The term ‘lean’ is becoming more prevalent in many industries but it is used in several senses. The
word is sometimes used to describe an organisation that has been cut to the bone and is surviving
with the minimum possible staff or resources, or less than the minimum - ‘lean and mean’.
However, that is not the sentiment or meaning behind Lean as used in ‘Lean Thinking’, the term
coined by Dan Jones and James Womack to describe an exceptionally focused, efficient, agile and
successful organisation.