Lean production Before understanding the system and its philosophy, it is important to know how this approach emerged and what stages it has gone through to become what it is today. Let's take a look at the historical journey of this system, which took more than 50 years to develop and has become a common idea in many sectors today.
1st Industrial Revolution (late 18th century - 19th century)
The first major transformation began with the Industrial Revolution, which saw a shift from manual labor to mechanized production. Although productivity increased significantly during this period, production systems were still far from flexible. Machines were at the center of production, but diversity and customer expectations were ignored.
2. Fordism and Mass Production (1910s - 1930s)
In the 1910s, Henry Ford pioneered mass production by developing the moving assembly line. Thanks to Ford's system, low-cost and standardized products could be produced in large volumes. However, this system had an inflexible structure that could not respond to customer diversity.
3. Taylorism - Scientific Management (1911)
Frederick Taylor tried to increase productivity through division of labor and time study. In this approach, known as Taylorism, employees specialized by doing the same job over and over again, while motivation and engagement in the workplace remained low. The human factor was not sufficiently taken into account.
4. World War II and After (1940-1950s)
Large-scale production techniques developed in the US during the war period. However, post-war Japan had to follow a different path due to a severe lack of resources. Ways to produce more with fewer resources were sought and a new production model was needed.
5. The Birth of the Toyota Production System (1950s-1970s)
During this period, Toyota in Japan, under the leadership of Taiichi Ohno and Eiji Toyoda, developed a revolutionary system. This system:
- Eliminating waste (Muda)
- Continuous improvement (Kaizen)
- Customer orientation
was founded on its principles.
In the 1950s, Taiichi Ohno traveled to America to study Ford's production line. However, when he could not find an answer to his needs here, he was inspired by the demand-driven system in supermarkets. In particular Just in Time (Just in Time Production) principle, which advocated that everything in production be done just in time and as needed. This approach greatly increased Toyota's productivity and lean production system was laid.
6. Emergence of the Concept of 'Lean Production' (1990)
In the 1980s, Toyota joined forces with General Motors in California to move closer to the American market. NUMMI and established a joint factory. This factory was not only a manufacturing plant, but also the first application of the Japanese manufacturing philosophy in the United States. NUMMI provided American workers lean production a school of learning.
In 1990, a study by MIT "The Machine That Changed the World" analyzed Toyota's production system in detail, and for the first time "Lean Production" as the one he named.
7. Global Diffusion (1990s to the Present)
Lean productionThis approach, which originated in Japan, has become a management culture all over the world thanks to its successful examples in the US and Europe. This approach, which originated in Japan, has become a management culture all over the world thanks to its successful examples in America and Europe.
Lean productionThe historical development of the system makes it clear why and how this system came into being. Thanks to this deep-rooted history lean production approach stands out as a powerful tool in providing businesses with sustainable efficiency and continuous improvement.
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