Customer Focus

A lean manufacturing enterprise thinks more about the value to its customers than it does about running machines fast to absorb labor and overhead. This ensures that the customer's interests are always at the forefront of waste reduction, planning and scheduling. Accepting customer input and feedback assures quality and customer satisfaction.

Perfection
The concept of perfection in lean production means that there are endless opportunities for improving the utilization of all types of assets. The systematic elimination of waste will reduce the costs of operating the extended enterprise and fulfills customer's desire for maximum value at the lowest price. While perfection may never be achieved, its pursuit is a goal worth striving for because it helps maintain constant vigilance against wasteful practices.

Value
In lean production, the value of a product is defined solely by the customer. The product must meet the customer's needs at both a specific time and price. The thousands of mundane and sophisticated things that manufacturers do to deliver a product are generally of little interest to customers. Identifying the value in lean production means to understand all the activities required to produce a specific product, and then to optimize the whole process from the view of the customer. This viewpoint is critically important because it helps identify activities that clearly add value, activities that add no value but cannot be avoided, and activities that add no value and can be avoided.

Focus on Waste
The aim of Lean Manufacturing is the elimination of waste in every functional area including product design, supplier networks, and factory management. Its goal is to incorporate less human effort, less inventory, less time to develop products, and less space to become highly responsive to customer demand while producing top quality products in the most efficient and economical manner possible.