Members will have seen a number of articles in the Journal on the use of Lean Management. The term was born out of the production system established by Toyota in Japan in the 1950s and was to a large extent inspired by Kaizen -  the Japanese strategy of continuous improvement.

For those of you who are not familiar with these techniques,

‘Lean’ (or lean production or lean manufacturing) describes a methodology aimed at reducing waste in the form of overproduction, lead time or product defects.

Lean is thus about doing more with less: less time, inventory, space people and money.

The term was born out of the production systems established by Toyota in Japan in the 1950s and was to a large extent inspired by Kaizen - the Japanese strategy of continuous improvement. Lean production is characterised by operations with low inventories, small batch runs and just-in-time delivery of supplies. It is supported by a quality management regime based on prevention, and by team-based working. The final element is a set of close relationships with suppliers. Though the concept arose in the manufacturing sector, it has since spread and has been applied successfully to other sectors.

Thinking lean involves:

• Identifying and eliminating non-value added activities or waste through continuous improvement efforts
• Focussing on continuous improvement of processes - rather than results - throughout the entire value chain
• Achieving continuous product flow through physical rearrangement and revision of system structure & control mechanisms
• Single-piece flow / small lot production: achieved through equipment set up time reduction; attention to machine maintenance; and maintaining an orderly, clean work place
• Pull production / Just-in-Time inventory control.

(’Pull’ production is based on orders rather than forecasts; production planning is driven by customer demand or “pull”; its aim is not to suit machine loading or inflexible work flows on the shop floor.

‘Lean’ (or lean production or lean manufacturing) describes a methodology aimed at reducing waste in the form of overproduction, lead time or product defects.

Lean is thus about doing more with less: less time, inventory, space people and money.

The term was born out of the production systems established by Toyota in Japan in the 1950s and was to a large extent inspired by Kaizen - the Japanese strategy of continuous improvement. Lean production is characterised by operations with low inventories, small batch runs and just-in-time delivery of supplies. It is supported by a quality management regime based on prevention, and by team-based working. The final element is a set of close relationships with suppliers. Though the concept arose in the manufacturing sector, it has since spread and has been applied successfully to other sectors.

Thinking lean involves:

• Identifying and eliminating non-value added activities or waste through continuous improvement efforts
• Focussing on continuous improvement of processes - rather than results - throughout the entire value chain
• Achieving continuous product flow through physical rearrangement and revision of system structure & control mechanisms
• Single-piece flow / small lot production: achieved through equipment set up time reduction; attention to machine maintenance; and maintaining an orderly, clean work place
• Pull production / Just-in-Time inventory control.

(’Pull’ production is based on orders rather than forecasts; production planning is driven by customer demand or “pull”; its aim is not to suit machine loading or inflexible work flows on the shop floor.