Many companies have applied Lean Manufacturing to their internal facilities, meeting and often exceeding their financial and operational goals.  Many of these companies have also begun to expand the Lean system outside their own facilities.  They are applying the same Lean principles, tools, and techniques to the entire value stream from the customer to the raw material suppliers and are beginning to realize benefits far beyond their original internal goals.  This application of Lean across the entire value stream is called "Lean Enterprise".

     It is also important to note that, while Lean Manufacturing got its start in the automotive industry and has thrived in discreet parts manufacturing, the Lean Enterprise system is now also being widely applied to many other operations-based business such as airlines, service organizations, hospitals, banks, and many others whose value stream is the critical link to their customers.

For more information on Lean, please choose one of the following pages or click on the links at the top at any time:

A Brief History of Manufacturing

A Short Summary of Lean Manufacturing

Lean Manufacturing and Lean Enterprise Benefits