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To deal with the present situation and recover after the COVID-19 pandemic, construction firms are required to recognise the trends in construction supply chain management (CSCM) for the upcoming years and determine the appropriate practices towards the trends for the improvement of construction activities in terms of strategy, tactic and operations. This paper aims to recognise key trends in CSCM and uses these trends as strategic criteria for the evaluation and prioritisation of lean construction (LC) tools at different project phases including design and architectural engineering, planning and control, on-site construction and safety management.

The integrated analytic hierarchy process–Delphi method is used to collect and analyse the data from construction experts to evaluate the importance levels of the CSCM trends and recommend the appropriate tools for LC practices to improve project performances.

Seven key CSCM trends are identified: lean supply chain management (SCM), supply chain (SC) integration, SC standardisation, SC problem-solving, SC information-sharing, SC flexibility and SC sustainability. Based on these trends, a set of prioritised lean tools are suggested for LC practices, in which “virtual design construction” (VDC) and “last planner system” are considered as the central tools. These two LC practices can be integrated with other effective tools to support the strategic, tactical and operational targets in construction supply chain (CSC) projects.

This study gives the managerial implications by developing an application framework of LC practices for CSC projects. The framework promotes “VDC” as a strategic tool for the phase of design and architectural engineering and considers “last planner system” as the central LC practice for the phase of project planning and control. The framework also focuses on the improvement of efficiency in construction operations by taking into account the aspects of on-site collaboration, problem-solving, improvement and safety.

Up to date, there is still a lack of researches in classifying and prioritising the significant LC tools for each project phase to deal with CSC issues in both breadth and depth. Thus, this study is performed to provide construction managers with the awareness of CSCM trends on which they can focus to have strategic criteria for selecting LC practices to improve CSC performances.

This paper aims to explore the level of implementation of Lean tools in companies of metalworking and automotive industry in R. Macedonia compared with the global experiences and to explore the relationship between certain dimensions that determine the leanness and the company’s success.

Based on the analysis and synthesis of the literature, the theoretical research model was developed. Structured interview was used to collect data. The analysis of the first goal was performed using benchmarking with some prior global research and the analysis of the second goal was undertaken with multiple linear regression.

The distribution of the lean tools through ISO 9001 requirements in this sample generally follows the global experiences. However, most used tools in the companies with solely domestic capital are the basic Lean tools which show certain lack of understanding of the importance of Lean management and strategic commitment to Lean management, in such companies. Dimensions like customer satisfaction, teamwork and motivation, condition and maintenance of equipment and tools, supply chain integration and commitment to quality have significant positive correlation with the company’s success.

The foreign investments can foster implementation of contemporary management approaches in developing countries. These countries have to find mechanisms to foster acceptance and implementation of Lean management.

This paper is one of the rare attempts to explore the implementation of Lean tools through ISO 9001 requirements and relationship of particular Lean dimensions and the company’s success, in metalworking companies in small developing countries, additionally exploring the differences in the Lean management acceptance considering the ownership of the companies.

The purpose of this paper is (1) to review, analyze and assess the existing literature on lean tools selection studies published from 2005 to 2021; (2) to identify the limitations faced by previous studies; and (3) to suggest future works that are necessary to facilitate the selection of lean tools.

A systematic approach was used in order to identify, collect and select the articles. Several keywords related to the selection of lean tools were used to collect articles from different Scopus indexed journals. Next, the study systematically reviewed and analyzed the selected papers to identify the lean tools' selection method and discussed its features and limitations.

An analysis of the results showed that previous studies have adopted two types of methods for selecting lean tools. First, there are various traditional methods being used. Second, multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) methods were commonly used in previous studies, such as the multi-objective decision-making method (MODM), single multi-attribute decision-making (MADM) methods and hybrid (MCDM). Moreover, the study revealed that the lean tools' selection methods in previous studies were based on evaluating the relationship between either lean tools and performance metrics or lean tools and waste, or both.

In terms of its theoretical value, the study is considered as an extension of the previous researches performed on this topic by determining and analyzing the features of the most selection methods of lean tools. Unlike previous review papers, this review had considered discussing and analyzing the characteristics and limitations of these methods. Section 2.2 of this paper reviewed some of the categories of MCDM methods as well as some of the traditional methods used in the selected previous studies. Section 2.1 of this paper explained the concept of lean management and its application benefits. Further, only three sectors were covered by the previous studies in this review paper. This study also provided recommendations for future research. Therefore, it provided researchers with a good conception of how to conduct the studies on lean tools selection. Besides, knowing the methods used in previous studies can help researchers develop new methods to select the best set of lean tools. That is, this study provided and advanced the existing knowledge base for researchers concerning lean tools selection, especially there is limited availability of review papers on this topic. Moreover, the study showed researchers the importance of the relationship between lean tools and indicators or/and performance indicators to determine the appropriate set of lean tools so that the results of future studies will be more realistic and acceptable.

Practically, manufacturers face a significant challenge when selecting proper lean tools. This study may enhance managers, manufacturers and company's knowledge to identify most of the methods used to choose the best set of lean tools and what are the advantages, disadvantages and limitations of these methods as well as the latest studies that have been adopted in this topic. That means this study can direct companies to prioritize the application of lean tools depending on either the manufacturing performance metrics or/and manufacturing wastes so that they avoid incorrect application of lean tools, which will add more non-value added activities to operations. Therefore companies can decrease the time and cost losses and enhancing the quality and efficiency of the performance. Correctly implementing the best set of lean tools in companies will lead in general to correctly applying lean management in corporations. Therefore, these lean tools can boost the economic aspect of companies and society through reducing waste, improving performance indicators, preserving time and cost, achieving quality, efficiency, competitiveness, boosting employee income and improving the gross domestic product. The correct lean tool selection reduces customer complaints and employee stress and improves work conditions, health, safety and labor wellbeing. Besides, the correct lean tools selection improves materials usage, energy usage, water usage and decreases liquid wastes, solid wastes and air emissions. As a result, the right selection of lean tools will have positive effects on both the environment and society. The study may also encourage manufacturers and researchers to adopt studies on lean tools selection in small- and medium-sized companies because the study referred to the importance and participation of these kinds of companies in a large proportion of the economy of developing countries. Further, the study may encourage some countries that have not previously adopted this type of study, academically and industrially to conduct lean tools selection studies.

As mentioned previously, the correct lean tool selection reduces customer complaints and employee stress and improves work conditions, health, safety and labor wellbeing. The proper lean tools selection improves materials usage, energy usage, water usage and decreases liquid wastes, solid wastes and air emissions. As a result, the right choice of lean tools will positively affect both the environment and society.

The study expanded the efforts of previous studies concerning lean management features. It provided an accurate review of most lean tools selection studies published from 2005 to 2021 and was not limited to the manufacturing sector. It further identified and briefly described the selection methods concerning lean tools adopted in each paper.

Lean management tools are becoming increasingly applied in different types of organizations around the world. These tools have shown their significant contribution to improving business performance. In this vein, the purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of lean management on both occupational safety and operational excellence in Tunisian companies.

A survey was conducted among Tunisian companies, and it resulted in the collection of 62 responses that were analyzed using the software SPSS. In addition, a conceptual model linking the practices of the three basic concepts was designed to highlight the hypotheses of the research. Subsequently, factor analysis and structural equation method analysis were conducted to assess the validation of the assumptions.

The results obtained have shown that lean management has a significant impact on occupational safety. Similarly, occupational safety has a significant impact on operational excellence. However, lean management does not have a significant impact on operational excellence.

This work highlighted the involvement of small and medium-sized enterprise’s managers from emerging economies in the studied concepts’ practices. Likewise, it testified to the impacts of lean management on occupational safety and operational excellence in the Tunisian context.

This paper deals with the subject of “Lean Normalization.” The purpose of this paper is to propose a comprehensive methodology which combines the benefits of both International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standards and Lean Management. The application of this methodology leads manufacturing or service companies to certification without creating more documentation. It guarantees agility and flexibility in the day-to-day management of the company, and induces lower costs and reduced times. This methodology provides a new way of tackling the implementation of ISO standards in a company.

This methodology is based on the synergistic combination of both ISO standards (Quality Management System) and the key concepts of Lean Management. After a short presentation of ISO standards and Lean Management, the possibility of implementing a synergy between these two different approaches will be discussed. At this point, ISO 9001 standards will be focused on. The proposed methodology will be introduced step by step. Each step of the model will be formalized using the Structured Analysis and Design Technique graphic representation tool. Moreover, each step is associated with a key concept of Lean Management. In order to illustrate the proposed method, an example of implementation will also be presented.

To show the feasibility of this methodology, this paper finishes with a summary of the results achieved in a company and draws some interesting conclusions. Companies have the possibility of achieving certification in combination with a Lean Quality Management System (LQMS): a one-page quality manual, only ten records, no major non-conformities and no customer complaints over a two-year period.

The methodology may have to be adapted to better suit the needs of companies seeking to implement the latest version of the ISO 9001 standards.

This paper presents the deployment of ISO 9001 standards whilst simultaneously respecting key Lean Management concepts. The practical results for enterprises are the implementation of an LQMS leading to a certification.

This paper presents a new method combining both ISO standards and Lean Management concepts to achieve certification with an LQMS.

Due to its simplicity and the relevance of its steps, the proposed methodology can be applied to companies with a guaranteed success of certification.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a method for assessing the lean construction management performance (LCMP) of engineering projects using the analytic network process-fuzzy comprehensive evaluation (ANP-FCE) model.

Literature review and questionnaire surveys were used to achieve an evaluation index system for LCMP. The data needed to calculate the weights of the indices were derived from questionnaire surveys. The ANP and the Super Decisions (SD) software were used to calculate the weights of the indices and verify the validity of the weights. The FCE was adopted to carry out a comprehensive evaluation of LCMP, and the validity of the evaluation results was verified by applying the validity degree of maximum membership principle. The applicability of the method for evaluating LCMP was validated by empirical research.

The proposed method for assessing the LCMP using the ANP-FCE model is validated to be feasible. Decision makers can easily identify the strengths and weaknesses of lean construction (LC) management of the evaluated project from the evaluation results.

Some subjectivity may exist in the assessment process due to questionnaire surveys, and only one case has been studied to validate the applicability of the method. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to increase the number of LC experts and cases over the world to make the proposed method more standard.

The research is expected to propose an assessment method of LCMP for construction enterprises, provide a reference to develop assessment standards for LCMP for building associations or governments and help decision makers know the improving path of LC management.

This research contributes to the literature by summarizing the commonly used lean management tools for quality, cost, time, safety and organization in practice, and proposing a novel approach for assessing the LCMP of engineering projects. The study is useful for researchers, project managers and decision makers engaged in LC.

Existing studies suggested that there is a nonlinear relationship between lean production adoption and organizational performance. Lean production adoption is a gradual process, and the application status of lean tools will affect enterprise performance. The existing literature has insufficiently explored the nonlinear relationship of the lean tools application status on operational performance and environmental performance using the same theoretical framework. A combination approach of interpretative structural modeling (ISM) and Bayesian networks was proposed in this paper, which was used to analyze the complex relationship between lean tools application status with operational and environmental performance.

ISM was used to analyze the inter-relationship of 17 lean tools identified from the lean literature and construct the lean tools structure model providing reference for building Bayesian network. By calculating the prior and conditional probabilities within the lean tools and between the lean tools with the operational and environmental performance, a Bayesian simulation model was constructed and used to analyze the performance outcomes under different lean tools application status.

The performance simulation result – representing by the probability of three performance levels as good, average and poor – shows inconsistent changes with the changing of lean tools application status. By comparing the changes of operational performance and environmental performance, it can be found that environmental performance is less sensitive to the change of lean tools application status than operational performance.

Using the integrated ISM–Bayesian network approach, the results indicated a nonlinear relationship between lean tools with operational and environmental performance and provided a reference for the exploration of the nonlinear relationship between lean tools and performance. This research further calls for exploring the S-curve relationship between lean tools and environmental performance.

This paper aims to reveal the philanthropy landscape processes for dealing with disasters and examine the influence of lean thinking in managing philanthropy for disasters. It sought to leverage continuous improvement and maximise disaster response and humanitarian logistics efficiency.

A sequential quantitative, qualitative research methods strategy was utilised involving data collection with literary analysis and two sets of online surveys with 212 NGO staff members in Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe. In addition, in-depth key informant interviews were conducted with 23 staff members at various management levels from these countries.

The study found that lean thinking had a positive, statistically valid influence at a 95% confidence level. Community incorporation, government support and collaboration with other philanthropic organisations were critical success factors. When lean thinking tools were applied (any tools), philanthropic organisations experienced waste reduction and value addition, where waste reduction accounted for 67% variation, and value-addition accounted for 58%, respectively. These were the same benefits experienced in other industries, thus, justifying lean thinking's applicability in the non-profit sector. Lean was most helpful about the communication and duplication of efforts challenges humanitarian or philanthropic organisations face when responding to a disaster.

The study equips leaders and philanthropic organisations with suggestions to manage and respond to disasters in a lean and effective manner. The study helps philanthropy leaders rethink their funding and response models to pursue lean policies catering to humanitarian organisations and the communities they serve.

The study closes significant gaps in the literature and practice by adopting a multi-sectoral lens that borrows from business and manufacturing tools into a non-profit context. It enables documentation of processes and logistical management by philanthropy organisations for continuous improvement and elimination of waste to ensure efficiency in the philanthropic role of alleviating the impact of disasters. The study also affirms the need for philanthropic organisations to incorporate community feedback, use lean tools to collaborate with other responding organisations and work closely with the local authorities to fulfil the government's supportive role: the primary source and executor in disaster response.

The aim of this paper is to explore the implementation of an integrated lean and ISO 14001 approach in meat industry for environmental performance and examine a proposed conceptual framework by capturing insights from lean and ISO 14001 experts in New Zealand (NZ).

Semi-structured interviews have been conducted with a group of consultants (lean and ISO 14001) to evaluate the suitability of an integrated lean and ISO 14001 approach in the meat industry for environmental performance. A conceptual framework from literature has guided this study leading to its further development based on the empirical evidence collected.

Findings have illustrated a synergistic positive impact of lean and ISO 14001 implementation as an integrated approach for sustaining environmental performance in the meat industry. A joint implementation program provides more clarity in aligning ISO 14001 operational procedures with lean tools and techniques for an enhanced environmental performance outcome.

The application of an integrated lean and ISO 14001 framework is proposed in this paper, which can help industry practitioners and academia in developing a joint implementation strategy and conducting future research.

To the best of the author’s knowledge, this study is the first to assess the effective implementation of lean and ISO 14001 as an integrated approach in the NZ meat industry.

This paper empirically examines the implementation pattern of different types of lean management (LM) techniques on the shop-floor. Based on the socio-technical systems framework, LM techniques are classified as social improvement tools and technical process standardization and stability practices. This categorization facilitates investigating their implementation relationship in a complex production system.

Based on the survey data from managers of the three major US auto-manufacturers and their suppliers (n = 137), measurement scales are developed using confirmatory factor analysis for the LM process improvement, stability, and standardization constructs. Hypotheses are tested by applying the Sobel test technique for mediating regression.

Statistical results confirm the mediation role of LM improvement tools between standardization and stability goal practices, indicating that technical process-oriented practices are not directly related and that their association is impacted by the corresponding implementation of social tools on the shop-floor.

The results indicate that LM practices should not be randomly implemented on the shop-floor but rather adopted and executed based on a systematic pattern. In LM systems, the implementation of process stability, standardization, and improvement practices on the shop-floor are more tightly integrated than traditionally assumed.

This study establishes a new categorization of specific LM tools based on social and technical characteristics. The conclusions highlight the importance of adopting a social emphasize of continuous improvement to establish a technical focus of process standardization and stability for LM implementation success.