Lean production theory, as a production management tool, describes a system that delivers a finished product free from defects, to a customer in zero time, and with nothing left in inventory. Recently, the concepts of lean production have been introduced to construction yet have generally been rejected. Lean construction concepts were recently tested in a simulation environment and were found t...

As health care organizations face pressures to improve quality and efficiency while reducing costs, leaders are adopting management techniques and tools used in manufacturing and other industries, especially Lean. Successful Lean leaders appear to use a coaching leadership style that shares underlying principles with servant leadership. There is little information about specific similarities an...

There is considerable dissatisfaction with the performance of UK housebuilders in providing products which customers want to buy. Notions of ‘customer focus’, which have spread through some industrial and retail sectors have largely passed the housebuilding industry by. In its current guise, the industry is unlikely to be able to tackle the demographic and social demands which will be placed on...

The outcome of improvement programmes such as Lean Manufacturing or Six Sigma is only partially determined by the success or failure of its individual projects. Also of significance is how well the programme and its projects are projects on their individual merits, rather than with proper reference to their contribution to business strategy. In this manner, it is therefore possible to build por...

The purpose of this paper is to describe how an established business improvement approach, such as Lean Six Sigma, can have both a positive and negative impact on the environment. Further, that by understanding this impact such an approach can be used to better effect by organisations from any business sector. As, many thousands of companies globally already use Lean Six Sigma as part of their ...

This article compares the techniques developed for lean construction with those developed for lean manufacturing. Lean manufacturing and lean construction techniques share many common elements despite the obvious differences in their assembly environments and processes. Manufacturing plants and construction sites are different in many ways that might explain why lean production theories and pra...

BACKGROUND The demand for cataract surgery is rising, calling for pathways that have good access and are cost-effective. Lean thinking is a management strategy, aimed at improving quality while reducing costs. Lean production processes are designed to identify gaps between expected and actual performance. AIM To analyse the efficacy and efficiency of a lean cataract pathway. METHODS Lean ca...

In an effort to improve operational efficiency, healthcare services around the world have adopted process improvement methodologies from the manufacturing sector, such as Lean Production. In this paper we report on four multi-level case studies of the implementation of Lean in the English NHS. Our results show that this generally involves the application of specific Lean ‘tools’, such as ‘kaize...

In an effort to improve operational efficiency, healthcare services around the world have adopted process improvement methodologies from the manufacturing sector, such as Lean Production. In this paper we report on four multi-level case studies of the implementation of Lean in the English NHS. Our results show that this generally involves the application of specific Lean ‘tools’, such as ‘kaize...

Pork producers have the goal to efficiently produce lean, quality pork to compete with alternative animal products. The implementation of lean value carcass pricing systems has led to the selection of pigs with increased lean growth rates, increased carcass lean percentages, and improved lean feed conversion. Health, nutrition, and facility management strategies have been implemented to increas...