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Lean Energy: Turning Sustainable Development into Organizational Renewal

Author

Listed:
  • Árni Halldórsson

    (Division of Service Management & Logistics, Chalmers University of Technology, 41296 Gothenburg, Sweden)

  • Ida Gremyr

    (Division of Service Management & Logistics, Chalmers University of Technology, 41296 Gothenburg, Sweden)

  • Anette Winter

    (Chalmers Professional Education, 41756 Gothenburg, Sweden)

  • Naghmeh Taghahvi

    (Division of Service Management & Logistics, Chalmers University of Technology, 41296 Gothenburg, Sweden)

Abstract

The potential for integrating principles of lean management and sustainability initiatives has been recognized in earlier research. The present study argues for the need to focus on how this should be implemented and to acknowledge the criticality of developing individuals’ competencies to support such integration. The purpose of this paper is to explore the integration of lean and energy efficiency practices and provide practical examples of such integration. This study is explorative in nature and based on a qualitative research approach. Primary evidence was collected through an interview study of 19 participants in a lean energy course, and through a participant observation at a company workshop following up the program results. Secondary evidence was collected on the development and evaluation of this course. By operationalizing sustainability through energy efficiency and combining with lean principles, organizations can exploit continuous improvement efforts for sustainable development. This paper focuses on professional education as a component for integrating improvement initiatives and sustainable development. Whilst professional education enables individual learning, organization-wide efforts are needed to follow up on the educational program and support a scaling-up of lean energy. The scaling-up means that the organization itself encourages the use of principles and tools to identify and remove energy waste and support a move from local practices to shared experience.

Suggested Citation

  • Árni Halldórsson & Ida Gremyr & Anette Winter & Naghmeh Taghahvi, 2018. "Lean Energy: Turning Sustainable Development into Organizational Renewal," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-15, November.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:12:p:4464-:d:186089
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. May, Gökan & Stahl, Bojan & Taisch, Marco, 2016. "Energy management in manufacturing: Toward eco-factories of the future – A focus group study," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 628-638.
    2. Vanajah Siva & Ida Gremyr & Árni Halldórsson, 2018. "Organising Sustainability Competencies through Quality Management: Integration or Specialisation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-14, April.
    3. José Roberto Xavier Alves & João Murta Alves, 2015. "Production management model integrating the principles of lean manufacturing and sustainability supported by the cultural transformation of a company," International Journal of Production Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(17), pages 5320-5333, September.
    4. Abreu, M. Florentina & Alves, Anabela C. & Moreira, Francisco, 2017. "Lean-Green models for eco-efficient and sustainable production," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 846-853.
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    Cited by:

    1. Naghmeh Taghavi, 2021. "Sustainable Development of Operations: Actors’ Involvement in the Process of Energy Efficiency Improvements," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-19, May.
    2. Melanie Feeney & Therese Grohnert & Wim Gijselaers & Pim Martens, 2023. "Organizations, Learning, and Sustainability: A Cross-Disciplinary Review and Research Agenda," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 184(1), pages 217-235, April.

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