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Henry Ford
Henry Ford introduces the moving assembly line at Ford Motor Company's Highland Park factory, ushering in mass production and laying the foundation for lean manufacturing -
Toyota
Toyota begins its implementation of the Toyota Production System (TPS), known as Just-in-Time (JIT), developed by Taiichi Ohno and Eiji Toyoda. This system becomes the model for lean manufacturing -
Kaizen
Toyota engineers Taiichi Ohno and Shigeo Shingo refine and develop the principles of TPS, including the concept of eliminating waste (muda) and continuous improvement (Kaizen). -
lean manufacturing in the west
Business Week magazine publishes an article on Toyota's success, popularizing the term "lean manufacturing" in the West -
The machine that changed the world
The publication of the book "The Machine that Changed the World" by James P. Womack, Daniel T. Jones and Daniel Roos formally introduces the concept of lean manufacturing to Western audiences and highlights Toyota's achievements