From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Lean manufacturing, lean
enterprise, or lean production, often simply, "Lean," is a
production practice that considers the expenditure of resources
for any goal other than the creation of value for the end
customer to be wasteful, and thus a target for elimination.
Working from the perspective of the customer who consumes a
product or service, "value" is defined as any action or process
that a customer would be willing to pay for. Essentially, lean
is centered on preserving value with less work. Lean
manufacturing is a management philosophy derived mostly from the
Toyota Production System (TPS) (hence the term Toyotism is also
prevalent) and identified as "Lean" only in the 1990s. TPS is
renowned for its focus on reduction of the original Toyota seven
wastes to improve overall customer value, but there are varying
perspectives on how this is best achieved. The steady growth of
Toyota, from a small company to the world's largest automaker,
has focused attention on how it h