As a part of the Weekly Lean blog series we have learned about What is Lean Manufacturing? in last weeks blog, this week we will learn the how Lean Manufacturing evolved in the industry.   

1950’s – 60’s

Japan’s economy was in bad shape after the World War II. To rebuild the economy, many companies entered Automobile manufacturing and since the technology was not available, Toyota Chairman visited American Car companies to understand the technology. He observed that American way of manufacturing could not be copied to Japan because:

1. American cars were big with large engines (gas guzzlers) at that time which would not suit Japan (as the economy was weak)
2. America was a large country with space and resources, but Japan was a small island and not much resources were available at that period
3. Mass manufacturing with Batch Production at the manufacturing facilities leading to very high WIP and huge warehouses required to maintain the stock – which cannot be done in Japan at that time

So, Toyota wanted to build cars which did not follow the American model of manufacturing. Toyota wanted to develop small, reliable cars which gave more mileage.

1960’s – 70’s

Toyota started their unique way of building cars focusing on:

1. Reducing Work in Progress (WIP) through Just In Time Production (JIT)
2. Running smaller batches by reducing the Change-Over times
3. Faster development cycles of the cars (new models were launched more frequently)
4. Producing Right Quality Products at the First Time (reducing reworks)
5. Producing reliable cars that gives more mileage

1980’s

During the 80’s, Japanese cars had increased their market share in the United States due the above mentioned advantages. The share of the American manufacturers started reducing and it was at this time, the American companies wanted to know, what the Japanese did in their processes to produce better cars and lower cost.

They involved premier institutes and send operations experts to Japan to understand the systems Japanese companies have adopted. These experts realised the Toyota Philosophy of building cars and the various tools they use to achieve the results. This was collectively called as “Toyota Production System”.

1990’s

These experts returned to USA and started preaching the same in the US and the US industry started adopting them with the name “Lean Manufacturing”. During this time period, most of the American manufacturers and also other companies in Japan and outside world has started to understand the philosophy and started adopting Lean.

2000’s

Lean Manufacturing became the tool / method to improve Productivity, Quality and Delivery Performance of all industries. In India, companies in the Automotive Sector (like TVS, Hero Honda and others) have started the lean journey in the early 2000’s and now all medium and large companies have started following Lean Initiatives.

Here we are at the end of the second blog of the Lean Series. Now we have learnt about History of Lean Manufacturing and how it evolved across the globe. It is so important to introduce Lean Manufacturing in your company and where can we use the Lean Philosophy to reduce the wastes and improve productivity, If you want to implement Lean in your company contact us.

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