Measuring Impact of Lean Manufacturing Tools for Continuous Improvement on Economic Sustainability

Using Lean Manufacturing (LM) tools in production processes is crucial for companies’ economic, environmental, and social sustainability success. This study shows a structural equation model (SEM) that shows the relationship between LM Tools like Kaizen (KAI), Gemba (GEM), Value Stream Mapping (VSM) and Key Performance Indicator (KPI) with Economic Sustainability (ECS). Seven hypotheses were evaluated with data from 179 responses to a questionnaire about the Mexican maquiladora industry, showing that these variables are linked. At a 95% confidence level, the model was evaluated using the partial least squares method. The findings indicate that the relationships between KAI and GEM and KAI and VSM have the strongest relationship, followed by VSM and ECS; however, VSM has the strongest effect on ECS. Based on these findings, it is recommended that managers adopt a continuous improvement (KAI) approach based on working directly on the shop floor (GEM and VSM) to support their decisions regarding economic growth (ECS).