Purpose

Industry 4.0 and Lean Production are a successful match in terms of performance improvement. While we understand the combined potential, there is still poor understanding of how companies should embrace digital transformation to make it successful and sustainable, and the role that lean plays in it. In this paper, we investigate how manufacturing companies embark upon digital transformation and how being lean might affect it.

Design/methodology/approach

We conducted multiple case studies with 19 manufacturing companies. We identified two clusters of companies according to their Lean maturity, and we assessed digital transformation patterns by analyzing insights coming both from cases and from the literature. Integrating cross-case analysis results, we developed a framework that shows two different digital transformation patterns according to companies’ commitment to Lean.

Findings

Our findings first and foremost show the significant role of lean in driving digital transformation. We identify two patterns, namely Sustaining digital transformation pattern, characterized by the pervasive role of lean culture with small and horizontal digital changes, involvement of people and willingness to maintain continuous process improvement, and Disruptive digital transformation pattern, characterized by few and large digital steps that imply a disruptive and radical change in the company system.

Practical implications

Empirical evidence supports the relevance of the proposed model and its practical usefulness. It can be used to design digital transformation, prepare properly the introduction of Industry 4.0 through a lean approach, and plan the future desired state, identifying the Industry 4.0 technologies that should be implemented.

Originality/value

It is widely recognized that the relationship between Industry 4.0 and lean is significant and positive, yet little evidence was presented to back that. We aim at bringing this debate forward by providing initial empirical evidence of the significant role that lean has on digital transformation, showing how lean drives the digital transformation pattern of companies.

中文翻译：

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精益：如何塑造制造业的数字化转型

目的

工业 4.0 和精益生产在性能改进方面是成功的匹配。虽然我们了解综合潜力，但对公司应如何接受数字化转型以使其成功和可持续以及精益在其中发挥的作用仍知之甚少。在本文中，我们调查了制造公司如何开始数字化转型以及精益可能如何影响它。

设计/方法/方法

我们对 19 家制造公司进行了多个案例研究。我们根据精益成熟度确定了两个公司集群，并通过分析来自案例和文献的见解来评估数字化转型模式。整合跨案例分析结果，我们开发了一个框架，根据公司对精益的承诺，展示了两种不同的数字化转型模式。

发现

我们的发现首先表明了精益在推动数字化转型方面的重要作用。我们确定了两种模式，即持续数字化转型模式，其特征是精益文化的普遍作用，具有小的和横向的数字变化、人员参与和保持持续流程改进的意愿，以及破坏性数字化转型模式，其特征是数字化步骤少而大这意味着公司系统将发生破坏性和根本性的变化。

实际影响

经验证据支持所提出模型的相关性及其实际用途。它可用于设计数字化转型，通过精益方法为工业 4.0 的引入做好准备，并规划未来的理想状态，确定应实施的工业 4.0 技术。

原创性/价值

人们普遍认为，工业 4.0 与精益之间的关系是重要且积极的，但几乎没有证据支持这一点。我们旨在通过提供精益在数字化转型中的重要作用的初步经验证据来推动这场辩论，展示精益如何推动公司的数字化转型模式。