Lean thinking: an essential mindset

Abstract

Lean thinking is a fundamental mindset to promote societal transformations and prepare society to properly adopt and use Industry 4.0 technologies. These technologies continue to rapidly develop and have started to evolve to Society 5.0 and Industry 5.0. Although these technologies may provide economic, social, and sustainability benefits, their use must fit society's needs. Society's digital path must be aligned with workers' physical and safety conditions. These technologies should promote creativity, responsibility, resilience, and critical thinking for individuals to be prepared when digital systems do not work or when disruptive events happen - such as pandemic, catastrophic, and violent conflict situations. Lessons and challenges for practice and organizations are identified and summarized.