Lean means creating Value for Customers by minimizing Waste. (Taken from GoLeanSixSigma.com)

History of Lean
  • 1926 : Henry Ford publishes, “Today and Tomorrow” detailing continuous improvement practices including single-piece-flow, Just-In-Time and other precursors of Lean
  • 1948 – 1975 : Taichi Ohno develops Toyota Production System
  • 1950 : Dr. W. Edwards Deming – Father of Quality – lectures in Japan
  • 1988 : Taichi Ohno publishes, “Toyota Production System”
  • 1990 : Womach & Jones publish, “The Machine that Changed the World”
  • 1998 : Rother and Shook publish, “Learning to See”
Focus of Lean
  1. Lean Culture : Foster a respectful, interactive culture of process ownership
  2. Customer Value : Determine what matters most to customers
  3. Process Focus : Enable the workforce to identify and remove waste from the system in order to satisfy Customers
A Lean Process
  1. is faster
  2. is more efficient and economical
  3. delivers satisfactory quality
Benefit of Lean
  1. Increase Revenue
  2. Decrease Costs
  3. Increase Efficiency
  4. Effective People
Lean Principles
  1. Define Value : Focus on meeting customer requirements
  2. Map the Value Stream
  3. Create Flow : Results from removing waste and non-value adding steps
  4. Establish Pull : Results from focusing on the customer demand
  5. Pursuit of Perfection : Results from continuous application of Lean Tools and concepts