What is Lean?

A Lean Environment is defined to have the following five attributes:

• focus on product value - a keen focus on product value to the consumer and identifying value added activities thereby exposing non-value added activities
  
  
• elimination of waste - activities that utilize resources but do not create value must be eliminated
  
  
• continuous improvement and standardization - ongoing tenacity towards perfection and elimination of process variation in all aspects of the company utilizing such tools as Total Quality Management, Six Sigma,World Class, Kaizen, Poka- Yoke, ISO 9000, etc.
  
  
• driven by customer need - all activities are driven by customer needs without artificial boundaries (minimum re-order points, quality control checks, clerical data entry and management approval procedures) put into place:
  i. pull - information and material is pulled based on customer demand
  ii. flow - sequencing of events, removing departmentalized boundaries
  
  
• culture of change - the development of a culture which embraces continuous change with “can do” attitudes is the most important aspect of the Lean Environment
  
  

A lean environment is not an inventory control methodology or a special manufacturing method - it is a culture that embraces the above five attributes that must be used in the office as well as the shop floor.