The concept of “lean” is based on the principles of the Toyota
Production System (TPS). TPS was developed with the objective of
identifying and reducing wasteful activities in manufacturing
processes through education and involvement of the workforce.
While originally created for use in Toyota’s manufacturing
facilities, wasteful activities inhabit all processes inside and
outside of manufacturing. Many companies are reducing wasteful
activities in office business processes and streamlining
operations to be more efficient in serving their customers
better. Lean has spread to many industries – traditional
manufacturing, logistics and supply chains, supermarkets,
service providers, healthcare, banking, transactional processes,
sales, marketing – because the basis is so fundamental to
business success and has a foundation of common sense. Lean
implementation has saved companies billions of dollars through
reduction of waste activities. For a full list of the wasteful
activities and some deeper dives into each, p