Lean Manufacturing in the context of Industry 4.0: a bibliometric study of world academic production published in journals indexed in the Scopus and Web of Science

Lean systems are used by industries that aim to improve their competitiveness through greater flexibility, lower costs, improvements in product quality and customer satisfaction. Industry 4.0 includes intelligent components and machines, integrated into a common digital network where flexible, powerful, and accessible microcontrollers are the main technology. Although Lean Manufacturing contrasts with some fundamentals of Industry 4.0, several studies have been carried out regarding the integration between these two areas. Through bibliometrics, this paper aims to investigate the advancement of scientific knowledge on the topic. For achieving this goal, documents published in journals indexed in the Scopus and Web of Science were analyzed. Among the results obtained, it is important to highlight the International Journal of Production Research, IFAC Papersonline and Procedia Manufacturing as the main sources; 41 countries published research on the topic, with Italy, Brazil, Germany, China, United States, United Kingdom, India and Spain among the most prolific; and, among the technologies and solutions related to the Industry 4.0, the Internet of Things and Cyber Physical Systems Ciber-Fisicos are the most recurrent topics in the papers.