Recently, there has been increased interest in the scientific, academic, and business communities regarding the relationship between lean production practices and Industry 4.0 technologies. However, most studies published in the literature have analyzed each of these concepts separately. Those that have analyzed lean production practices and Industry 4.0 technologies together have not only allowed manufacturing companies to improve the efficiency of their production processes but also their business performance. Despite this evidence, other studies published in the literature are highly critical of the knowledge and evidence provided regarding the integration of both concepts. Therefore, the relationship between lean production practices and Industry 4.0 technologies can be considered inconclusive. Therefore, this empirical study, using a sample of 410 manufacturing companies in Mexico, aims to identify the relationship between the adoption of lean production practices and Industry 4.0 technologies. The results obtained show that the adoption of lean production practices favors the adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies by manufacturing companies. JEL classification numbers: O320. Keywords: Lean production practices, Industry 4.0 technologies, manufacturing industry.
Valdivia-Plaza et al. (Mon,) studied this question.