Purpose and benefits

Lean production is the generic version of the Toyota Production System. It has a long history, beginning in the United States before being fully developed by Toyota.
It is based on managing the product value stream from raw material to end customer, rather than focusing on managing separate assets and firms.
The objective is to eliminate waste through reconfiguring operations into continuous flow cells linked by levelled pull systems.
The gains are defect-free products, on-time delivery, big reductions in inventories, and freed-up people, machine time, and space.