The Automation of Lean Practices: Digitalized or Digitally Wasted?

Part 14: The New Digital Lean Manufacturing ParadigmInternational audienceLean manufacturing has experienced massive changes under the influence of Industry 4.0, with the automation of lean practices becoming common among manufacturing companies in many countries and different industries. Automating lean practices promises a number of opportunities for growth and competitiveness. One of the key advantages of lean automation has been acknowledged to be the significant reduction of waste. Meanwhile, there is also discussion of a new form of waste: digital waste. However, do companies consider digital waste a part of production waste? It is also unclear if automation of lean practices is a trigger for digital waste with a negative impact on value creation. This paper aims to investigate companies with automated lean practices and the particular case of digital waste in automated processes. The research is based on case studies of manufacturing based in Sweden