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Food manufacturing companies which are essential for national economies, need to attach importance to the adoption of both the lean manufacturing (LM) operational excellence methodology and the Industry I4.0 (I4.0) technologies that empower LM to achieve operational improvement. This study aims to focus on the Greek food manufacturing companies and determine the degree of implementation of LM practices and I4.0 technologies and the impact of I4.0 on LM.

A survey was conducted based on a structured questionnaire which included items reflecting LM practices and I4.0 technologies. A sample of Greek food manufacturing companies were approached and 102 of them fully completed the questionnaire. Descriptive statistics were applied to determine the degree of implementation of LM practices and I4.0 technologies, while the impact of I4.0 on LM was determined through the linear regression analysis.

The degree of implementation of LM practices in the responding food manufacturing companies is high, while the degree of implementation of I4.0 technologies is low to medium. The findings also support a significant and positive impact of I4.0 on LM.

The small size of the sample of the responding Greek food manufacturing companies, the subjective character of the data collected and the cross-sectional nature of the study, constitute the main limitations of the study. Based on these limitations, further studies can be designed.

The present study findings can guide the managers of the food manufacturing companies to further increase the degree of implementation of LM practices through adopting I4.0 technologies. Therefore, they can improve quality, eliminate waste, survive and be more competitive in the current difficult business environment. Academics can also benefit from the present study, given that it provides the LM practices and I4.0 technologies that can be further tested and validated in the food sector.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that focuses on LM and I4.0 in the Greek food manufacturing companies operating in a business environment where the crises of finance, energy and the Covid-19 pandemic dominate.

This study examines the performance of India's food processing sector by estimating its output growth, technical efficiency (TE) and input-driven growth (IDG)

This study used panel data from six food processing manufacturing industries for the period 2000–01 to 2017–18. Technical efficiency and input-driven growth was measured using the parametric half-normal stochastic frontier production function.

The findings of this study showed that the estimated average technical efficiency is 86.6%, which specifies that the Indian food processing sector is technically inefficient. In addition, the output growth rate is 5.5%, driven by high doses of inputs (5.7%), whereas there is no indication of constant returns to scale. However, the food processing sector has experienced more input-driven expansion than either technological or efficiency changes.

This study is limited to India's organized manufacturing food processing sector; the aggregate macro data at a three-digit level based on the national industrial classification (NIC) was used. This study provides robust estimates for industrialists and processors, as well as concrete policy formulations on how overdoses of inputs may lead to high exploitation of resources, whereas outputs can be augmented by implementing upgraded and new technologies.

Previous research has estimated the total factor productivity and technical efficiency only in order to analyze the food sector's performance, but none of the studies have evaluated the share of inputs in growth performance and efficiency. Therefore, this study contributes by measuring growth performance and the share of inputs in the growth performance of India's food processing sector.

The purpose of this research is to study and analyze the literature that integrates Lean Six Sigma (LSS) approach with blockchain technology in different sectors for improved quality management.

This study presents a scoping review on the application of integrated LSS and blockchain technology in the manufacturing and healthcare sector. Further, the authors examined existing blockchain-based solutions on a variety of dimensions, including application area, technical approach, methodology, application scenario, various blockchain platforms, purpose, and monitoring parameters. The authors study LSS approaches in detail, as well as the key benefits that blockchain technology can enable. Finally, the authors discuss significant research problems to be addressed in order to develop a highly efficient, resilient, and secure quality management framework using blockchain technology.

It has been observed that the adoption of blockchain technology for quality management and assurance is influenced by several factors such as transaction execution speed, throughput, latency. Also, prior blockchain-based solutions have neglected to leverage the benefits of LSS methodologies for effective quality management.

This is the first study to explores the influence of blockchain technology on quality management and assurance in manufacturing and healthcare industry. Furthermore, prior research has not examined how integrating the LSS methodology with blockchain technology can aid in the control of product quality management.

The manufacturing sector is highly competitive and operationally complex. Therefore, the strategic alignment between operational excellence methodologies and Industry 4.0 technologies is one of the issues that need to be addressed. The main aim of the study is to determine the critical factors of strategic alignment between operational excellence methodologies and Industry 4.0 technologies for manufacturing industries and make comparative analyses between automotive, food and textile industries in terms of strategic alignment between operational excellence methodologies and Industry 4.0 technologies.

First, determining the critical factors based on literature review and expert opinions, these criteria are weighted, and analytical hierarchy process is run to calculate the weights of these criteria. Afterward, the best sector is determined by the grey relational analysis method according to the criteria for the three manufacturing industries selected for the study.

As a result of AHP, “Infrastructure for Right Methodology, Techniques and Tools, is in the first place,” Organizational Strategy, is in the second place, while the third highest critical factor is “Capital Investment”. Moreover, based on grey relational analysis (GRA) results, the automotive industry is determined as the best alternative in terms of strategic alignment between operational excellence (OPEX) methodologies and I4.0 technologies.

This study is unique in that it is primarily possible to obtain the order of importance within the criteria and to make comparisons between three important manufacturing industries that are important for the economies of the world.

Despite the world’s effort in grappling with the coronavirus disease that has affected many sectors globally, knowledge and research on the COVID-19 pandemic as well as on the halal food and beverage industry remain limited, particularly in Brunei Darussalam. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the challenges that small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the halal food processing industry face amid the COVID-19 pandemic in the sultanate.

A qualitative approach based on four semi-structured interviews was employed using a purposive sampling of managers and business owners of the manufacturing SMEs. Several government agencies were also interviewed to further supplement the findings. This paper also uses the support from a review of relevant academic journal articles, and other secondary data including newspapers and websites, to uncover the hindering factors surrounding the phenomenon.

Four themes emerged, covering four overarching and inter-related challenges including limited production; closure of retail stores; delay in exporting; and less sales to cover overheads.

This study positively contributes to the understanding of the challenges that the COVID-19 pandemic has brought into the country as well as adds and enriches the halal research sphere. Several implications for the SMEs, policymakers, as well as academic scholars, and limitations are also discussed.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is among the first to investigate the halal food processing industry in Brunei Darussalam especially, during the time of uncertainties such as the COVID-19 era. The paper’s value also lies in addressing the gap that there is a need to study on the impact of this outbreak on SMEs in the developing countries, inclusive of Brunei Darussalam.

This study aims to address two objectives: to analyse how the benefits of quality management (QM) are perceived on specific productivity indicators of the Colombian dairy industry and to analyse the degree of QM implementation.

The methodology used was a multiple case study and involved four companies in the Colombian dairy industry. The study variables were 32 QM practices and 7 productivity indicators. Data collection instruments were in-depth interviews and checklists.

Findings revealed that all productivity indicators exhibit changes after QM implementation. In addition, cases approaching ISO 9001 have the highest number of practices implemented, as well as evidence of control of all productivity indicators, which allows them to perceive greater benefits.

This research generates novel findings that contribute to the consolidation of theory by analysing changes in specific productivity indicators of the dairy industry after the QM implementation. At the same time, it provides valuable and useful information for managers, practitioners and policymakers.

Circular supply chain management (CSCM) is considered a promising solution to attain sustainability in the current industrial system. Despite the exigency of this approach, its application in the food industry is a challenge because of the nature of the industry and CSCM being a novel approach. The purpose of this study is to develop an industry-based systematic analysis of CSCM by examining the challenges for its application, exploring the effects of recognised challenges on various food supply chain (FSC) stages and investigating the business processes as drivers.

Stakeholder theory guided the need to consider stakeholders’ views in this research and key stakeholders directly from the food circular supply chain were identified and interviewed (n = 36) following qualitative methods.

Overall, the study reveals that knowledge, perception towards environmental initiatives and economic viability are the major barriers to circular supply chain transition in the UK FSC.

This research provides a holistic perspective analysing the loopholes in different stages of the supply chain and investigating the way a particular circular supply chain stage is affected by recognised challenges through stakeholder theory, which will be a contribution to designing management-level strategies. Reconceptualising this practice would be beneficial in bringing three-tier (economic, environmental and social) benefits and will be supportive to engage stakeholders in the sustainability agenda.

This study examines the factors that influence the improvement of the consumer goods sector in three dimensions (technology, internal factors and external environment) for exploring the upgrading paths of Shanghai's consumer goods industry.

This paper targeted eight sub-industries of consumer goods as case studies, including food processing, and investigated from qualitative and quantitative perspectives using the technology-organization-environment (TOE) framework.

The study confirms the diversity of paths to promote the upgrading of the consumer goods industry in Shanghai, and three paths are summarized in this paper. The “human–environment” linkage upgrade path is to bring sufficient economic contribution to help industrial upgrading by expanding market share, and this path is suitable for large enterprises in the industry to adopt; the “internal factor aggregation” upgrading path is to strengthen the aggregation effect of resources, form industrial clusters and link high human aggregation with industrial aggregation to exert leverage to transform and upgrade the consumer goods industry, and this path is suitable for SMEs in the industry to adopt; the “technology–environment” linkage upgrade path is to use technological factors for product innovation to occupy a favorable market position, to obtain high economic returns and realize industrial upgrading under the joint action of technology and external environment, and this path is suitable for high-tech enterprises to adopt.

Shanghai still has a large area for growth toward foreign metropolises, under the backdrop of the strong development of new manufacturing. Also, to diversify their investment portfolio, the consumer goods industry should focus on population, job density and industrial growth while looking into industrial aggregation.

As the restaurant industry is a representative service industry, long-living restaurants could carry the secrets of key factors that are needed to establish “sustainable business models” in service industry. The authors aim to answer the following question: How can restaurants innovate business model sustainably to last for more than 50 years through the era of digital transformation with open innovation dynamics?

Five long-lived restaurants from Daegu, Kyoto and Naples were selected separately by using the snowballing approach, and were analyzed through in-depth interviews and participatory observations.

Restaurants in Daegu have lived long mainly because of adding value to their recipes. Restaurants in Kyoto have lived very long, primarily by decoupling their original services, ingredients and recipes. Restaurants in Naples have enjoyed long lives by coupling or recoupling their ingredients, services and recipes.

The implication is that long-living restaurants or service firms could maintain their own sustainability by dynamically circling the following services: (1) adding and boning recipes (focusing on special menus or products), (2) coupling of ingredients (creative recoupling of original ingredients) and (3) decoupling of services (disconnecting the value chain and rebalancing it).

This study aims to utilise Six Sigma in an Irish-based red meat processor to reduce process variability and improve yields.

This is a case study within an Irish meat processor where the structured Define, Measure, Analyse, Improve and Control (DMAIC) methodology was utilised along with statistical analysis to highlight areas of the meat boning process to improve.

The project led to using Six Sigma to identify and measure areas of process variation. This resulted in eliminating over-trimming of meat cuts, improving process capabilities, increasing revenue and reducing meat wastage. In addition, key performance indicators and control charts, meat-cutting templates and smart cutting lasers were implemented.

The study is one of Irish meat processors' first Six Sigma applications. The wider food and meat processing industries can leverage the learnings to understand, measure and minimise variation to enhance revenue.

Organisations can use this study to understand the benefits of adopting Six Sigma, particularly in the food industry and how measuring process variation can affect quality.

This is the first practical case study on Six sigma deployment in an Irish meat processor, and the study can be used to benchmark how Six Sigma tools can aid in understanding variation, thus benefiting key performance metrics.