Purpose: – Manufacturing companies worldwide have been replacing traditional mass-production practices by lean initiatives. This translation process is progressive and may vary depending on several factors. Hence, it could be expected that the degree of adoption of the lean practices could vary significantly among industries, regions and even countries. The purpose of this paper is to explore the implementation performance of lean principles in Brazil, the paper developed a survey in the Sao Paulo Metropolitan Area, which considered 51 industries of different sizes, from several industrial segments, nationals and multinationals. Design/methodology/approach: – The proposed survey was developed using as a normative framework the SAE J4000 standard – identification and measurement of the best practice in implementation of lean operation and the SAE J4001 – implementation of lean operation user manual. To measure the implementation degree of the lean practices in the researched industries, the paper proposed the utilization of two concepts: the degree of leanness (DOL) of an element of J4000 and DOL of a company. Also three hypotheses were tested, trying to establish the relationship among the DOL and firm ownership, their size and respective industrial sector. Findings: – The results obtained in the survey demonstrated that the performance of lean initiative implementation is not uniform among the companies located in the researched area. Outcomes also showed that the degree of implementation of the lean practices by multinational companies was higher than that for the national firms. However, it was not possible to establish a relationship between the DOL and the size of the firms. Neither a clear and definite association between DOL and industrial sector was possible to be identified. Practical implications: – For the practitioners and managers dealing with the lean implementation, this paper gives a relevant contribution because it shows how they can effectively use an existing tool to measure the implementation of the lean practices in their respective firms. Furthermore, the DOL calculation for each individual element of the J4000 standard could also be used by practitioners and managers to identify specific problems and opportunity areas where practical actions could be identified to improve the lean implementation. Originality/value: – This paper contributes to the lean manufacturing theory because it proposes a theoretical way to measure the degree of implementation of the lean initiatives in the manufacturing companies. Also the survey results generate additional research material that could be used by other researchers to further explore the subject in the area.

Lean approach has overcome the boundaries of the automotive and manufacturing industry and has achieved many different sectors of the economy, including services. In this context, this paper aims to investigate the applicability of value stream mapping (VSM) tool in processes of the oil and gas chain. Also, this paper investigates if there is a specific framework currently being used by organizations belonging to this chain to map the value stream of its processes. A detailed systematic review of the literature is done by using a set of relevant keywords based on peer-reviewed journal articles and conference papers available in the Scopus database, analyzing data from 2012 to 2017. Content analysis methodology involving a four-step process (identification, screening, eligibility and inclusion) suggested by Moher et al. (2009) was adopted for this study. The number of studies in literature on VSM applicability to the oil and gas chain processes is low when compared to studies regarding the application of lean tools and methods in general in this area. Also, there is no specific framework that has been used by the oil and gas chain companies to carry out the VSM, which is a research gap that can be further explored. Sample size for this research consists of 42 studies, thereby limiting the generalizability of the research studies. However, the analysis presented in this paper was based only on Scopus database, which is a remarkable and broad base, which provided robustness to the data found. Practicing managers of oil and gas chain who are planning to transform their processes can use the VSM for it. Researchers can explore the research gap found in this study and develop a specific framework to implement VSM in the oil and gas chain processes. This is the first paper to evaluate the VSM tool applicability to the oil and gas chain processes based on an systematic literature review and understand if this is possible and if there is a specific framework to carry out this task.