What does lean management primarily focus on?

Lean management primarily focuses on minimizing waste while maximizing productivity. This management philosophy seeks to create more value for customers with fewer resources by systematically eliminating waste in all forms. Waste can include anything that does not add value to the final product or service, such as excess inventory, unnecessary motion, defects, overproduction, and waiting times.

The essence of lean management is to streamline processes, improve efficiency, and enhance quality, thus allowing organizations to provide better products or services to their customers while optimizing resource use. By focusing on both minimizing waste and maximizing productivity, businesses can improve their competitiveness and contribute to sustainable growth.

The other options reflect approaches that do not align with the core principle of lean management. For instance, maximizing profits without concern for waste ignores the fundamental goal of improving efficiency and eliminating waste. Increasing inventory to meet demand contradicts lean management’s objective of reducing excess inventory. While reducing employee numbers may seemingly improve efficiency, lean management emphasizes the development and empowerment of employees to foster improvements rather than merely cutting jobs.