Interaction between Lean and Green Supply Chain Management: experiences from the automotive sector

Lean Management (LM) is a business and operations strategy embraced by several industries, to minimize waste in manufacturing and supply chain, increasing productivity, efficiency and continuous improvement actions. The Lean Supply Chain Management (LSCM) looks at streamlined, highly efficient systems able to offer finished products at the pace customer’s demand. During the last decades, the rising concern around the environmental burdens of industrial processes made sustainability performances critical issues for companies. The greater attention to sustainability by society and users and the regulations introduced by institutions and policy makers led companies to adopt sustainable strategies in manufacturing and supply chain activities. The integration between LSCM and Green Supply Chain Management (GSCM) is a hot stream of research, looking for convergences and gaps faced by companies belonging to different sectors in the joint implementation of LSCM and GSCM. This working paper follows this research stream, discussing interactions in the current and potential implementations of lean and green principles within supply chain management. The automotive sector is focused, presenting industrial case histories and best practices, showcasing the adoption of lean strategies fostering green practices.