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Lean manufacturing is a production philosophy centered on the systematic identification and elimination of waste—defined as any activity that consumes resources but creates no value from the customer's perspective—while simultaneously shortening production lead times and improving the continuous, uninterrupted flow of material ^[1]. The approach is built on two foundational pillars: just-in-time production, in which only the necessary units are produced in the necessary quantities at the necessary time through a pull system signaled by kanban cards, and autonomation, or jidoka, in which equipment and workers automatically stop production when abnormalities or defects occur, preventing the propagation of defects downstream ^[2]. Value is specified from the customer's standpoint, the entire value stream for each product family is mapped to identify non-value-added steps, and value is made to flow continuously without interruptions, waiting, or overproduction, with the customer pulling demand and the organization pursuing continuous incremental improvement, or kaizen, through the participation of all workers ^[3].