Moving-on — beyond lean thinking

Lean Thinking is current ly of t en posit ioned as t he underlying t heory of lean product ion among pract it ioners and academics, al t hough it s originat ors, Womack and Jones, seem not t o have present ed it as a t heory. This paper endeavours t o analyze whet her Lean Thinking can be viewed as a t heory of lean product ion. For t his purpose, a crit ical assessment of Lean Thinking is carried out . Lean Thinking is argued t o lack an adequat e concept ual izat ion of product ion, which has led t o imprecise concept s, such as t he t erm “ value” . The f ive principles of Lean Thinking do not syst emat ical ly cover value generat ion, and t hey do not always encapsulat e t he core t opics in t heir respect ive areas. The fai lure t o t race t he origin of lean concept s and principles reduces t he opport unit y t o j ust if y and explain t hem. Despit e claims for general it y, t he appl icat ion area of t he f ive lean principles is l imit ed t o t he t ransformat ion of mass product ion, wit h, for inst ance, one-of -a-kind product ion and const ruct ion being largely out of scope. It is concluded t hat it is opport une t o move on beyond Lean Thinking, t owards a generic t heory of product ion, for acquiring a sol id foundat ion for designing, operat ing and improving product ion syst ems.