Lean management

Introduction

Lean management is a business philosophy and management approach which is originated from the Japanese manufacturing industry in the mid-20th century. It is increasing efficiency and minimizing waste in design and production processes and by this reducing cost and improving quality. The idea behind lean management is to create value for the customer while time minimizing waste in all stages of production. By this, it takes the users input into consideration while trying to reduce excess inventory, waiting times, overproduction, defects, unnecessary motion and more related to the product and production. By doing so, lean management enables organizations to be more flexible, adaptable, and responsive to changing customer demands.

Lean management has a range of principles, tools, and techniques that are designed to improve process efficiency and eliminate waste. Examples on these are continuous improvement, just-in-time manufacturing, kaizen, value stream mapping, 5S workplace organization, and visual management, among others. The principles of lean management are in industries such as healthcare, construction, and software development.

When adopting lean management organizations typically have improved quality, reduced costs, and increased customer satisfaction. However, implementing lean management is a challenging process which requires cultural and organizational change