Lean Manufacturing Towards Sustainability: A Grey Relational Framework

This paper intends to capture the attention of the lean researchers towards a shift of priorities of the various techniques implemented in lean and its journey of 40 years in the global scenario. In particular, the paper focuses on the implementation of lean techniques in India under the banner of sustainability. The paper focuses on three industries, a textile industry representing industrial revolution 1.0, an automotive spare parts industry representing industrial revolution 2.0, and an electrical/electronics industry representing industrial revolution 3.0, named 'A', 'B', and 'C', respectively, and analyses the priorities of the eight best techniques of lean in the sustainability phase. The techniques are Kaizen, Poke-Yoke, 5S, Kanban, Just-in-Time, Jidoka, Takt-Time, and Heijunka. The industries 'A' and 'C' have Poke-Yoke as the most critical technique and have been ranked one whereas in industry 'B' 5S emerges as the most prolific technique in the Indian context of these industries.