There are so many very common misconceptions about what lean manufacturing actually is that it has seemed necessary to list them and give relevant explanations. First off let us start with the most popular one.
This is a very common misconception. People hear the word “lean” and the thing that comes to mind is meat. This is not that unsurprising really as we have all seen the packets that tell us we are buying “Lean minced beef” or “lean lamb”. With regards to meat this usually means that it is a higher concentration of meet as opposed to offal and it is of better quality that standard meat. So lean manufacturing is nothing to do with the production of meat!
It is nothing to do with muscle
You don’t usually have to look very hard to see adverts telling us to get more lean muscle and get fit and healthy. This is why when some people hear the phrase Lean manufacturing they think that it may be something to do with developing muscle. Lean muscle is just non fatty and well developed and looked after muscle that is gained by healthy eating and plenty of exercise. Is has nothing at all to do with lean manufacturing.
So what actually is lean manufacturing?
Lean manufacturing is a process that has to do with eliminating waste. It encourages the preservation of a product or services actual quality but with less work needing to be put in to it. The process seeks to “optimise the flow” of production and manufacturing and to therefore make it as efficient as possible. You can see that there is common theme that threads through each of the points we listed and that theme is quality. Lean meat is higher quality with less fat, lean muscle is exactly the same and lean manufacturing is higher quality and less waste. It is easy to see how these things could be mixed up.
Lean manufacturing is also a very niche term that only manufacturers, those in production or companies that supply lean services may know about so people can easily be excused for not immediately knowing what it is.
For more information see lean manufacturing
