The super-quick guide to Lean Manufacturing

By leansixsigma • on April 6, 2008

The Lean philosophy was developed by Toyota in the 1950s and 1960s to improve the efficiency of car production. It was used to ensure the 10,000 components of a car were ready at the right time of the production line to allow the fastest possible production of motor vehicles. Lean encourages managers to look at how customers and goods flow through their systems to unlock bottlenecks and inefficiencies. In doing so it defines value-adding activity solely as those which affect the customer and estimates 90% of all actions within organisations are wasted because they add no value. The principles have been adopted by organisations as diverse as Tesco and the NHS.

Lean manufacturing refers to the systematic identification and elimination of waste (muda) from a process while increasing responsiveness to change. While there are a number of specific tools that organizations use to implement lean production systems, the six core methods listed below are most typically used. Most of these lean methods are interrelated and some can occur concurrently. Implementation is often sequenced in the order presented below. Most organizations begin by implementing lean techniques in a particular production area or at a pilot facility and then expand use of the methods over time.