Unlocking synergies in lean manufacturing for enhanced environmental performance: a cross-sector investigation through fuzzy DEMATEL

The growing urgency to tackle environmental challenges has prompted an expansion of Lean management to include environmental sustainability performance. However, there is a lack of research exploring how specific Lean manufacturing practices interact to enhance the environmental performance of manufacturing firms. This study investigates cause-effect relationships among Lean manufacturing practices for improving environmental performance, focusing on the textile/apparel and Food sectors. Based on current literature, “hard” and “soft” Lean practices were identified and divided into four bundles. Utilizing the fuzzy DEMATEL methodology, the cause-effect relationships of Lean manufacturing practices are analyzed. The results reveal five distinct areas of Lean manufacturing practices, highlighting their interconnectedness. This article shows the dependency relationships among various Lean manufacturing practices for better environmental performance. In particular, it shows the enabler role that soft practices have across the two industries analyzed. It also shows how the manufacturing sector is a factor that modifies the relationships between hard practices. In conclusion, this study can guide manufacturing companies willing to implement the Lean socio-technical system to shift to more environmentally sustainable production models.