Lean manufacturing (Topical Term)

Work cat.: United States. Environmental Protection Agency. The lean and energy toolkit, 2007: p. i (Lean manufacturing; production system developed by Toyota. Lean focuses on eliminating non-value added activities, i.e., waste; this toolkit describes practical strategies and techniques to improve energy and environmental performance while achieving Lean goals such as improved quality, reduced waste, and increased customer responsiveness)

Wikipedia, Sept. 22, 2008: Lean manufacturing page (Lean manufacturing, lean production, often known simply as Lean. "A theory of production that considers the expenditure of resources for any means other than the creation of [customer] value ... to be wasteful, and thus a target for elimination. Lean manufacturing is a generic process management philosophy derived mostly from the Toyota Production System (TPS))

APICS dictionary. 9th ed. 1998 (Lean production: a philosophy of production that emphasizes the minimization of the amount of all the resources (including time) used in the various activities of the enterprise. It involves identifying and eliminating non-value-adding activities in design, production, supply chain management, and dealing with the customers. Synonym: Lean manufacturing)

US EPA Web site, Sept. 22, 2008: Lean and Six Sigma process improvement methods page (Lean principles come from the Japanese manufacturing industry. Term coined in Lean thinking by Womack and Jones, 1989. For many, Lean is the set of "tools" that assist in the identification and steady elimination of waste (muda) ... such as Value Stream Mapping, Five S, Kanban (pull systems), and Poka-yoke (error-proofing). A second approach to Lean manufacturing, promoted by Toyota, focuses on improving the "flow" or smoothness of work, thereby eliminating "mura," (unevenness) through the system, rather than waste reduction per se)

Here are entered works on a manufacturing process management philosophy that focuses on eliminating all expenditures of resources that do not add value for the customer, by means of minimizing inputs of energy, time, and materials, eliminating waste, improving quality of production processes and products, increasing customer responsiveness, and optimizing workflow.