Lean manufacturing, often simply referred to as “Lean,” is a production philosophy and methodology that aims to maximize value while minimizing waste in manufacturing processes. Rooted in the principles of efficiency, quality, and continuous improvement, Lean has transformed industries by optimizing operations, reducing costs, and enhancing customer satisfaction. Here are Best Lean Manufacturing Quotes.
The cornerstone of Lean is the recognition that only activities that add value to the end product or service are worth pursuing. Identifying and understanding customer needs lay the foundation for the entire Lean process.
Value stream mapping involves visualizing the entire flow of a process, from raw material to end product. This mapping facilitates waste reduction opportunities. Once wasteful activities are identified, Lean focuses on creating smooth, continuous flow within processes, eliminating bottlenecks, redundancies, and delays. Implementing a pull-based system ensures that work is only initiated when a downstream process signals the need for it, preventing overproduction and reducing excess inventory. The pursuit of perfection is rooted in iterative cycles of improvement, using techniques like Kaizen, where incremental changes are made regularly to enhance processes.
31 Best Lean Manufacturing Quotes
There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.
Peter F. Drucker
Scrap doesn’t come for free, we pay someone to make it.
W. Edwards Deming
The great differentiator in business is when an organization steps out and creates value from something never tried before.
Kerry Baskins
The most dangerous kind of waste is the waste we do not recognize.
Shigeo Shingo
The Toyota style is not to create results by working hard. It is a system that says there is no limit to people’s creativity. People don’t go to Toyota to ‘work’ they go there to ‘think’.
Taiichi Ohno
We have become a white-collar workforce, and automation has become a necessity.
Randy Breaux
A bad system will beat a good person every time.
W. Edwards Deming
Costs do not exist to be calculated. Costs exist to be reduced.
Taiichi Ohno
Leader’s Tip:
Empower Frontline Workers: Engage employees in problem-solving, leveraging their expertise to streamline processes and enhance productivity.
I don’t spend my time pontificating about high-concept things; I spend my time solving engineering and manufacturing problems.
Elon Musk
Perfection is not attainable. But if we chase perfection, we can catch excellence.
Vince Lombardi
Automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency.
Bill Gates
Time waste differs from material waste in that there can be no salvage. The easiest of all wastes and the hardest to correct is the waste of time, because wasted time does not litter the floor like wasted material.
Henry Ford
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Manufacturers are wise to embrace lean manufacturing.
Robert Niemiec
Improvement usually means doing something that we have never done before.
Shigeo Shingo
Sometimes when you innovate you make mistakes. It is best to admit them quickly and get on with improving your other innovations.
Steve Jobs
If you need a new process and don’t install it, you pay for it without getting it.
Ken Stork
All we are doing is looking at the time line, from the moment the customer gives us an order to the point when we collect the cash. And we are reducing the time line by reducing the non-value adding wastes.
Taiichi Ohno
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Unlike the objective of far too many companies, manufacturing is not about a quick ‘exit.’ It is centered on long-term value creation.
Hamdi Ulukaya
The more we retain our people, the less time we need to commit to recruiting new people.
Christine Thatcher
There are many experts on how things have been done up to now. If you think something could use a little improvement, you are the expert.
Robert Breault
If everybody else seems to be doing it one way, there might be more opportunity the other way.
Andrew Scheuermann
Don’t spend a lot of time on trying to cobble together a fully-integrated solution if the systems aren’t designed to play well together.
Chris Kuntz
Time waste differs from material waste in that there can be no salvage.
Henry Ford
As equipment and machines are becoming more and more complex, we are asking workers to keep track of more and more data. We believe AR is the way to help workers keep up with the complexity of manufacturing operations.
J.P. Provencher
When solving problems, dig at the roots instead of just hacking at the leaves.
Anthony J. D’Angelo
We have to grasp not only the Know-How but also ‘Know Why’, if we want to master the Toyota Production System.
Shigeo Shingo
Investing millions of dollars in a commercial-sized system that doesn’t work is ultimately expensive. Pilot plants are an excellent risk-mitigation strategy for process scale-up at a fraction of the investment.
John Schott P.E.
If you define the problem correctly, you almost have the solution.
Steve Jobs
You can’t do kaizen just once or twice and expect immediate results. You have to be in it for the long haul.
Masaaki Imai
Leader’s Tip:
Empower Frontline Workers: Engage employees in problem-solving, leveraging their expertise to streamline processes and enhance productivity.
Additive manufacturing is not just looking at the value propositions like assembly, cost, and cycle. Now we can look at actually improving performance. When people hear 3D printing, I wonder if they realize how it’s being used today. It seems very futuristic. Additive manufacturing is fundamentally changing what we can do. It’s not 10 years away. It’s here.
Ryan Hooley
If you always do what you always did, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.
Henry Ford
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is the goal of Lean?
The goal is to maximize customer value while minimizing waste in processes, thereby enhancing efficiency and quality.
How does Lean differ from traditional methods?
Lean emphasizes waste reduction, customer-centricity, and iterative improvement, contrasting with traditional batch-based and siloed approaches.
Key Takeaways
- Waste Reduction: Identify and eliminate non-value-added activities to reduce costs and enhance overall efficiency.
- Value Stream Mapping: Visualize processes, identify bottlenecks, and optimize workflow to enhance customer value delivery.
- Kaizen Philosophy: Cultivate a mindset of constant improvement, involving all employees in refining processes for enhanced competitiveness.