Purpose

A rich agenda for future research in the field of Lean Manufacturing (LM) is available in the academic literature. The purpose of this paper is to determine the LM future research methodologies suggested in the literature and to classify them into themes. Classifying these themes into broad categories is also an aim of the present study.

Design/methodology/approach

For the purpose of the present study, a systematic literature review (SLR) of peer reviewed journal articles in LM was conducted. A total of 214 articles published in 46 journals during 2010–2020 were collected from four major management science publishers, namely, Emerald Online, Elsevier/Science Direct, Springer Link and Taylor and Francis. To organize the qualitative data into meaningful themes and these themes into broad categories, the quality tool “affinity diagram” was applied.

Findings

The review of LM articles that are increasing over time reveals the “vital few” academic journals, which have published most of the sample articles. The plethora of the suggested future research methodologies are analytically presented and classified into meaningful themes, namely, the size of the research sample and its composition, several types of study (other than surveys), longitudinal studies, applying advanced statistical analysis and (mathematical) modeling techniques, objective, real and quantitative data, surveys, mixed/multiple research studies, reliability and validity analysis, using computer-aided technology for data collection and processing and research collaborations. These themes in turn are classified into broad categories, namely, study, data and statistical analysis and modeling.

Research limitations/implications

This SLR is not comprehensive because the number of the databases searched is restricted to four. Moreover, the literature review is limited to peer reviewed journal articles regarding Lean only in the manufacturing sector, while the subject reviewed is limited to the future research methodologies. The subjectivity of classifying the large number of the future research methodologies into themes and these themes into broad categories is also a limitation of the present SLR. Based on these limitations, future literature review studies can be carried out.

Practical implications

Researchers can be analytically informed about the future research methodologies suggested in the literature and their respective key themes and broad categories, to design original research studies of high academic and practical value.

Originality/value

This study goes beyond previous SLRs on LM by presenting analytically the plethora of the future research methodologies suggested in the literature as well as by identifying natural patterns or groupings of these methodologies.

中文翻译：

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精益制造的未来研究方法：系统文献综述

目的

学术文献中提供了精益制造 (LM) 领域未来研究的丰富议程。本文的目的是确定文献中建议的 LM 未来研究方法并将其分类为主题。将这些主题分为大类也是本研究的一个目的。

设计/方法/方法

出于本研究的目的，对 LM 中同行评审的期刊文章进行了系统的文献审查 (SLR)。从 Emerald Online、Elsevier/Science Direct、Springer Link 和 Taylor and Francis 四大管理科学出版商收集了 2010-2020 年间在 46 种期刊上发表的总共 214 篇文章。为了将定性数据组织成有意义的主题，并将这些主题分为广泛的类别，应用了质量工具“亲和图”。

发现

随着时间的推移，对 LM 文章的评论揭示了“至关重要的少数”学术期刊，它们发表了大部分样本文章。大量建议的未来研究方法被分析性地呈现并分类为有意义的主题，即研究样本的大小及其组成、几种类型的研究（调查除外）、纵向研究、应用高级统计分析和（数学）建模技术、客观、真实和定量数据、调查、混合/多项研究、可靠性和有效性分析，使用计算机辅助技术进行数据收集和处理以及研究合作。这些主题又分为大类，即研究、数据和统计分析和建模。

研究限制/影响

此 SLR 并不全面，因为搜索的数据库数量限制为四个。此外，文献综述仅限于同行评审的期刊文章，仅在制造业中有关精益，而审查的主题仅限于未来的研究方法。将大量未来的研究方法归类为主题并将这些主题归入大类的主观性也是当前 SLR 的局限性。基于这些限制，可以进行未来的文献综述研究。

实际影响

研究人员可以通过分析了解文献中建议的未来研究方法及其各自的关键主题和广泛类别，以设计具有较高学术和实用价值的原创研究。

原创性/价值

本研究通过分析呈现文献中建议的大量未来研究方法以及识别这些方法的自然模式或分组，超越了以前关于 LM 的 SLR。