What is Lean Manufacturing?

Lean manufacturing is a production practice aimed at reducing inefficiency and waste from manufacturing operations. Other organizations have also found the tenets of lean manufacturing to be helpful to their operations and have adopted them. Learning more about this practice can help you determine whether it is right for your company or organization.

In its most basic form, lean focuses on retaining value but expending less effort to make a product or outcome. Lean manufacturing has its roots in practices pioneered by the Toyota company in the mid-20^th century. The Toyota method identified seven key areas of waste and set to work reducing waste in order to improve value to customers and profits to the company. Much of Toyota’s success in becoming the world’s No. 1 automaker can be attributed to lean manufacturing techniques.

Lean manufacturing takes a lot from prior methods of creating efficiency by optimizing the flow of work and materials. Much of the emphasis in this practice centers on finding ways to accomplish tasks with a minimum expenditure of labor or materials. Continuous review of operating procedures and other aspects of how an organization does business are essential to lean manufacturing, as the method stresses the need to avoid complacency and constantly look for areas of improvement.

For companies that wish to incorporate lean concepts into their operations, there are a variety of training materials and information that can help in this area.  Lean training videos and books, and lean gear such as vinyl tape and signs can be obtained from a variety of companies selling lean, 5s, kanban and other efficiency items.