The term “Lean Production” was first introduced in the
book “The machine that changed the World” in 1990. Since
then, many enterprises applied lean production to improve
the productivity and competitiveness against the global
competition and economy decline over the past decades.
Derived from Toyota Production System, lean production
enables production system and warehouse to integrate different
tools to eliminate waste and create value, leading to
the improvement in quality and the reduction of cost, lead
time, inventory, and equipment downtime.
Radiofrequency identification (RFID) uses radio waves
to exchange data between a reader and electronic tags attached
on objects. The data on the tags can be read and
written to facilitate the identification and tracking of the
objects. Promoted by the U.S. Department of Defense and
the world’s largest retailer Wal-Mart, RFID has become an
effective way to track the goods throughout the supply chain
and one of the most promising new technologies influencing
the operations in production, warehousing, and distribution
sectors in recent years.