What service providers can learn from Toyota and others

When you hear the word “lean,” you may think of startup buzzwords, agile workshops with colorful post-its, or lean business models. But lean thinking comes from a completely different environment – and that's exactly why it works so well.

Japan, 1940s. Shortages of materials, unstable supply chains, pressure from all sides. At Toyota, a new form of production is emerging. Under the direction of Taiichi Ohno, the “Toyota Production System” is created – a revolutionary idea: no longer working faster, but working smarter. No more blind production. Instead: processes that flow. Teams that take responsibility. Quality that is built in – not checked afterwards.

These ideas spread from Toyota to the whole world. And they formed the basis for what we call “lean thinking” today.

Deming, Kaizen and the rest of the world

Another name to remember: W. Edwards Deming. An American statistician who went to Japan after the war and helped to rethink quality management there. His basic conviction: If you want to get better, you have to measure, understand and continuously improve.

This philosophy, called Kaizen, quickly became the centerpiece of the lean movement.

In the following decades, the ideas spilled back into the West. Companies like Ford and General Electric adopted lean. Then came “Lean Startup,” “Six Sigma,” and “Agile Development.” And suddenly lean was everywhere. Sometimes, unfortunately, only as a label.

Because lean is not a quick-fix cosmetic. It is a school of thought. A system. And: a rather uncomfortable truth.

Lean is not hip – but it works

Lean Thinking means: you question everything. You measure. You sort out. You standardize. You accept that good work also requires discipline. Not a product of chance, but the result of systematic improvement.

For digital service providers, this is worth its weight in gold. Because if you want to build your own product, you have to create space – space that only comes about when the service runs efficiently. And that is the real magic of lean: you do less, not more. But the right things.

Lean thinking is the DNA of Leadtime. Instead of just providing theory, the system gives you concrete tools: tickets, time tracking, process standardization, analysis. So that your company is not based on Post-its – but on a real system that works.