Affiliations: [a] Department of Manufacturing Engineering and Materials, School of Mechanical Engineering, State University of Campinas, Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil
| [b] Laboratory of Technology, Business and Environment Management, Fluminense Federal University, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
| [c] Faculty of Life Sciences, Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, Hamburg, Germany
Correspondence:
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Address for correspondence: Izabela Simon Rampasso, Department of Manufacturing Engineering and Materials, School of Mechanical Engineering, State University of Campinas, 200 Mendeleyev Street, Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil. Tel.: +55 11 99172 9636; E-mail: [email protected].
Abstract: BACKGROUND:Lean philosophy is used by companies to increase productivity and reduce costs. Although uncontested benefits are created, it is necessary to highlight the problems related to employees’ health and welfare caused by implementing lean manufacturing projects. OBJECTIVE:The primary objective of this paper is to review the literature and identify the most relevant problems created by lean philosophy for employees. METHODS:Research about the theme was performed on many international databases over three months, and an initial sample of 77 papers was found. Twenty-seven sources were utilized. RESULTS:We identified 22 categories of problems related to health and welfare of employees. CONCLUSIONS:The most cited problem was work intensification, mentioned by thirteen papers. Increased stress and increased responsibilities, demands and, consequently, pressure on the workers are among the primary problems observed in the research.
Keywords: Production system, workers, productivity
