Lean production: literature review and trends

The purpose of this paper is to perform the analysis of literature review of lean production (LP). The analysis involved studying 546 research articles published from 1988 to 2011 in selected 24 operations research journals. The articles are classified by: time distribution of articles, research methodology, research stream, authorship patterns, sector-wise focus, popular elements in lean literature, focus of the articles on lean waste, and implementation status and performance measurement of various existing frameworks/models. Then, the suggestions for the future scope of research possibilities and development are identified. The study provides a taxonomical and integrated review of articles, puts up perspective into the conceptualisation and various critical parameters for research. The findings include: increase in empirical approach research articles, need of applying lean principles in the field of product development and enterprise level areas, need of more interregional research collaborations, need of lean elements as group instead of individual element, need of avoiding seven lean wastes instead of specific waste and lack of testing and validation of the proposed frameworks/models by researchers. The study results shall help researchers, academicians and professionals to focus on the growth, pertinence and research developments in the LP system field.