Assessing the environmental benefits of lean practices in the manufacturing industry: An Interpretive Ranking Process analysis

Improving environmental performance remains a pressing challenge for manufacturing companies worldwide. Implementing Lean methodology, particularly through Lean Manufacturing Practices (LMPs), offers a promising avenue for mitigating the environmental impacts of industrial operations. However, applying LMP has yielded inconsistent results, with many organizations struggling to achieve lasting environmental improvements. This study aims to fill a significant gap in the literature by employing the Interpretive Ranking Process (IRP) methodology. The primary scientific contribution of this research challenges the widespread assumption that “Lean is green” by demonstrating that the environmental effectiveness of LMP varies significantly. Each Lean practice has a distinct impact on specific dimensions of environmental performance, providing valuable insights for academia and industry. By integrating expert judgments from academic and industrial perspectives, the study identifies the most impactful LMPs and clarifies their crucial role in enhancing various environmental metrics. This multidisciplinary approach offers a more comprehensive and nuanced understanding of the relationships between LMP and environmental performance. Furthermore, the study provides practical guidance for developing targeted strategies that leverage LMP to improve environmental performance. This practical tool for informed decision-making aids practitioners in making more effective and focused decisions. Finally, the article concludes by addressing the methodological limitations of the research and outlining directions for future studies, emphasizing the need to explore the environmental benefits of LMPs across different manufacturing contexts while proposing a cross-sectoral analysis.