Towards a Reappreciation of the Concept of Value in Sustainable and Circular Lean Thinking: A Proposal for an Ethically Based Lean Practice
Abstract
Lean thinking has been influenced by developments in the field of sustainability and circularity. This has led to the development of concepts like Lean-green and Circular Lean, and many have proposed alternative lists of wastes, to address the challenges that modern society faces. A concept that received little attention in these developments is the concept of value. In traditional Lean thinking, waste was defined as everything that does not contribute to customer value. It seems, however, that the increasing number of environmental and social wastes at least suggest that there has been a shift in the way value is conceived. This (conceptual) paper a) traces down the value shift underlying the increasing number of wastes and b) proposes a reappreciation of the concept in Lean practices.