It is already well known that Toyota’s production system is also called Lean, and the very idea of ​​Lean is the reduction, which means the elimination of all types of waste that cause losses.

The 8 wastes of Lean manufacturing include:

1) Overproduction
2) Transportation
3) Waiting/delays 
4) Excess processing
5) Unnecessary motion
6) Inventory
7) Defects
8) Non-Utilized Talent

To identify waste in the process and the workplace, it is necessary to use various methods and techniques that will be discussed in this and some of the following texts.

As the biggest advantage, we single out the connection between reducing costs and improving productivity and quality, and to achieve this, it is necessary to follow 4 key principles:

1) Understanding the needs of the customer 
2) Reduction of production time 
3) Analyzing, understanding, and solving problems 
4) Uniting employees and a general raising of awareness 

It is very important to point out that Lean management encourages shared responsibility and shared leadership. Therefore the two main pillars of the Lean methodology are respecting people and continuous improvement.

Some of the Lean principles and tools:

• SMED
• Kaizen
• Poka Yoke
• Kanban
• Heijunka…

Kaizen method

The name is a combination of two Japanese words: Kai (change) and Zen (good), or “change for the better”. This method is used for continuous improvement and upgrading the production process while striving to create higher value with fewer losses.

Lean benefits

Properly implemented, Lean acts as an organizational development that deals with mistakes and promotes learning relationships. Dividing work into smaller groups and visualizing the business flow can very easily show and remove all potential obstacles of the process.

So, the main characteristic of Lean is the improvement, not only of the business process but also of the employees. It is clear that the idea of ​​improvement and innovation is acquired from the employees themselves, and that with their development better results come.