Lean Manufacturing

Lean Manufacturing is a manufacturing or production practice that is based on the following premise: eliminate any process, value added, cost or other resource input or expenditure that does not create value for the end user or custom of the product or process. Anything extra is deemed wasteful, and thus the objective of lean manufacturing is to eliminate those excesses.

Unlike Six Sigma which was created by Motorola, Lean manufacturing was developed by Toyota, the automotive manufacturer. The idea is a development of early work by time study and value added work by Taylor, mass production by Ford, and other principles of efficiency, time study, cost reduction, and process improvement.

The tools of Lean manufacturing help identify and eliminate waste so that quality improves while manufacturing time and production costs are reduced. These tools include Kanban (pull systems), poka-yoke (error-proofing), Value Stream Mapping, Five S, Six Sigma, and statistical measuring techniques. A related idea is to reduce waste by smoothing the flow of production, often done by robotics and automation. While originally a Japanese concept, the idea of "lean" has been picked up by other fields such as software development, construction and even accounting. The embedded idea is continuous improvement or incremental improvement of processes, products or services over time through waste reduction that improves not just customer satisfaction or product performance, but the workplace as well.

Nevertheless, the roots of lean manufacturing are found in demand-based, simpler manufacturing systems with shorter cycle times, lower inventory levels, increased productivity rates, lower quality defects and more efficient capital utilization. There is always room for continuous improvement of any system, and that urge to find an improvement and eliminate waste is what lean production is all about.