Lean Enterprises – A Systems Perspective

Abstract

Becoming a “Lean Enterprise” is increasingly being recognized as an important strategy in achieving critical strategic goals such as responsiveness, cycle time and cost across all phases of the product life cycle. The concept of a lean enterprise is not new. Many books address lean enterprise topics. For example, The Machine That Changed the World, the book that introduced lean terminology, has a chapter on “Managing Lean Enterprises”. Despite having much written on this subject, lean enterprises are only starting to emerge in practice. Why has it taken so long to transform organizations to lean enterprises? Lean enterprises are complex, highly integrated systems comprised of processes, products, organizations, and information, with multifaceted interdependencies and interrelationships across their boundaries. Understanding, engineering, and managing these complex social, technical, and infrastructure processes are critical to becoming a lean enterprise.