TABLE OF CONTENTS Toyota symbolizes the lean enterprise and the management philosophy that evolved from the principles developed regarding how they functioned and operated. From its beginnings, lean has taken on new meaning and purpose. From the Toyota story, we have observed that lean is customer oriented and focuses on simplicity, speed, flexibility, visibility, and accountability for its impact. The lean concept deals with dynamic events and it adopts the philosophy of application of continuous improvement directed to eliminating all operational and organizational waste. Most of the lean initiatives have been directed toward operational waste, with less attention directed to organizational waste. However, lean thinking can be applied anywhere waste exists.
The five key elements of lean include:
Manufacturing flow
Organization
Process control
Metrics
Logistics
The lean focus in most organizations is centered on streamlining the flow of materials through manufacturing. One of my associates was the plant manager of a company that was an early adapter of lean. He reduced the number of operations through which material flowed from fifty-eight down to twenty-three separate functions before ending up in finished goods inventory. While the company was successful at paring down the number of steps, it was not able to generate much excitement beyond the dramatic and dynamic changes in process flow. My associate indicated that process control and logistics received some attention, but there was little focus on organization and metrics.
The purpose here will be to create an understanding of lean manufacturing and the terms commonly used in lean applications.
