LeanThinking: creating value reducing waste

It sounds like a slogan, fascinating and almost obvious in its simplicity. It is actually a new way of thinking aimed at increasing a company's flexibility by reengineering the whole value-creation stream, from design to order management.
LEAN THINKING is the result of wide and in-dept analysis of some re-organization processes carried out by several American, European and Japanese companies in order to drastically reduce waste.
LEAN THINKING core concept is not entirely new.  It is rather an evolution of former well known organization models (i.e. Total Quality, Business Process Reengineering, etc.), finely, integrated in a new rational frame. The “lean” concept reminds to the Japanese production systems focused on continuous resources consumption reduction (human resources, invested capital, working space, etc.).
Lean Thinking's cornerstone is represented by a continuous tension toward waste search and its removal, in other words producing more with less resources.
Regular waste removal is possible to be achieved by applying 5 principles which should lead any reengineering / reorganization process effort.

The challenge: pursuing perfection

The quest for perfection is the ultimate challenge for lean companies. When lean techniques begin to be implemented all along the value chain, it becomes evident that the process designed to reduce effort, time, space, costs and errors is an endless one.
Perfection should be thought of as a Holy Grail which, though unattainable, must be the constant point of reference, stimulating and maintaining a constant process of improvement.

The rethinking of company processes after the "lean way"  allows to achieve astonishing results: