An Introduction to Lean Work Design

Abstract

Lean Work Design—comes directly from our view that lean operations results from the work design. This book uses three existing work design theories to study lean operations and to identify the principles of lean operations. First, systems theory is used to conceptualize how lean operations differ from other work designs. Second, buffer theory, which views lean as a set of buffers to protect throughput from variance, is used to more effectively manage buffers. Third, organizational information processing theory is used to understand how the lean work design processes different types of information. So, lean work design is a work design that maximizes system productivity and effectiveness while minimizing the system’s buffer costs. Lean ...