ABSTRACT
Lean thinking and practice has arguably become the most successful approach to business
improvement of our generation. It has outlasted many other improvement approaches and been
taken up by organizations in all kinds of industries across the world. Almost every large organ-
ization now has some form of lean program or internal lean improvement group and lean has
spawned an army of lean consultants. Interest in lean has also resulted in a huge and growing
literature on all aspects of lean, and lean is beginning to be taught on university courses in
engineering and management. But as lean spreads it has been reinterpreted many times, and has
been bolted onto other improvement approaches like ‘‘Lean Six Sigma’’ and ‘‘LeanAgile.’’ This
has led to considerable confusion. For a precise definition of lean terms see Lean Enterprise
Institute (2003).
