The concept of lean production arose from the study of Japanese manufacturing techniques, particularly in the automobile industry (Womack, Jones, and Roos 1990). Lean production relates to a number of practices touching on almost every aspect of a firm's operations. At its core are practices that relate to technical and human capabilities and to work place management (MacDuffie 1995). A chief issue is the management of inventory and rework "buffers," and the reduction of these buffers gives rise to the "lean production" name (Womack, Jones, and Roos 1990).