A Framework for Lean Knowledge Dissemination: Enhancing Innovation Excellence

Lean manufacturing concepts are currently not only limited to high-volume production; they are also becoming increasingly common in low-volume, high-variety production environments, as well as in knowledge work (e.g. innovation, product development, engineering analysis and evaluation, etc.). The ad hoc application of Lean concepts to specific local situations results in the existing body of knowledge on customized Lean being fragmented and scattered across academic and management literature, as well as among individual practitioners and academics. This creates significantly high variability among industrial applications, educational programs and teaching materials. Hence, it is necessary to have comprehensive frameworks to unify the body of knowledge related to Lean knowledge dissemination at different phases of industrial applications to drive excellence in innovation operations. This article is intended to provide a brief review of the bodies of knowledge within innovation and proposes a unified knowledge framework of the bodies of Lean knowledge across the innovation-related disciplines.