Analysis of the Impact of Lean Production Methods and Industry 4.0 Technologies on Sustainability and Flexibility in the Production

Abstract

Today's manufacturing companies operate in a turbulent production environment characterized by globali-zation, mass personalization, and customer-specific product requirements. In this context, Lean Produc-tion and Industry 4.0 play an essential role for manufacturing companies. Both paradigms have far-reaching production potentials for key performance indicators (KPI), such as time, cost, and quality. In addition to these KPIs, the Production's economic, ecological, and social sustainability and flexibility will also be of particular importance in the future. However, the influence of appropriate Lean Production methods and Industry 4.0 technologies on sustainability and flexibility has not yet been sufficiently re-searched. Therefore, this paper investigates the impact of Lean Production and Industry 4.0 elements on economic, ecological, and social sustainability and flexibility using a comprehensive literature review and an online survey with experts from science and industry. Thus, the results of this contribution support manufacturing companies to achieve their sustainability and flexibility goals with the help of Lean Pro-duction and Industry 4.0.