The concepts of lean manufacturing operations and sustainability are congruent in nature, marked by the facet of improving organizational efficiency. However, only difference lies in the definition of waste. This definition is given a new dimension by sustainability by incorporating the extensive scope of reductions in the environmental consequences in the form of 6R (reduce, reuse, recycle, recover, redesign and remanufacture); which requires a consolidated integrated approach. Therefore, as to affirm the requirement, a systematic literature review has been carried out which scrutinized previous researches in view of their originality, methodology, objectives and limitations. Based on this literature study, 25 most related approaches (lean and sustainable integrated approaches) were selected and their originality was investigated. Investigation revealed that few research articles are integrating lean and sustainable approaches. This study identifies the gap of the integration of lean practices with 6Rs and a framework was developed which implemented on the case study that carries ability to attain 6R based sustainable lean production systems. Because of more social and environmentally friendly atmosphere achieved through 6R based implementation, the results achieved are 50% decrease in heating cost by redesigning furnaces (from oil furnaces to gas furnaces), 36.33% improvement in value added time, 40.14% in lead-time and 22% reduction in labour utilization. This improvement indicates that use of proposed integrated framework is highly beneficial for any kind of manufacturing sector.

Total productive maintenance (TPM) is at the forefront of the maintenance strategies which brought about a paradigm shift from repair-maintenance strategy to proactive maintenance. The philosophy of TPM entails the facets of cost reduction and increased productivity. However, it has been observed that many manufacturing enterprises have made unsuccessful attempts at its adoption. In order to detect and overcome a qualitative research methodology has been employed and a survey has been carried out identifying the barriers and categorizing them to strategic, managerial, departmental, financial, and social regimes through rigorous data analysis. It was observed that strategic constraints are primarily detrimental to the success of TPM due to the lack of defined strategies for workers by management. Moreover, the departmental constraints are present due to misalignment between TPM and departmental objectives, in addition to the lack of training for workers in the system for TPM implementation. Moreover, there are managerial and financial constraints due to the lack of information visibility and finances, social constraints due to gap between top management authorization and worker mentality. Finally, a proper strategy has been proposed to address the issues affecting TPM implementation.

Automatic identification and data collection provides an ideal basis for Industry 4.0 Smart Manufacturing. The manufacturing sectors, involving a wide spectrum of physical and digital world, are functioning in extremely challenging environment. To optimize production efficiency, the incorporation of automated data collection technologies such as Bar Code and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is essential. Both these technologies have a great overlap in terms of industrial applications and no study reviews the existing literature in this regard. Therefore to cope up this matter, a systematic literature review has been conducted in which the technologies have been studied and compared, followed by the detailed discussion under various contexts of Technology-Organization-Environment (TOE) Framework. It has been observed that both these technologies have been employed in various manufacturing domains such as lean manufacturing, inventory management and production planning. However, it has been observed that RFID technology carried technological superiority over Bar Code technology. The systems utilizing the former are highly reliable, exquisitely capable and perform excellent in case of automation. However, issues such as high capital costs and increased level of technical complexity are few dilemmas in case of adopting RFID based systems. In addition to that, the implementation of RFID systems is complemented by certain essential features of TOE framework, which can help to elevate competitiveness and efficiency of an organization regarding tracking and identification of assets and inventory.

Advancement in the manufacturing sector has attained a dominate interest from the researchers as well as the industrialists, for attaining the more products efficiencies. The concept of Lean Manufacturing set the cornerstone for excellence in manufacturing sector by improving the production times and reducing the non-value-added processes. In 2011, the concept of Industry 4.0 pivoted the concept of automation in factories to complement the production improvement processes. The under developing countries such as Pakistan, the manufacturing sector is run with the conventional manufacturing practices, which yields the products of lower quality and much time is being wasted resulting in overall poor efficiency. Moreover, those industries which want to improve their processes are not very much certain, about the methodologies they shall implement. In this research study, the authors have used the mathematical modelling approach of Analytical Hierarchy Processes (AHP) to recognise the pertinent Industry 4.0 technologies and lean perceptions – this technique empowers opportunity of organizing and analysing the intricate decisions for a strong understanding. By using Value Stream Mapping and Automation in a simulation-based case study, improvements of 44.70% in lead time, 17% in value added time and 45.25% in non-value-added time were witnessed. This research explores the avenue of Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM), based decision making in Industry 4.0 related environments. It will provide clarity to academicians regarding the integration of lean and Industry 4.0 through optimized and logical selection of relevant approaches, in addition to aiding practitioners in intelligent decision making.

Automatic identification and data collection provides an ideal basis for Industry 4.0 Smart Manufacturing. The manufacturing sectors, involving a wide spectrum of physical and digital world, are functioning in extremely challenging environment. To optimize production efficiency, the incorporation of automated data collection technologies such as Bar Code and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is essential. Both these technologies have a great overlap in terms of industrial applications and no study reviews the existing literature in this regard. Therefore to cope up this matter, a systematic literature review has been conducted in which the technologies have been studied and compared, followed by the detailed discussion under various contexts of Technology-Organization-Environment (TOE) Framework. It has been observed that both these technologies have been employed in various manufacturing domains such as lean manufacturing, inventory management and production planning. However, it has been observed that RFID technology carried technological superiority over Bar Code technology. The systems utilizing the former are highly reliable, exquisitely capable and perform excellent in case of automation. However, issues such as high capital costs and increased level of technical complexity are few dilemmas in case of adopting RFID based systems. In addition to that, the implementation of RFID systems is complemented by certain essential features of TOE framework, which can help to elevate competitiveness and efficiency of an organization regarding tracking and identification of assets and inventory.