Track: Sustainable Manufacturing

Abstract

This article aims to evaluate the synergy between Lean and Green Manufacturing practices in the Brazilian furniture manufacturing industry. The life cycle assessment (LCA) and cleaner production (CP) practices were considered for the evaluation of the green manufacturing practices. Thus, the synergy evaluation was determined by the adherence level of Lean Manufacturing (LM), LCA and CP and by their correlations (Pearson coefficient). The research method used was the multiple case studies with 10 Brazilian furniture-manufacturing industries, through interviews and observations in the production units. The main results showed that the Brazilian furniture manufacturing industry has a low level of adherence for LM, LCA and CP practices. The level of compliance for LM was 28.33%; for LCA it was 21.43%, and for CP it was 19.05%. However, the analysis of correlations allowed identifying a strong dependence between LM and CP practices (Pearson coefficient of 0.8849) and the moderate dependence between LM and LCA practices (Pearson coefficient of 0.5817). It was possible to identify 9 synergic practices among a total of 48 practices evaluated. This article contributes to the discussion of methods to evaluate the synergies of Lean and Green Manufacturing practices.