Future research methodologies of lean manufacturing: a systematic literature review

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.