Lean Improvement: Eliminating Waste and Inventory

In this chapter we will describe how companies have implemented what has come to be known as ‘Lean Manufacturing’, based on study of the Toyota Production System. As we mentioned in Chapter 1, the Toyota Production System evolved during the 1950’s and 1960’s so that by the time of the Oil Crisis in the early 1970’s, Toyota was able to ride out the crisis unlike any other major Japanese manufacturer. Rather than evolving their own systems, many companies and consultants have attempted to construct road-maps to implement a TPS-like system in their own environment. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.