At an initiation banquet for new members of your business club, you are talking with two college students who are majoring in marketing. In discussing the accounting course they are taking, they mention that they are having difficulty understanding lean operations. They have read that the elements of a company’s operating system support the concepts of simplicity, continuous improvement, waste reduction, timeliness, and efficiency. They realize that to understand lean thinking in a complex manufacturing environment, they must first understand lean operations in a simpler service context. They ask you to explain the lean operating philosophy and provide an example.
Briefly explain lean operations. Apply the elements of a JIT operating system to the restaurant where the banquet is being held. Do you believe a lean operating philosophy applies in all restaurant operations? Explain your answer.