An Overview of Lean Manufacturing and Sustainability

Worldwide, businesses are not only interested in becoming economically profitable but are also seeking to incorporate sustainability into their processes to meet increasing pressures from customers to be environmentally and socially sustainable. Therefore, they seek strategies that allow them to optimize their resources, as well as environmentally and socially friendly. A good approach to pursuing this is Lean Manufacturing, which contributes to an organization’s competitiveness by improving productivity and quality by eliminating waste along a product’s or service’s value stream. This study shows that even though Lean Manufacturing has no intention of reducing environmental impacts, it can contribute to improving the use of natural resources and enhancing the well-being of people.