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This paper intends to capture the attention of the lean researchers towards a shift of priorities of the various techniques implemented in lean and its journey of 40 years in the global scenario. In particular, the paper focuses on the implementation of lean techniques in India under the banner of sustainability. The paper focuses on three industries, a textile industry representing industrial revolution 1.0, an automotive spare parts industry representing industrial revolution 2.0, and an electrical/electronics industry representing industrial revolution 3.0, named ‘A', ‘B', and ‘C', respectively, and analyses the priorities of the eight best techniques of lean in the sustainability phase. The techniques are Kaizen, Poke-Yoke, 5S, Kanban, Just-in-Time, Jidoka, Takt-Time, and Heijunka. The industries ‘A' and ‘C' have Poke-Yoke as the most critical technique and have been ranked one whereas in industry ‘B' 5S emerges as the most prolific technique in the Indian context of these industries.

Purpose As the COVID-19 epidemic ravages the world in the fourth industrial revolution era, the manufacturing sector faces its worst situation in a century. Lean philosophy, renowned as a “warrior philosophy,” can be an able rescuer to these industries. This study aims to identify the hurdles to lean strategy implementation and conduct an analysis to provide cognizance to policymakers, practitioners and decision-makers. Design/methodology/approach This study aims to identify the obstacles that obstruct lean implementation into seven primary barriers/components, with the fuzzy DEMATEL approach being used to evaluate the critical factors as well as the cause and effect factors among them. Expert opinions are sought to obtain the relevant data for evaluation purposes. Findings The results reveal that a firm should focus on firm cultural conflict scenario, resources–responses incapability, improve on suppliers’ attitude and execute a proper planning and logistics equation to alleviate the hindrances of implementing lean. As these causal factors influence the effect factors, namely, top management vision, management–employee relationship and human resource building, focusing on them automatically improves the effect factors; thus, the surge to overcome resistance to lean implementation is alleviated. Practical implications This research aids in identifying and analyzing lean implementation issues in the manufacturing and industrial sectors. The observations, results and insights drawn can act as a guiding force to rupture the resistance envelope covering the domain of lean implementation and possibly reinstating industries to survive and excel in the business post-COVID era. Originality/value This research introduces barriers to lean implementation in a unique way, as it articulates all sections of an industry and group the barriers based on the classification. It further prioritizes the barriers for their importance in the Indian industrial scenario. This would help the industry professionals and managers access the barriers and generate insight on how and where to start implementing lean.

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