An Implementation Framework to Attain 6R-Based Sustainable Lean Implementation-A Case Study

Abstract

The concepts of lean manufacturing operations and sustainability are congruent in nature, marked by the facet of improving organizational efficiency. However, only difference lies in the definition of waste. This definition is given a new dimension by sustainability by incorporating the extensive scope of reductions in the environmental consequences in the form of 6R (reduce, reuse, recycle, recover, redesign and remanufacture); which requires a consolidated integrated approach. Therefore, as to affirm the requirement, a systematic literature review has been carried out which scrutinized previous researches in view of their originality, methodology, objectives and limitations. Based on this literature study, 25 most related approaches (lean and sustainable integrated approaches) were selected and their originality was investigated. Investigation revealed that few research articles are integrating lean and sustainable approaches. This study identifies the gap of the integration of lean practices with 6Rs and a framework was developed which implemented on the case study that carries ability to attain 6R based sustainable lean production systems. Because of more social and environmentally friendly atmosphere achieved through 6R based implementation, the results achieved are 50% decrease in heating cost by redesigning furnaces (from oil furnaces to gas furnaces), 36.33% improvement in value added time, 40.14% in lead-time and 22% reduction in labour utilization. This improvement indicates that use of proposed integrated framework is highly beneficial for any kind of manufacturing sector.