Exploring the design process of a lean-circular-smart production system within the era of industry 5.0: challenges and a framework

Due to increasing consumer demands, manufacturing companies are striving to expand their production capacity by launching a new production system (i.e., new production equipment, assembly line, new plant). Practitioners get an opportunity to embed advanced manufacturing techniques, such as Lean Manufacturing, Circular Economy, and smart technologies, into the upcoming production systems, which will provide better operational performance and facilitate Industry 5.0 transformation. Despite the existing literature focusing on the implementation of Lean Manufacturing, Circular Economy, and smart technologies in existing production systems, their implications during the design process of a new production system remain limited. This research aims to address how to incorporate these aspects into the design process of a new production system to launch a lean-circular-smart production system. Data were collected by interviewing eleven experts from five companies, including multinational automotive and pharmaceutical companies, as well as SMEs. Several challenges were identified across different stages of the design process of a new production system. Additionally, a framework is proposed that can be used by practitioners as a tool, where leanness, circularity, and Digitalization assessment criteria were considered as design guidelines. This research contributes by providing a systematic approach to incorporate Lean Manufacturing, Circular Economy, and Digitalization aspects in an integrated manner during the design process of new production systems, enhancing practitioners’ capability to launch a lean-circular-smart production system.