Farzad R. Sanati - Department of Industrial Engineering, Iran University of Science & Technology,
S. Mohammad Seyedhosseini - Department of Industrial Engineering, Iran University of Science & Technology,

At the last decade of the 20th century, Womack et. al introduced lean concept to the industrial world. Since 1990 up to now, existed studies mostly have focused on lean production conception manufacturing process, but in this research leanness concept has developed in the plant life cycle. In this paper leanness concept will be described as elimination of wastes in the phases of investment, plant design & construction(hardware) and organization together with systems design (as software. These steps were added to eliminate the previously described seven wastes in production step. For this purpose at first, the types of wastes in the above mentioned phases were defined by using Axiomatic Design Methodology (ADM). After defining the types of wastes, a model for assessment of leanness is submitted. In this quantitative model, the amounts of leanness in each phase were determined and combined to make a unique measure for total leanness. Dimensions of leanness were presented for quick understanding, by using a spider diagram. In the last section of the paper, the results of an example for the application of this model in fan industry were given. This example shows the simplicity and strength of the model to determine the leanness before production phases. © 2008 Authors all rights reserved.

Leanness, Plant Life Cycle, Assessment, Lean Investment, Lean Manufacturing