Lean Manufacturing: A TED Talk Exploring the Possibilities

We want to explore Lean manufacturing with a TED Talk.  This presentation is by Bill Peterson, a Lean best practices teacher and consultant, with over 30 years of hands-on experience using Lean, Six Sigma and other continuous improvement tools. Bill began developing his approach to Lean methodology during a 26-year career with Delta’s Technical Operations Division. Bill holds an MBA in Lean Aerospace from the University of Tennessee, a BS in Professional Aeronautics from Embry-Riddle, Six Sigma Black Belt certification, and FAA Airframe and Power Plant Licenses.

Exploring Lean Manufacturing

Lean manufacturing or Lean production, often simply “Lean,” is a systematic method for the elimination of waste within a manufacturing system. Lean also takes into account waste created through overburden and waste created through unevenness in workloads. Working from the perspective of the client who consumes a product or service, “value” is any action or process that a customer would be willing to pay for.

Essentially, Lean is centered on making obvious what adds value by reducing everything else. Lean manufacturing is a management philosophy derived mostly from the Toyota Production System (TPS) and identified as “Lean” only in the 1990s. TPS is renowned for its focus on reduction of the original Toyota seven wastes to improve overall customer value, but there are varying perspectives on how this is best achieved. The steady growth of Toyota, from a small company to the world’s largest automaker, has focused attention on how it has achieved this success.

Enjoy this amazing TED Talk!