Lean production: evolution and perspectives of integration with Clean(er) Production researches

The article analyses the evolution of the researches in the field of Lean Production (LP) and the integration with Clean(er) Production (CP) researches using scientific literature database. A quali-quantitative analysis of the most referenced articles integrating the two approaches is conducted. The constantly growing trends and the multidisciplinary of the themes covered suggests that the literature regarding LP and CP will increase in the coming year; results also point out how the two perspectives, sharing the same system-oriented view and both focusing on the reduction of wastes/Muda, can benefit from each other experiences to develop common synergies in achieving economic and environmental benefits. Integrating the Lean and Clean(er) approaches and tools reveals an interesting and promising perspective, despite of the still limited contributions in this sense. The results of the study conducted may help to identify new directions and synergies for the development of a common field of research.