Lean Manufacturing is a process by which an organization eliminates waste while meeting its customers’ needs by producing what they want, when they need it.

This applies throughout an organization’s manufacturing processes—to the key growth areas of your business; improving cash flow, increasing efficiency, greater throughput, eliminating set-up steps, reducing inventory, and speeding up delivery.The Lean Manufacturing process focuses on how an organization works. It does not focus on the individuals but how they perform their tasks. It pays close attention to the flow of work as it passes from one hand to the next. The process identifies and eliminates waste, at each point, maximizing the efficiency of the production process to achieve optimal performance.

The “Eight Wastes” that are either reduced or eliminated immediately through implementing Lean Manufacturing principles are:

1. Excess Inventory
2. Waiting
3. Defects
4. Transportation
5. Downtime
6. Overproduction
7. Under utilization
8. Non-Value Added Processing