He was the first to envision the flow of materials from the mining of the iron ore to the completion of a car, and he identified having raw material or finished goods in excess of requirements as waste. How this Lean vision got turned upside down during the 1920's into the Ford mass production system, representing the exact opposite of Lean, will not be chronicled here. Throughout the past 20 years, a variety of buzzwords or phrases have been created, but are conceptually the same as what we are calling Lean manufacturing. When all are viewed from a total systems perspective, these concepts are basically the same with only a difference on area of emphasis. So, don't be confused by this array of words, but rather start on the continuous improvement process represented by all of these terms.
Some people erroneously think the goal of Lean is to fire people and make the survivors work harder.
This misunderstanding and the issue of job security must be addressed prior to initiating any Lean efforts. One of the key characteristics of Lean Manufacturing is that it is a TEAM implementation process, and obviously, no one will get involved in a process if they feel it will eliminate their jobs. As previously mentioned, the core of Lean is about doing things that add value from the customer's perspective. Because of these extremely competitive times, one way jobs will surely be in danger of being lost is by continuing the many wasteful, or non-value adding, practices taking place within our organizations. The companies reaping the benefits of Lean, will be the surviving and successful companies in the future who will be providing employment opportunities.