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produces a significant amount of zealotry. So, many experts strongly argue that their
particular “brand” of lean is the one right way to implement and use lean. In these
circumstances, it’s no wonder that managers become confused about where and how
to begin.

Lean Applications
Lean will always be associated with Toyota Motor Corporation because most
lean tools and techniques were developed by Toyota in Japan beginning in the 1950s.
After World War II, Toyota’s leaders were determined to make the company a full-
range car and truck manufacturing enterprise, but they faced several serious
challenges. The Japanese motor vehicle market was small and yet demanded a fairly
wide range of vehicle types. This meant that Toyota needed to find a way to earn a
profit while manufacturing a variety of vehicles in low volumes. In addition, capital
was extremely scarce, which made it impossible for Toyota to make large purchases
of the latest production equipment. To succeed, or even survive, Toyota needed a
way to build vehicles that would require fewer resources. To achieve this goal,
Toyota’s leaders, principally Eiji Toyoda and Taiichi Ohno, began to create and
[3]
implement the production techniques and tools that came to be known as lean.
To gain the most benefits from lean, managers must be able to determine what
specific lean tools and techniques will be effective in their particular business. And to
make that determination, they must clearly understand what lean is designed to
accomplish (its primary objectives) and what core principles lean is based on. With
this understanding, managers can decide which lean tools will work well in their
business, which lean tools will need to be modified or adapted to work well, and
which tools are simply not appropriate.
What, then, are the major objectives and core principles of lean? Despite the
arguments and debates that often surround attempts to define and describe lean, it is
clear that the ultimate objective of lean is the avoidance of muda, or wasteful activity,
in all business operations. As shown in the following figure, muda comprises seven
deadly wastes. In the lean world, waste means any activity or condition that
consumes resources but creates no value for customers. Therefore, waste includes the
production of defective products that must be remade or fixed, the production of
more products than the market will buy, excessive work-in-process inventories,
overprocessing (processing steps that aren’t really needed or that add no value),
unnecessary movement of people or products, and unnecessary waiting by
employees.
Elimination of Waste Is the Soul of Lean
Muda is a Japanese term for activity that is wasteful and doesn’t add value. It is
also a key concept in lean control. Waste reduction is an effective way to increase
profitability. Here are the seven deadly wastes, along with their definitions:
1. Defects prevent the customer from accepting the product produced. The
effort to create these defects is wasted. New waste management processes must be
added in an effort to reclaim some value for the otherwise scrap product.
2. Overproduction is the production or acquisition of items before they are
actually required. It is the most dangerous waste of the company because it hides
the production problems. Overproduction must be stored, managed, and protected.

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