Lean Manufacturing Lean production is often seen as a panacea for all levels of production complexity, from the relatively simple assemble-to-stock to the very complex engineering-to-order workflows. The greater percentage of a given product that is specifically tailored to a customers' unique requirements, the higher the level of greater the contribution of lean manufacturing to overall cost reduction (Hallgren, Olhager, 2009). It has often been said in research that the universality of the lean production concept is a chimera and enterprises must make choices as to the best possible production system for their specific strategic business requirements (Cooney, 2002). This is true with the caveat that the greater the level of customization of a given product and the need to ensure a high level of agility in the sourcing, supply chain and production process, the greater the need for a uniquely defined lean manufacturing system (Shetty, Ali, Cummings, 2010).

Analysis of Lean Manufacturing Strategies

In fact all manufacturing-based...

He also states that firms' managements must continue to make choices with regard to strategic approaches to fulfilling customer demand first, not just adopting a production standard for the sake of its apparent value. One industry where this is prevalent is high tech electronics, where there is a high degree of commoditization across the entire industry at the mass component level (Doolen, Nagarajan, Hacker, 2002). Arguably lean production is not needed in specific sectors of this industry as there is a lack of overall customer variation in demand, thereby ensuring the overall production flows stay highly uniform or commoditized. This was exactly the made-to-stock model of the auto industry in the replacement parts market in addition to standard components, where long-range forecasts provided enough insights into customer demand (Chen, Lindeke, Wyrick, 2010).…