LEAN MANUFACTURING – INNOVATION FOR 21st CENTURY

Abstract

Unpredictable, unstable and highly competitive conditions of today’s business have brought significant changes to the global market scene, imposing upon all participants a new ''customer in focus" business philosophy. In these respective conditions, the traditional ways of doing business, centered on mass production, cannot secure an adequate market position. On the other hand, lean manufacturing, as a quick, innovative, inexpensive, flexible and computer-integrated model, almost entirely based on the application of JIT concept, represents something like a ''recipe for success''. More precisely, by identifying and eliminating unnecessary and wasteful activities inside the business process and by focusing attention exclusively on what, from the customer’s standpoint appears to create value, lean production system makes it possible to achieve maximum quality of production processes in order to establish and maintain balance between good and timely services to customers and service providers’ profitability in the modern business environment.