The Emergence and Development of Lean Thinking in Transport Services

Abstract

The purpose of this work is to study the evolution of lean thinking and optimize the value stream in the transport provision of enterprises. An overview of the creation and development of lean thinking is presented, a historical and genetic research method, methods of comparison, analysis and synthesis are implemented, and a mathematical model of the optimization criterion for implementing lean transportation is proposed. It is established that the creation of lean thinking should be associated with the development of scientific management methods, which were implemented in Ford Motor Company. Adapting the principles of the American automobile industry to the specifics of enterprises in Japan in the late 1940s allowed Toyota to create a production system. It was significantly different from the American experience, although it was based on it. The peculiarity of technological processes of Japanese enterprises provided high efficiency. When describing the Japanese experience, American researchers in the late 1980s used the term lean. Under this name, experts from the United States have studied and popularized the achievements of Japanese managers. Analysis of the value stream has shown the difference between this concept and the concepts of the value chain and use value. The analysis of the value stream has a separate specificity when considering the transport support of the company’s activities. For these purposes, an optimization criterion is proposed that requires coordinated management of cargo flows and reserves.