History of Lean Manufacturing

In order to improve their position in the global market and have an extra edge over the products of the other Industrial countries, American Industrialists recognized the importance of lean manufacturing. In 1911, Henry Towne, the then president of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, first spoke about it in his foreword of the book "Shop Management" by Frederick Winslow Taylor. However, he did not use the word "lean manufacturing" in the way it is used today but certainly meant and intended to use it the way it is implemented at present.

It was Henry Ford who finally developed and implemented the lean manufacturing system through his keen observations of the factors affecting productivity and profit levels, including the ways in which they can be improved and resolved. The whole idea of ​​lean manufacturing and its importance and effectiveness can be summed up in the words of Henry Ford when he speaks about waste in "My Life and Work", "I believe that the average farmer puts to a really useful purpose only about 5 % of the energy he expends- Not only is everything done by hand, but seldom is a given given a logical arrangement. of putting in a few lengths of pipe? "

Henry Ford initiated the "Design for Manufacture" concept. According to him, a manufacturer should study what all is absolutely relevant for any product and eliminate the useless part completely. This concept applies to any object, which is on its way to the shop floor, irrespective of its size and value. Whether a shoe or an airplane, the concept works in the same way. Ever since the concept, also called the assembly line, has been implemented, the focus of the Industrialists has changed to produce maximum results with least possible inventory.

Levinson is of the view that it is Ford's concept and its implementation that historically made America the richest Industrial power in the world. Ford's production chief, Charles Sorenson, said that the victory of the Second World War was rooted long back in the birth of the Ford Motor Company in 1908. Subsequently, Taiichi Onho adopted Ford's idea of ​​lean manufacturing system known as the Toyota Production System.