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Home→The Westburn Dictionary of Marketing→L→lean thinking

lean thinking

Definition:
An approach to operations and manufacturing management popularized by the work Womack and his collaborators based upon Japanese practices particularly in the automobile industry. The lean thinking model may be summarized in five key principles:
1. The definition of VALUE from the perspective of the customer.
2. The identification of valuestreams for each product and the elimination of muda (waste) in the entire supply chain.
3. Organizing value creating activities around FLOW father that 'batch and queue, approaches.
4. Responding to the pull of product through the supply chain by customers to eliminate stocks.
5. The pursuit of perfection.
Firms applying these principles may be thought of as 'lean enterprises'.

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© Westburn Publishers Ltd 2002, The Westburn Dictionary of Marketing edited by Michael J Baker, ISBN 978-0-946433-01-8. www.themarketingdictionary.com. Entry: [Michael J. Baker],.