An overview of 42 years of lean production: applying bibliometric analysis to investigate strategic themes and scientific evolution structure

ABSTRACT

The aim of this paper is to apply bibliometric network analysis to the Lean Production (LP) field of study in order to investigate the strategic themes and the scientific evolution structure. To perform this research, VOSviewer and SciMAT were used to analyse 4,412 documents from 1977 to 2019. The performance analysis of publications, researchers, journals, universities and countries related to LP were measured quantitatively and qualitatively. 24 themes were presented and classified according to their centrality (importance) and density (development), and the intellectual structure of each theme is presented. Lastly, the scientific evolution structure shows the most important clusters over time. The results show that the most important themes are related to manufacturing processes, industrial management, project management and human aspects. Finally, we provide new perspectives to assist researchers in the detection of research opportunities and literature gaps in the field of LP.

KEYWORDS:

• Lean production
• Toyota production system
• strategic intelligence
• bibliometric
• science mapping

Acknowledgments

This study was supported by Graduate in Industrial Systems and Processes of the University of Santa Cruz do Sul, Brazil. This study was financed in part by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - Brazil (CAPES) - Finance Code 001, National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), Brazil (process number 303934/2019-0), and the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation under grants PID2019-105381GA-100 (iScience). The authors thank to the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACYT) and Dirección General de Relaciones Exteriores (DGRI), Mexico, for the support provided to carry out this study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This study was financed in part by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - Brazil (CAPES) - Finance Code 001, National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), Brazil (process number 303934/2019-0), and the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation under grants PID2019-105381GA-100 (iScience).

Notes on contributors

Leonardo Bertolin Furstenau

Leonardo Bertolin Furstenau received the bachelor’s degree in Production Engineering by the University of Santa Cruz do Sul (UNISC), Brazil, and currently a Master's student at the Graduate Program of Industrial Systems and Processes. He has experiences in production planning and control, process management and CNC (Computerized Numeric Command) machine programming, as well as consultancies focused on management strategies for small enterprises. Nowadays Leonardo Furstenau does research in Lean Production, Industry 4.0, Bibliometric and Science Mapping and works on Interactive Laboratory of Creativity at TecnoUnisc (UNISC’s Technological Park, R&D).

Michele Kremer Sott

Michele Kremer Sott received the bachelor’s degree in Business Administration by the University of Santa Cruz do Sul (UNISC), Brazil, Specialization in Business Administration from FAVENI, Brazil, Specialization in Production Engineering from UNINTER, Brazil, and currently a master's student at the Graduate Program of Industrial Systems and Processes. She has experience in management systems, information and communication technology. Nowadays, she works on Interactive Laboratory of Creativity at TecnoUnisc (UNISC’s Technological Park, Research & Development) and does research in Lean Production, Industry 4.0, Science Mapping and Process Modelling and Management.

Andrio Jonas Ouriques Homrich

Andrio Homrich is an undergraduate Production Engineering student at the University of Santa Cruz do Sul (UNISC). During graduation has engaged in operations management research projects in the areas of process optimization, simulation, lean manufacturing, and intelligent manufacturing. Has experience in scientific research due junior researcher experiences at Interactive Creativity Laboratory, where has developed research regarding knowledge management tools for creativity and innovation in organizations. Currently, finishing the project course, whose theme refers to the identification of soft skills for the development of industry 4.0 in production engineering education, and collaborating with research groups related to cyber-physical systems, industry 4.0 and Big Data.

Liane Mahlmann Kipper

Liane Mahlmann Kipper is full Professor at the University of Santa Cruz do Sul (UNISC) and Coordinator of the Master in Industrial Systems and Processes from 2013 to 2015. She works in the Graduate Program in Systems and Industrial Processes in the areas of knowledge management, innovation and creativity, and in process management and research methods and techniques developing activities mainly on the following topics: process improvement, lean systems: innovation, creativity, product development and knowledge protection; and in process and technology management for process optimization and improvement. From 1995 until 2009 she worked with university management, especially in the research and postgraduate areas. Currently working with undergraduate courses in the technological area of ⁣⁣UNISC and with the Master in Industrial Systems and Processes in the areas of process management and knowledge management. She is the leader of the CNPq research group entitled "Computer Systems to Support Education".

Michael S. Dohan

Michael S. Dohan received his Ph.D. (Business Administration) from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. He currently teaches Information Systems in the Faculty of Business Administration at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada. His research experience focuses on a variety of topics related to information technology in healthcare, including service innovation in paramedicine, healthcare analytics, perceptions of privacy and security of patients, and many others. His work has been published in journals including the Communications of the Association of Information Systems, Healthcare Policy and Technology, as well as presented at conference including America’s Conference for Information Systems, the Hawaiian International Conference for Systems Sciences, and Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) meetings.

José Ricardo López-Robles

José Ricardo López-Robles received the Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (Mexico, 2007), Master’s degree in Project Management from the University of the Basque Country (Spain, 2010), Master’s degree in Business Administration from the ENEB Business School (Spain, 2017) and Management Engineering Ph.D. from the University of the Basque Country (Spain, 2019). Finally, he is the recipient of the Ibero-American Award “Veta de Plata 2016” in the category "Science and Technology”.

Manuel J. Cobo

Manuel J. Cobo is a professor at the Dept. of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Cádiz, Spain, since 2011. His research focuses on Bibliometric, Science Mapping Analysis, Social Network, Artificial Intelligence, Data Mining and Information Science and he has authored more than 50 peer reviewed papers where he applies these tools on computer science, animal science, business, marketing, social work, transportation, etc. He and his team developed the open access software SciMAT for science mapping.

Guilherme Luz Tortorella

Guilherme L. Tortorella is Adjunct Professor of Production Engineering at the Federal University of Santa Catarina, held Post-Doctorate in Production Systems, Doctorate in Production Engineering (2012), Master in Production Systems (2005), Specialization in Business Management at the School of Administration (2007) and graduated in Mechanical Engineering (2003), all of them at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul - UFRGS. He has experience in the area of Production Systems and Quality Systems, having taught in the Postgraduate programs in Production Engineering at UFRGS, ULBRA, PUCRS, UNOESC, FSG and ESADE as a visiting professor. In addition, he has 12 years of experience in the automotive industry with international experience in training in Mexico, England, USA and Uruguay. Belonging to the Productivity and Continuous Improvement and Simulation of Production Systems Laboratories, he is the leader of the CNPq research group entitled "Productivity and Continuous Improvement".