The ideas behind what is now termed lean thinking were originally developed in Toyota's manufacturing operations - known as the Toyota Production System - and spread through its supply base in the 1970's, and its distribution and sales operations in the 1980's. The term was popularized in the seminal book The Machine that Changed the World (Womack, Jones & Roos, 1990), which clearly illustrated - for the first time - the significant performance gap between the Japanese and western automotive industries. It described the key elements accounting for this superior performance as lean production - 'lean' because Japanese business methods used less of everything - human effort, capital investment, facilities, inventories and time - in manufacturing, product development, parts supply and customer relations.

Osage Industries considers itself a leader in the attempt to apply lean manufacturing techniques to small manufacturing firms. Osage is committed to implementing lean techniques in all of its partner companies with the intention of: shrinking lead time to customers, improving productivity by reducing waste of materials and labor, and improving product quality. Each year, Osage hosts a seminar for its partner companies on lean techniques which enables everyone from management to production line employees to improve their respective operations. In addition, the gathering allows employees of different companies to share best practices from their work environments. Below are a series of links to various entities in the lean community:

Lean Manufacturing Institute
Lean Enterprise Europe
Lean Enterprise Research Centre
Japan Technology Management Program
University of Kentucky Lean Manufacturing Program
Shingo Prize
Association for Manufacturing Excellence
Lean Construction Institute
International Car Distribution Programme
National Association of Manufacturers