Integration of Lean manufacturing and Industry 4.0: a bibliometric analysis

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to identify the prominent research constituents in the domain of integration of Lean manufacturing and Industry 4.0 techniques and analyze the intellectual structure among them.Design/methodology/approachA bibliometric analysis of articles based on Donthu et al. (2021a) has been adopted to conduct a systematic review of the integration of Lean manufacturing and Industry 4.0 using the Scopus database.FindingsThe co-citation analysis and bibliographic coupling depicted three clusters and themes around which the research related to the integration of Lean manufacturing and Industry 4.0. Publications related to the topic have majorly focused on the development of conceptual models and frameworks for integrating Lean manufacturing and Industry 4.0, analyzing the compatibility between the two techniques for better implementation of one another and the techniques' combined impact on operational performance.Originality/valueMost of the review studies related to the domain of integration of Lean manufacturing and Industry 4.0 have adopted a systematic literature review methodology. The present study has tried to infer the intellectual framework of the research being conducted in the said domain using the bibliometric analysis to identify the prominent research constituents in the field and examine the intellectual relationship between them.

Integrating advanced digital technologies in existing lean-based production systems: analysis of paradoxes, imbalances and management strategies

“…, 2021; Rossini et al ., 2019; Mokudai et al. , 2021; Holmemo and Korsen, 2023; Kumar et al. , 2023; Von Haartman et al.…”

A framework for the prioritization of industry 4.0 and lean manufacturing technologies based on network theory

“…As presented in Table 1, the study of Kumar et al (2022) was the only paper found that used a network representation to verify synergies between Lean and Industry 4.0. That said, unlike the present work, the authors' goal was to identify prominent research constituents in the domain of integration between both topics.…”

“…The fast pace of technological development is causing profound changes in the way of living and working, in addition to impacting all areas of knowledge, economies and industries (MDIC and MCTIC, 2016). It can be argued that Industry 4.0 technologies, also described as digital manufacturing and smart manufacturing technologies, have a major role in this regard, as they are attracting increasing attention across global manufacturing setups (Kumar et al, 2022). Moreover, it is possible to notice that many companies, especially in industrial sectors, seek to apply the latest Industry 4.0 trends combined with Lean manufacturing concepts to remain competitive (Kolla et al, 2019).…”

“…However, the role of Industry 4.0 technologies within a lean company is still little studied (Ghobakhloo and Fathi, 2020;N uñez-Merino et al, 2020;Pagliosa et al, 2021;Cifone and Staudacher, 2022). Thus, the combination of these concepts is still not clear for manufacturers and requires more discussion around how to successfully integrate Lean manufacturing and Industry 4.0 (Kumar et al, 2022).…”

Guest editorial: Strategic alignment between Industry 4.0 and operational excellence methodologies for smart manufacturing

“…Both OPEX and I4.0 share common goals related to improvement in profitability dynamics, employee performance and waste reduction. However, the integration of I4.0 with OPEX to gain strategic benefits in terms of improvement in different quality, ecology and social sustainability metrics (Kumar et al ., 2024) has not been explored much in the academic literature. This Special Issue (SI) attempts to address the unexplored aspects related to I4.0 and OPEX strategies together.…”