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History of Lean Management

Looking for the history of lean management? This methodology has actually been around for years and many organizations have adopted using it within their companies. What is lean management and why are businesses and companies considering its use? Read on to find out more.

What is Lean Management?

Business theory that strives to create more value for clients by using the fewest resources. An organization that practices lean management knows the value of their customers and clients and seeks to increase the key processes in which their clientele is kept happy and continually willing to work with the business or company. This type of management is more a way of thinking rather than a reduction program for cost and expenses.

How did this theory come about and why do companies and businesses want to utilize it?

The history of lean management can be traced to the automotive process that was started by Henry Ford. When Ford came up with the idea of making a motorized car, he invented the process known as flow production. For the viewing public, the most prevalent example of flow production is that of the assembly line, where part after part comes down a conveyor belt, each being fitted to another part that has also traveled down the belt or one that has been fitted by an employee...and more info over at brighthubpm.com/

The Industrial Revolution

The industrial revolution and the beginning of mass production would be an appropriate time to start a history of lean manufacturing. According to Stearns, society was drastically changed by the industrial revolution. The industrial revolution in early 1800s England was fueled by cheap labor that was worked very hard. Machine-made goods lowered the income of rural laborers and mechanization in the textile industry lowered the income of workers who spun cloth by hand.

Some skilled workers did well during this time, but many employers used orphans and low-paid women as sources of cheap labor. Industrialization had some benefits at this time, such as lowering the selling price of many goods; however, it was still a difficult time because work was unpredictable and many people could find themselves out of a job because of constantly changing economic conditions. Some workers rioted because of job loss caused by mechanization. They claimed to be following a mythical figure named Ned Ludd. The Luddites attempted to have machinery banned, but they failed.

Life in the early factories was both hard and dangerous. Many factories worked the workers up to sixteen hours a day, six days a week and there was little protection from moving machinery that could injure workers. This was also at a time when an injured employee could not expect financial assistance from his or her employer or the government; therefore, an injury could lead directly to unemployment and poverty.

Factory life during the industrial revolutions was so unpleasant that Marx’ manifesto described work in a British match factory as being so bad that Dante would have found his levels of Hell surpassed because of the long hours, short breaks and the constant smell of sulfur in the air...visit - Quality Magazine.

World Class Manufacturing

By the 1980's some American manufacturers, such as Omark Industries, General Electric and Kawasaki (Lincoln, Nebraska) were achieving success.

Consultants took up the campaign and acronyms sprouted like weeds: World Class Manufacturing (WCM), Stockless Production, Continuous Flow Manufacturing (CFM), and many other names all referred to systems that were, essentially, Toyota Production. Gradually, a knowledge and experience base developed and success stories became more frequent.

Lean Manufacturing

The Machine That Changed The World. Womack's book was a straightforward account of the history of automobile manufacturing combined with a comparative study of Japanese, American, and European automotive assembly plants. What was new was a phrase-- "Lean Manufacturing."

The essential elements of Lean Manufacturing are described at our page "Principles of Lean Manufacturing." They do not substantially differ from the techniques developed by Ohno, Shingo and the people at Toyota. The application in any specific factory does change. Just as many firms copied Ford techniques in slavish and unthinking ways, many firms copy Toyota's techniques in slavish and unthinking ways and with poor results. Our series of articles on implementation includes a "Mental Model" to assist the thinking process and guidance on strategy and planning...get more info at www.strategosinc.com

Development of the Toyota Production System

Sakichi Toyoda invented a weaving loom that was able to stop when it detected a broken thread. This enabled a single worker to be able to monitor several machines as the operator only had to intervene on an exceptions basis. This was the start of Autonomation or Jidoka; automation with a human touch, one of the important parts of the Toyota Production System and hence Lean Manufacturing.

Through selling the patents to this invention to Platt Bros in Yorkshire the Toyoda family were able to exit the textiles business and fund the start up of their automotive company – Toyota.

Read more on this over at Lean Manufacturing Tools

Lean Today

As these words are written, Toyota, the leading lean exemplar in the world, stands poised to become the largest automaker in the world in terms of overall sales. Its dominant success in everything from rising sales and market shares in every global market, not to mention a clear lead in hybrid technology, stands as the strongest proof of the power of lean enterprise.

This continued success has over the past two decades created an enormous demand for greater knowledge about lean thinking. There are literally hundreds of books and papers, not to mention thousands of media articles exploring the subject, and numerous other resources available to this growing audience.

As lean thinking continues to spread to every country in the world, leaders are also adapting the tools and principles beyond manufacturing, to logistics and distribution, services, retail, healthcare, construction, maintenance, and even government. Indeed, lean consciousness and methods are only beginning to take root among senior managers and leaders in all sectors today… for more info, visit - Lean Enterprise Institute

In summary, flow production methodologies are not new, but do require a number of things to be in place before they can be implemented within a Lean Manufacturing environment.

As you can see the flow of production methods are not new but they require a lot of things to be in place. Business process improvement can be done easily if the lean management are wisely used by a firm.