Is Lean Green? Is This The Right Question?

In an article written in the Lean Management Journal in March 2010 (Issue 3, March/April), author Keivan Zokaei discusses how companies are making the connection between their Lean and continuous improvement and the sustainability movement driven by their customers, owners and employees.

He makes the following statements:

• Lean firms are not ‘greener’ than the industry average firm
• The next challenge for the lean community is to account for the environmental and social issues
• Most companies are reactive toward carbon reduction (wastes and emissions), instead of proactive through product design and supply chain optimisation
• There is a lack of integrative framework for creating a strategic symbiosis between lean and green
• Spotlight on Lean and Green approaches at Adnams Brewery (UK) and GKN Driveline (Brazil)]
• Hoshin Kanri can be a key tool to integrating Lean and Green

You can read the entire article at https://web.archive.org/web/20160815134541/http://leanandgreenbusiness.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Is-Lean-Green.pdf