5 Lean Principles

The 5 Lean principles are:

1. Define value as perceived by the customer
2. Identify the value stream and eliminate waste
3. Make your product or service Flow through the value stream
4. Pull your product or service through the system wherever possible
5. Pursue perfection to constantly eliminate waste (distance, space and time)

These principles can be applied anywhere processes and people come together.

The original concept for Lean was developed at Toyota in the 1950’s and 60’s. Lean was described in the 1991 book The Machine That Changed the World (Womack, Roos and Jones). In 1996, Lean Thinking (Womack and Jones) distilled the 5 Lean principles noted here (with slight enhancement by Kaufman Global).