Subject areaProcess and organisation
Lean (also lean management or lean thinking) is the method that removes waste from a process, meaning every step that consumes time and resources without creating value for the customer.
It was born in the Toyota Production System, built by Taiichi Ohno between the 1950s and the 1970s. John Krafcik coined the word «lean» in 1988, and James Womack and Daniel Jones made it famous with «The Machine That Changed the World» (1990) and «Lean Thinking» (1996).
From the factory the method spread to every business function, and each extension took its own name: Lean Startup for new products, Lean UX for design, Lean Marketing and Lean Sales for customer acquisition, Lean AI for growth driven by artificial intelligence. The basic tools are still two Japanese words: muda, the waste to remove, and kaizen, improvement in small steps. Enrico Giubertoni uses lean as an example of a word that splits departments: on the factory floor it names a method, and in marketing one letter is enough to hear lead.
Source: James P. Womack, Daniel T. Jones, Daniel Roos, The Machine That Changed the World, 1990.
An example
An industrial paint manufacturer maps the flow of an order, from the customer's request to delivery. It finds that the product sits in the warehouse longer than it takes to make it: the first waste to remove is that wait, before the production line itself.
Enrico Giubertoni. Licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0: you may quote, translate and adapt this entry with the author’s name and a link, stating any changes. For commercial use, write to info@enricogiubertoni.com
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