Lean, Six Sigma, and Industry 4.0 - A bibliometric analysis, opportunities for future research directions

Abstract

Lean is a tool that helps organizations develop a continuous improvement culture by eliminating waste and minimizing the use of resources. Whereas Lean Six Sigma is a method of enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of business processes. On the other hand, Industry 4.0 refers to a high-tech model that uses technologies such as IoT, cloud computing, blockchain, virtual reality, and artificial intelligence to foster flexible organizations. The concept of integrating Lean and Lean Six Sigma along with Industry 4.0 is still very recent and limited hence, and the literature from a bibliometric perspective. The integration is challenging in terms of contentment-wise and is a broad multi-dimensional research area. This study aims to analyze Lean Industry 4.0, Lean digital transformation, Lean Six Sigma Industry 4.0, and Six Sigma Industry 4.0 literature by assessing the state of the art, benefits, challenges, and gaps in literature using bibliometrics. In this study, articles published between 2010 and 2021 from the Scopus database only were analyzed to identify significant publications, journals, authors, institutions, and countries based on the number of publications as well as frequently used keywords and subject areas. This study contributes to developing the state- of- art of Lean Industry 4.0, Lean digital transformation, Lean Six Sigma Industry 4.0, and Six Sigma Industry 4.0 and helps researchers as well as practitioners to direct their future studies. The literature performance is assessed according to the overall number of publications and citations; this bibliometric analysis covers most of the published papers in all research domains.

Date of Award	May 2022
Original language	American English