Abstract
‘Lean’ has entered the everyday language of operations – so much so that a whole range of operational improvement processes are commonly labelled as lean. As a result, lean means different things to different people. Many associate lean with the production system invented at Toyota, but believe it is confined to the eradication of waste in order to cut cost. In fact, there is much more to lean than that.
Lean is not a project, but an ongoing quest for perfection through the elimination of all sources of loss.
Taken to its fullest extent, lean is as much a strategy as an approach to improving operations.
Taken to its fullest extent, lean is as much a strategy as an approach to improving operations.
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© 2004 John Drew, Blair McCallum and Stefan Roggenhofer
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Drew, J., McCallum, B., Roggenhofer, S. (2004). The Essence of Lean. In: Journey to Lean. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4039-4841-0_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4039-4841-0_2
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-51168-6
Online ISBN: 978-1-4039-4841-0
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