Do you know the idea of Lean?

"Lean" – like many other terms these days – currently has a noticeable boom. Every company aims at being as lean as possible in economically challenging times.

But what exactly is the central idea of "Lean"?

The conception of "Lean" has its origins in Japan. It came into being in response to the mass production that became popular in the US in the 1910s and 1920s. To remain competitive, the Japanese market needed to find a production practice allowing to increase efficiency and decrease waste, both in terms of ressources and process steps.  

A popular interpretation of "Lean" is that operations in a company must be as lean as possible.

However,  isn't the actual goal of Lean the creation of value for the end customer ?

If you look at the idea of "Lean" from the perspective of creating value for the customer, five basic principles can be determined:

1. Define the value from a customer’s point of view
2. Identify the value stream to find out what you must do to achieve value creation for the customer
3. Make sure that the value added acitivities run as smoothly as possible
4. The cycle time depends on the customer
5. Always work on achieving performance excellence through continuous improvement and the pursuit of perfection

Following these basic principles will enable you to succeed in realizing the idea of "Lean" in such way that besides creating value for the customer you will also achieve a sustainable reduction of waste.