Lean operating principles began in
manufacturing environments and are known by a variety of synonyms;
Lean Manufacturing, Lean Production, Toyota Production System, etc.
It is commonly believed that Lean started in Japan (Toyota, specifically),
but Henry Ford had been using parts of Lean as early as the 1920's.
- The goal of lean production is
described as "to get the right things to the right place at
the right time, the first time, while minimizing waste and being
open to change.
Lean manufacturing is based on
5 Lean Principles:
- Specify what creates value from
the customers perspective
- Identify all the steps along the
process chain
- Make those processes flow
- Make only what is pulled by the
customer
- Strive for perfection by continually
removing wastes
The key element in Lean is to shorten
the time from customer order to bank payment. This is achieved by
identifying and eliminating waste. In a conventional supply chain
and in individual businesses, there are potentially huge amounts of
different wastes, known as "The 7 Wastes".
