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This study aims to examine current research on the relationship between Operational Excellence and Healthcare 4.0 (H4.0) for healthcare organizations.

The authors have performed a systematic literature review of 102 documents published between 2011 and 2022 from the Scopus database to identify the research trends on Operational Excellence and H4.0. Through a descriptive bibliometric analysis, this study has highlighted the year-wise trend in publication, top authors, prominent sources of publications, the country-wise spread of research activities and subject area analysis. Furthermore, through content analysis, this study has identified four clusters and proposed directions for future research of each identified cluster.

Results reflect overall growth in this area, with a few parts of the world being underrepresented in research related to Operational Excellence and H4.0. The content analysis focused on describing challenges pertaining to healthcare industries and the role of Operational Excellence tools and H4.0 technologies in dealing with various healthcare delivery aspects. The authors concluded their analysis by proposing a theoretical framework and providing theoretical and managerial implications of the study.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the paper is one of the first to analyze the existing literature on the healthcare sector at the interface of Operational Excellence and H4.0 technologies. The conceptual framework and cluster-wise future research prepositions are some of the unique offerings of the study.

Lean management is a suitable methodology for companies that want to improve their productive performance and competitiveness. This study aims to research levels of implementation and internalisation of Lean production tools in Spanish manufacturing companies, and explores differences in behaviour between SMEs and large companies based on data gathered over three time periods. The correlation between Lean adoption and company performance is also analysed.

Company survey data for the years 2012, 2015 and 2018 collected from 354 respondents were used to conduct a longitudinal study on the level of lean tool adoption and internalisation in manufacturing companies.

Over the years, the use of Lean tools has increased, whereas levels of internalisation have remained stable. Lean tool use in SMEs and large companies show significant differences in 2012 and 2015, but this is no longer the case 2018. Results also show that higher Lean tool use helps increase return on sales (ROS), and higher levels of internalisation of tools helps reduce the number of products rejected.

To date, there are no known studies on the use and internalisation of Lean tools or their correlations with business performance indicators in Spanish manufacturing companies.

This study aims to deepen the understanding of the challenges and implications entailed by deploying mobile clinics in conflict zones to reach populations affected by violence and cut off from health-care services.

This research combines an integrated literature review and an instrumental case study. The literature review comprises two targeted reviews to provide insights: one on conflict zones and one on mobile clinics. The case study describes the process and challenges faced throughout a mobile clinic deployment during and after the Iraq War. The data was gathered using mixed methods over a two-year period (2017–2018).

Armed conflicts directly impact the populations’ health and access to health care. Mobile clinic deployments are often used and recommended to provide health-care access to vulnerable populations cut off from health-care services. However, there is a dearth of peer-reviewed literature documenting decision support tools for mobile clinic deployments.

This study highlights the gaps in the literature and provides direction for future research to support the development of valuable insights and decision support tools for practitioners.

This paper presents a new and well-structured framework that aims to assess the current environmental impact from a Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions perspective. This tool includes a new set of Lean Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), which translates the well-known logic of Overall Equipment Effectiveness in the field of GHG emissions, that can progressively detect industrial losses that cause GHG emissions and support decision-making for implementing improvements.

The new metrics are presented with reference to two different perspectives: (1) to highlight the deviation of the current value of emissions from the target; (2) to adopt a diagnostic orientation not only to provide an assessment of current performance but also to search for the main causes of inefficiencies and to direct improvement implementations.

The proposed framework was applied to a major company operating in the plywood production sector. It identified emission-related losses at each stage of the production process, providing an overall performance evaluation of 53.1%. The industrial application shows how the indicators work in practice, and the framework as a whole, to assess GHG emissions related to industrial losses and to proper address improvement actions.

This paper scrutinizes a new set of Lean KPIs to assess the industrial losses causing GHG emissions and identifies some significant drawbacks. Then it proposes a new structure of losses and KPIs that not only quantify efficiency but also allow to identify viable countermeasures.

The purpose of this research is to establish a conceptual model to understand the impact of Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) and Industry 4.0 (I4.0) on the transition of a Circular Economy (CE). Also, the paper explores the combined impact of TPM, I4.0 and CE on the sustainability performance (SP) of manufacturing firms.

The conceptual model is proposed using the dynamic capability view (DCV) and empirically validated by partial least squares-structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) using 304 responses from Indian manufacturing firms.

The results suggest that I4.0 positively impacts TPM, CE and SP, also showing TPM's positive impact on CE and SP. In addition, CE has a positive influence on the SP of manufacturing firms. Furthermore, CE partially mediates the relationship between I4.0 and SP with TPM and SP. The study also identifies TPM, I4.0 and CE as a new bundle of dynamic capabilities to deliver SP in manufacturing firms.

The present research adds to the knowledge and literature on DCV by identifying the importance of CE in the settings of I4.0 and TPM, especially in the context of sustainability. Also, the current study offers a new set of dynamic capabilities and provides some significant future recommendations for researchers and practitioners.

This study aims to investigate the intervening role of lean management (LM) in the direct relationships between green market orientation, green value-based innovation, green reputation and enterprise social performance.

Data for the study is carefully garnered from 217 managers in Ghanaian small- and medium-sized enterprises. The methodological technique used to validate all hypothesized relationships is partial least squares structural equation modelling.

The empirical results of the study suggest that although green market orientation has a positive impact on green value-based innovation, the effect is not significant. However, the results confirm that green market orientation has a significant positive impact on green reputation and enterprise social performance. The results further suggest that LM has a significant positive impact on green value-based innovation, green reputation and enterprise social performance. The mediation analysis provides empirical evidence to suggest that LM fully mediates the relationship between green market orientation and green value-based innovation. Lastly, the results of the mediation analysis suggest that LM plays a complementary partial mediation role between green market orientation, green reputation and enterprise social performance.

Despite the flourishing research on green market orientation in marketing management and environmental literature, no study has been carried out to explore the intervening role of LM in the relationships between green market orientation, green value-based innovation, green reputation and enterprise social performance. Thus, considering LM as a missing link between green market orientation, green value-based innovation, green reputation and enterprise social performance is a noteworthy research gap which this study fills.

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.

The purpose of this study is to enhance the understanding of the complete process of framing and implementing operational excellence in the pharmaceutical industry to ensure higher regulatory compliance.

A literature search was conducted using preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses guidelines. Strategies were set with different keywords and certain assessment criteria for the inclusion and exclusion of articles. A total of 46 articles were considered for a full review.

This study describes the impact of implementing operational excellence in day-to-day operations and the driving forces to achieve the same. Seven commonly used enablers are described can be used in combination to develop and validate an assessment model. Case studies are summarized to schematize operational excellence programs for the scope of their industry.

This study is limited to Indian pharmaceutical manufacturers. It is implied toward small-scale manufacturers. It can be further extended to manufacturers from other regions.

This study guides quality assurance managers, regulatory agencies and other top management to implement operational excellence to ensure higher regulatory compliance. It guides to develop a roadmap to operational excellence in their scope. This study is applicable to any manufacturing industry bound to comply with pharmaceutical regulatory standards.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, at the time of publication, there are regulatory guidelines and some articles on various key enablers to achieve operational excellence. There is no published systematic review on achieving regulatory compliance by using operational excellence.

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.

Existing conceptual, empirical and case studies evidence suggests that manufacturing industries find the joint implementation of Kaizen philosophy initiatives. However, the existing practices rarely demonstrated in a single framework and implementation procedure in a structure nature. This paper, therefore, aims to develop, validate and practically test a framework and implementation procedure for the implementation of integrated Kaizen in manufacturing industries to attain long-term improvement of operational, innovation, business (financial and marketing) processes, performance and competitiveness.

The study primarily described the problem, extensively reviewed the current state-of-the-art literature and then identified a gap. Based on it, generic and comprehensive integrated framework and implementation procedure is developed. Besides, the study used managers, consultants and academics from various fields to validate a framework and implementation procedure for addressing business concerns. In this case, the primary data was collected through self-administered questionnaire, and 244 valid questionnaires were received and were analyzed. Furthermore, the research verified the practicability of the framework by empirically exploring the current scenario of selected manufacturing companies.

The research discovered innovative framework and six-phase implementation procedure to fill the existing conceptual gap. Furthermore, the survey-based and exploratory empirical analysis of the research demonstrated that the practice of the proposed framework based on structured procedure is valued and companies attain the middling improvements of productivity, delivery time, quality, 5S practice, waste and accident rate by 61.03, 44, 52.53, 95.19, 80.12, and 70.55% respectively. Additionally, the companies saved a total of 14933446 ETH Birr and 5,658 M² free spaces. Even though, the practices and improvements vary from company to company, and even companies unable to practice some of the unique techniques of the identified CI initiatives considered in the proposed framework.

All data collected in the survey came from professionals working for Ethiopian manufacturing companies, universities and government. It is important to highlight that n = 244 is high sample size, which is adequate for a preliminary survey but reinforcing still needs further survey in terms of generalization of the results since there are hundreds of manufacturing companies, consultants and academicians implementing and consulting Kaizen. Therefore, a further study on a wider Ethiopian manufacturing companies, consultants and academic scale would be informative.

This work is very important for Kaizen professionals in the manufacturing industry, academic and government but in particular for senior management and leadership teams. Aside from the main findings on framework development, there is some strong evidence that practice of Kaizen resulted in achieving quantitative (monetary and non-monetary) and qualitative results. Thus, senior management teams should use this research out to practice and analyze the effect of Kaizen on their own organizations. Within the academic community, this study is one of the first focusing on development, validating and practically testing and should aid further study, research and understanding of Kaizen in manufacturing industries.

So far, it is rare to find preceding studies proposed, validated and practically test an integrated Kaizen framework with the context of manufacturing industries. Thus, authors understand that this is the very first research focused on the development of the framework for manufacturing industries continuously to be competitive and could help managers, institutions, practitioners and academicians in Kaizen practice.