Lean Manufacturing

Key Lean Manufacturing Principles:
1. Pull Processing: products are pulled from the consumer end, not pushed from
the production end.
2. Perfect First-Time Quality: quest for zero defects, revealing & solving
problems at the source.
3. Waste Minimization: eliminating all activities that do not add value & safety
nets, maximize use of scarce resources (capital, people
and land).
4. Continuous Improvement: reducing costs, improving quality, increasing
productivity and information sharing.
5. Flexibility: producing different mixes or greater diversity of products quickly,
without sacrificing efficiency at lower volumes of production.
6. Building and Maintaining a Long Term Relationship with Suppliers
through collaborative risk sharing, cost sharing and information sharing
arrangements.

Lean is basically all about getting the right things, to the right place, at the right
time, in the right quantity while minimizing waste and being flexible and open to
change.


"Lean Thinking" by Womack and Jones,
Five Core Concepts:
1. Specify value in the eyes of the customer
2. Identify the value stream and eliminate waste
3. Make value flow at the pull of the customer
4. Involve and empower employees
5. Continuously improve in the pursuit of perfection.