This is a mash-up of four concepts, so the best place to start is the beginning.
In Japan, just after World War II when the Lean concept first started, Toyota founder Kiichiro Toyoda saw that the manufacturing process created by Ford was deeply flawed and unable to meet changing customer requirements or worker needs. Toyota then developed Lean based on the following principles:
Specify the value desired by the customer. Identify the value stream for each product providing that value and challenge all of the wasted steps (generally nine out of ten) currently necessary to provide it. Make the product flow continuously through the remaining value-added steps. Introduce pull between all steps where continuous flow is possible. Manage toward perfection so that the number of steps and the amount of time and information needed to serve the customer continually falls.
Image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/jurvetson/21470089/sizes/l/
