ABSTRACT
We all know many of the concepts that we use in Lean manufacturing today were nurtured by the Toyota Motor Company. Over the years, Lean manufacturing as we know it today has been defined by many thought leaders and practitioners. The following provides a peek into some of the definitions prevalent in the market:
Taiichi Ohno’s succinct definition of the Toyota Production System, (1999):
James Womack and Daniel T. Jones (Lean Thinking-Banish Waste and Create Wealth in Your Corporation, 1996):
Chet Marchwinski and John Shook (Lean Lexicon, 2003):
US Environment Protection Agency (www.epa.gov):
Since its application began in manufacturing, many people have viewed Lean as a purely manufacturing business philosophy. They could not be more incorrect. It is essentially a way of thinking about what you produce or provide to your customer and how you can do it more efficiently, at lower cost, and more profitably. While the underlying philosophy and principles remain the same, when one looks at enterprise-wide deployment, it makes sense to define it differently. I have used this successfully in services organizations. The definitions are as follows:
Strategic definition when the focus is the entire enterprise:
Tactical definition when the focus is the entire enterprise:
• Better customer experience • Enhanced revenue • Reduction in cost • Reduction in business complexities • Added simplifications • Improvement in productivity • Reduced cost of business acquisition • Better people engagement • Reduced operational risk • Improved profitability • Enhanced customer loyalty
The truth is that most managers are unable to have an impact on even four of these areas. This is primarily because systems, like people, become used to a certain way of functioning. We forget to constantly evaluate them to understand if they are working for the organization and the customer. Lean helps us focus on these issues and evaluate our present systems to streamline them for increased efficiency.
