Lean and green supply chain initiatives: A case study

Lean and green have moved from a trend to a business imperative to improve the supply chain. This research aims to focus on providing the basic mechanisms for a lean-green business model implementation. Based on standardized management business models, several "near common" categories were defined as key criteria for lean-green supply chain implementation including leadership, people, strategic planning, stakeholders, processes and results. The fundamental research question is how lean-green supply chain can be integrated in and compatible, using initiatives that support both, a lean and a green approach, in all selected categories. To attain the paper objective, in a first stage, a conceptual framework was proposed to define the lean-green initiatives. In a second stage, multiple case studies in automotive supply chain were performed to test qualitatively the validity of the proposed conceptual framework, testing how these initiatives are being implemented in real world. From the case study, a model is suggested, which involves a roadmap to achieve a successful lean-green implementation. The proposed model can be the basis for further research in lean-green supply chain contributing to understand in which moment the lean and green initiatives should be relevant.