A unique linked-cell manufacturing system. Initiated in the 1960s by the Toyota Motor Company, it is also known as the Toyota Production System (TPS), the Just-in-Time/Total Quality Control (JIT/TQC) system, or World Class Manufacturing (WCM) system. In 1990, it was given a name that would become universal, “lean production.”

This term was coined by John Krafcik, an engineer working in the International Motor Vehicle program at MIT with J. P. Womack, D. Roos, and D. T. Jones, who observed that this new system used less of the key resources needed to make goods. What is different about the system is its use of manufacturing cells linked together with a functionally integrated system for inventory and production control. The result is low cost (high efficiency), superior quality, and on-time delivery of unique products from a flexible system.