What industries or types of companies benefit most from Lean?

Last updated by Jeff Hajek on October 1, 2021

Lean is often thought of as being specifically for manufacturing. There is some truth to this if you think of Lean as a set of tools. Many of the tools are geared towards manufacturing. Kanban cards, SMED (Single Minute Exchange of Dies), 5S, Standard Work, and takt time are all tools that do work best when there is a high volume, low variation product line.

But Lean is more than just a set of tools. It is a philosophy and set of principles that can be organized into a business management system. The power of Toyota’s application of Lean lies not in how well they apply tools, but in the fact that they have developed a management system and culture that the tools work well within.

So, the real answer is that when Lean is viewed as a continuous improvement philosophy, it can benefit pretty much any company. Now, because Lean tools evolved on the shop floor, it is true that a manufacturing organization will likely benefit more than, say, a restaurant chain would.

But that restaurant chain is not competing with Toyota. They are competing with other restaurants, so a strong culture of leadership and problem solving, and value creation and customer focus will give them a relative advantage over other restaurant chains.

So, the short answer is that Lean can help any company compete better within its sector.