Analyzing the Factors Enabling Green Lean Six Sigma Implementation in the Industry 4.0 Era

L. Thiruvarasu Letchumanan, Hamed Gholami, Noordin Mohd Yusof, Nor Hasrul Akhmal Bin Ngadiman, Anas A. Salameh, Dalia Štreimikienė and Fausto Cavallaro
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L. Thiruvarasu Letchumanan: Department of Manufacturing and Industrial Engineering, School of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), Johor Bahru 81310, Malaysia
Hamed Gholami: Department of Manufacturing and Industrial Engineering, School of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), Johor Bahru 81310, Malaysia
Noordin Mohd Yusof: Department of Manufacturing and Industrial Engineering, School of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), Johor Bahru 81310, Malaysia
Nor Hasrul Akhmal Bin Ngadiman: Department of Manufacturing and Industrial Engineering, School of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), Johor Bahru 81310, Malaysia
Anas A. Salameh: Department of Management Information Systems, College of Business Administration, Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University, 165, Al-Kharj 11942, Saudi Arabia
Dalia Štreimikienė: Kaunas Faculty, Vilnius University, Muitines 8, LT-44280 Kaunas, Lithuania
Fausto Cavallaro: Department of Economics, University of Molise, Via De Sanctis, 86100 Campobasso, Italy

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 6, 1-15

Abstract: Green Lean Six Sigma has emerged in the Industry 4.0 era as a business strategy contributing to the circular economy by adopting the 3R concept, i.e., reduce, reuse, and recycle. Despite its broadly acknowledged capabilities in the manufacturing industry, practitioners continue to be cautious about its implementation, owing to insufficient knowledge and culture. Hence, there is a need to systematize the existing knowledge regarding this green initiative and also to recognize the key factors enabling its implementation. In the Malaysian manufacturing context, the enabling factors have yet to be identified and evaluated. This current study is the first of its kind to identify and examine these factors and to create a structural model to conceptualize and operationalize this business strategy. The implemented methodological approach includes two steps. Firstly, it performs a systematic review of leading studies on the topic, which are rather scarce in the current context. The second step entails a principal component factor analysis using varimax rotation to finalize the findings. The theoretical and empirical results revealed a structural model with five interconnected key factors, including twenty-seven enablers, that can be used to narrow the existing knowledge gap in the understudied context.

Keywords: green production; lean implementation; Six Sigma; circular economy; Industry 4.0; systematic review; factor analysis; electronics manufacturing (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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