable provide the access details (date when the
manufacturing’, in Proceedings of the International Manufacturing Science and Engineering site was accessed/visited).
Conference, MSEC2008, Evanston, USA, 7–10 October 2008.
Roca, L.C. and Searcy, C. (2011) ‘An analysis of indicators disclosed in corporate sustainability
reports’, Journal of Cleaner Production, Vol. 20, pp.103–118. Comment [j37]: Author: Please
provide the issue number.
Rothenberg, S., Pil, F.K. and Maxwell, J. (2001) ‘Lean, green, and the quest for superior
environmental performance’, Production Operations Management, Vol. 10, No. 3,
pp.228–243.
Rother, M. (2009) ‘Toyota Kata: managing people for improvement’, Adaptiveness and Superior
Results, McGraw Hill, New York.
Saljoughian, M., Sayeed-Mohsen, A., Dabestani, R. and Rabbanimehr, M. (2014) ‘The relationship
between critical success factors of total quality management and process improvement: a case
study’, International Journal of Business Excellence, Vol. 7, No. 3, pp.411–427.
Salonitis, K. and Tsinopoulos, C. (2016) ‘Drivers and barriers of lean implementation in the Greek
manufacturing sector’, 49th CIRP Conference on Manufacturing Systems, Procedia CIRP,
Vol. 57, pp.189–194.
Sampaio, P., Saraiva, P. and Rodrigues, A.G. (2011) ‘The economic impact of quality management
systems in Portuguese certified companies’, International Journal Quality and Reliability
Management, Vol. 28, pp.929–950. Comment [j38]: Author: Please
provide the issue number.
Sawhney, R., Teparakul, P., Bagchi, A. and Li, X. (2007) ‘En-lean: a framework to align lean and
green manufacturing in the metal cutting supply chain’, International Journal of Enterprise
Network Management, Vol. 1, No. 3, pp.238–260.
Schonberger, R.J. (1986) World Class Manufacturing: the Lessons of Simplicity Applied,
Free Press, New York.
Shah, R. and Ward, P.T. (2007) ‘Defining and developing measures of lean production’, Journal of
Operations Management, Vol. 25, pp.785–805. Comment [j39]: Author: Please
provide the issue number.
Shingo, S. (1989) A Study of the Toyota Production System from an Industrial Engineering View
Point, Productivity Press, Cambridge, MA.
Simons, D. and Mason, R. (2003) ‘Lean and green: doing more with less’, ECR Journal, Vol. 3,
No. 1, pp.84–91.
Simpson, D. and Power, D. (2005) ‘Use the supply relationship to develop lean and green
suppliers’, Supply Chain Management: An International Journal, Vol. 10, No. 1, pp.60–68.
Singh, D., Khamba, J.S. and Nanda, T. (2018) ‘Problems and prospects of Indian MSMEs:
a literature review’, International Journal of Business Excellence, Vol. 15, No. 2, pp.129–188.
Singh, M., Sarfaraz, A., Sarfaraz, M. and Jenab, K. (2015) ‘Analytical QFD model for strategic
justification of advanced manufacturing technology’, International Journal of Business
Excellence, Vol. 8, pp.20–37, Dombrowski and Mielke. Comment [j40]: Author: Please
provide the issue number.
Soltero, C. and Waldrip, G. (2002) ‘Using kaizen to reduce waste and prevent pollution’,
Environment Quality Management, Vol. 11, No. 3, pp.23–38.
Spear, S. (2004) ‘Learning to lead at Toyota’, Harvard Business Review, Vol. 5, pp.1–10. Comment [j41]: Author: Please
provide the issue number.
Spear, S. and Bowen, K. (1999) ‘Decoding the DNA of the Toyota Production System’, Harvard
Business Review, Vol. 77, No. 5, pp.96–106.
 26 N. Kumar and K. Mathiyazhagan

Stonebraker, P.W., Goldhar, J. and Nassos, G. (2009) ‘Weak links in the supply chain: measuring
fragility and sustainability’, Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management, Vol. 20,
No. 2, pp.161–177.
Sumant, M. and Negi, A. (2018) ‘Review of lean-green manufacturing practices in SMEs for
sustainable framework’, International Journal of Business Innovation and Research,
Vol. 17, No. 1, pp.38–64.
Suzuki, K. (1993) The New Shop Floor Management – Empowering People for Continuous
Improvement, Simon and Schuster, New York.
Taubitz, M.A. (2010) ‘Lean, green & safe: integrating safety into the lean, green and sustainability
movement’, Prof. Saf., Vol. 55, No. 5, pp.39–46.
Tseng, M.L., Chiu, S.F., Tan, R.R. and Manalang, A.B.S. (2012) ‘Sustainable consumption and
production for Asia: sustainability through green design and practice’, Journal of Cleaner
Production, Vol. 40, pp.1–5. Comment [j42]: Author: Please
provide the issue number.
US Department of Commerce, Sustainable Manufacturing Initiative (SMI) and Public-Private
Dialogue and Department of Commerce: Washington, USA (2010) [online] http://trade.gov/
competitiveness/sustainablemanufacturing/docs/2010_Next_Steps.pdf. Comment [j43]: Author: Please
provide the access details (date when the
Vernadat, F.B. (1999) ‘Research agenda for agile manufacturing’, International Journal of Agile site was accessed/visited).
Management Systems, Vol. 1, No. 1, pp.37–40.
Vinodh, S., Arvind, K.R. and Somanaathan, M. (2011) ‘Tools and techniques for enabling
sustainability through lean initiatives’, Cleaner Technology Environment Policy, Vol. 13,
No. 3, pp.469–479.
Wahab, A.N.A., Mukhtar, M. and Sulaiman, R. (2013) ‘A conceptual model of lean manufacturing
dimensions’, The 4th International Conference on Electrical Engineering and Informatics
(ICEEI 2013), Procedia Technology, Vol. 11, pp.1292–1298.
Westkamper, E., Alting, L. and Arndt, G. (2001) ‘Life cycle management and assessment:
approaches and visions towards sustainable manufacturing’, CIRP Ann. Manuf. Technol.,
Vol. 215, pp.599–626. Comment [j44]: Author: Please
provide the issue number.
Womack, J. and Jones, D. (1996) Lean Thinking, Simon and Schuster, New York, NY.
Womack, J.P. (2011) Gemba Walks, Lean Enterprise Institute, Cambridge.
Wright, C. (2015) Lean Manufacturing Implementation: a 20-Step Roadmap. Comment [j45]: Author: Please
provide full reference.

View publication stats