How Lean Manufacturing Helps Our Economy

Lean manufacturing plays a major role in our economy and yet it is almost unheard of outside manufacturing. It is important to know lean manufacturing relates to our individual lives and how we can all benefit from this concept. With current slow economic recovery, it is imperative that we find avenues that consumers can get through these difficult times, but also to implement the lessons-learned values into future thinking. The rising cost of goods and the unemployment rate high, lean manufacturing is helping to keep cost low and jobs in America where they belong.

When we think of process manufacturing or the assembly line many credit Henry Ford for this concept. The introduction of continuous process in the late 1890’s was to produce a product from start to finish on an assembly line and the concept was revolutionary; the people didn’t move but the product did. Ford’s financial return from this successful concept meant offering a less expensive product without sacrificing superior quality. Then in the 1940’s Taiichi Ohno, a mechanical engineer for Toyota Corporation located in Japan is credited for the development of the “Toyota Production System”, also known as Lean Manufacturing, delved deeper into Henry Ford’s concept further developed the concept of motion and material flow in the manufacturing process.

This system would further analyze the waste of movement and would take a closer look at reducing or even eliminating excess motion or movement to retrieve tools or product while manufacturing a product. For example, if a person has groceries and needed to get the bags into the house, it is a shorter distance to park in a garage where a person is closer to the door than parking at the street and walk the great distance t...

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...t people back to work and focus again on the American dream and plan our financial security well into retirement age.

Works Cited

A Brief History of Lean Manufacturing. n.d. Paul Swift. 19 March 2012 .

Davidson, Paul. 'Lean' manufacturing helps companies survive recession. Ed. Brent Jones. 3 March 2009. 19 March 2012 .

Eliyahu M. Goldratt, Jeff Cox. The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement. New York: North River Press, 1984.

Rosen, James. "'Lean' Manufacturing Takes Root in U.S." 29 April 2011. FoxNews.com. 19 March 2012 .

Sato, Tomaichi. "Production Management & Planning: Tomoichi Sato." Lean Manufacturing Japan. Warren Harrod. n.d. 2.