Lean Thinking: Banish Waste and Create Wealth in Your Corporation by James P. Womack

PART I
LEAN PRINCIPLES

INTRODUCTION
Lean Thinking versus Muda
Muda. It’s the one word of Japanese you really must know. It sounds awful
as it rolls off your tongue and it should, because muda means “waste,”
specifically any human activity which absorbs resources but creates no
value: mistakes which require rectification, production of items no one
wants so that inventories and remaindered goods pile up, processing steps
which aren’t actually needed, movement of employees and transport of
goods from one place to another without any purpose, groups of people in a
downstream activity standing around waiting because an upstream activity
has not delivered on time, and goods and services which don’t meet the
needs of the customer.
Taiichi Ohno (1912–1990), the Toyota executive who was the most
ferocious foe of waste human history has produced, identified the first
seven types of muda described above and we’ve added the final one. 
Perhaps there are even more. But however many varieties of muda there
may be, it’s hard to dispute—from even the most casual observation of what
gets done in an average day in the average organization—that muda is
everywhere. What’s more, as you learn to see muda in the pages ahead, you
will discover that there is even more around than you ever dreamed.
Fortunately, there is a powerful antidote to muda: lean thinking. It
provides a way to specify value, line up value-creating actions in the best
sequence, conduct these activities without interruption whenever someone
requests them, and perform them more and more effectively. In short, lean
thinking is lean because it provides a way to do more and more with less
and less—less human effort, less equipment, less time, and less space—
while coming closer and closer to providing customers with exactly what
they want.
Lean thinking also provides a way to make work more satisfying by
providing immediate feedback on efforts to convert muda into value. And,
in striking contrast with the recent craze for process reengineering, it
provides a way to create new work rather than simply destroying jobs in the
name of efficiency .

Lean Thinking: Banish Waste and Create Wealth in Your Corporation by James P. Womack