Chapter 1Introduction to Lean and Continuous Improvement
Scholars can go back centuries identifying innovations in production capacity. Advances made in the 1700s to improve craft production continued throughout the 1800s.1 Early in the 20th century, the Ford assembly line ushered in an era of mass production. The methodology of smooth flow and standard work brought consumer products to an expanding market. However, the new methods were not without problems. There was an apparent trade-off of quality to achieve volume. Rather than accept the trade-off as necessary, statisticians and industrial engineers developed theories of quality management and designed strategies to address these challenges.2
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