The term "Lean", in a manufacturing industry describes a principle that integrates a collection of techniques and techniques into business processes to improve time, productivity, human resources, and assets while enhancing the quality of products and services to consumers (Chiarini & Vagnoni, 2014) . The term Lean is also synonymous to the Toyota Production System (TPS), that was formed by the Toyota Corporation. An essential characteristic of TPS is the integration of problem identification and problem-solving procedures into business processes (Chiarini & Vagnoni, 2014) . This means that continuous tests are integrated into manufacturing and business processes to evaluate performance based on the creation of products and services. As a result of the Toyota Production System, the Toyota Motor Corporation became to be one of the greatest and most profitable companies in the car manufacturing industry (Halim et al., 2015) . TPS is viewed as a system for waste elimination to bring in continuous improvements in the assembly line for reduced costs, shorter delivery times, and better quality as well as the ability to meet or even exceed consumer expectations (Chiarini & Vagnoni, 2014) .
In the 1930s, Sakichi Toyoda became fascinated by the Ford Motor Company’s mass production system, which was well-suited for the North American market, and could not be easily designed to serve smaller manufacturing volumes for Japan’s market. Ford’s production line was able to produce 9,000 units monthly while Toyota could only produce 900 units (Halim et al., 2015) . The solution for Toyota was to establish an assembly line where parts and materials were only bought in the required quantities to fulfil assembly requirements, and match production with consumer demand (Chiarini & Vagnoni, 2014) . This reduced the investment that the company had to commit to inventory and allowed it to quicky respond to changes in demand or to defects (Chiarini & Vagnoni, 2014) . Thus, Toyota’s production method was referred to as on a "pull system", where inventory was pulled from the company’s suppliers when necessary, instead of a mass assembly system where parts were bought in large volumes and stockpiled until they were needed (Halim et al., 2015) . This method came to be referred to as the just-in-time (JIT) production system.
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TPS as an innovation allowed Toyota to keep in improving the way it manufactured vehicles that enabled the company to become a Japanese household name and to produce the world’s best automobiles at low costs and to develop new products quickly. This led to Toyota’s rivals such as Honda, Ford, Chrysler, General Motors, and Daimler to implement TPS-like systems, and organizations such as hospitals also have adopted its underlying principles, tools, and conventions to become more efficient (Halim et al., 2015) . On the soft side, Toyota believes that wasting human talent and energy is unacceptable and that organizations must utilize their employees abilities at all levels. Toyota has built a company culture that allows employees to make changes in how they work because they are the closest individuals to problems in the assembly line and hence, they are more knowledgeable about them (Halim et al., 2015) . Every industry has its own elements, but the lean methodology provides the general procedures needed to improve business processes in terms of scalability and production of the enterprise (Chiarini & Vagnoni, 2014) . The lean production system or TPS made the Toyota Motor Company to be declared the world’s most valuable car brand in 2019.
Process Map: Toyota Production System
The Toyota Production System is based on the concepts of jidoka and JIT. Jidoka is a Japanese method that is used to identify and correct faults in the assembly line that could result to faults in production (Chiarini & Vagnoni, 2014) . On the other had, JIT focusses on coordinating and refining the production process os that it only produces what is required by the later process (Halim et al., 2015) . In TPS, a product is ordered and the information is then incorporated into the production line. The product order information constitutes of the order information that involves vehicles with different specifications. Toyota then develops the product plan based on the order information and sequence in which the vehicles will be manufactured (Chiarini & Vagnoni, 2014) .
To achieve operation efficiency in the production line, once an order is made, Toyota ensures that all product instructions are incorporated into the assembly line (Chiarini & Vagnoni, 2014) . Toyota also makes sure that the assembly line has been stocked with all the required parts so that any car model can be assembled (Halim et al., 2015) . This process ensures that waste, inconsistencies, and unreasonable requirements are eliminated from the production line to ensure the production of products (Chiarini & Vagnoni, 2014) . Step three in the process map ensures that the assembly line replaces the components used with the same number of components in the preceding process (Halim et al., 2015) . The preceding process must also be stocked with only the parts that were retrieved from the subsequent process (Chiarini & Vagnoni, 2014) . This production technique utilizes JIT or the lean system of production that ensures that the assembly line uses only what is needed and when it is needed at every stage of the production process (Halim et al., 2015) . This concept also ensure that the production process is stocked with the required parts and as they get used, new stock and with the right quality is delivered so that there are no disruptions in the production process (Halim et al., 2015) .
Figure 1 : TPS Process Map
Although innovation does not always involve developing in products or services, it focuses on improving what already exists. As a result, innovation leads to improvement in business processes, performance, and efficiency (Loon & Chik, 2018) . An innovation allows organizations to streamline and simply their already existing processes, producing new and existing products at low cost, as sell their products and services at lower prices (Loon & Chik, 2018) . These types of innovation enable businesses to increase their productivity and competitiveness, optimize their human resources, and increase their bottom-line profits and savings. Innovation in analytics can drive business efficiency (Loon & Chik, 2018) . Developing a platform that takes advantage of predictive analytics, machine learning, and natural language processing, enterprises can create customized dashboard of their patients, customers, and business processes. Form an efficiency standpoint, this will facilitate faster and better-informed decision-making allowing the business to respond to changing market forces, consumer demands, identify new opportunities for growth and encourage savings based on the insights from the data (Loon & Chik, 2018) .
A prerequisite for innovation is for organizations to strive to achieve greater operational efficiency (Loon & Chik, 2018) . To achieve this, companies must improve their internal processes. This allows them to provide quality products and services while remaining competitive. Today, businesses are faced with challenges such as constrained resources, the prioritization between operational efficiency and innovation, and navigating increasingly competitive and competitive business landscapes (Loon & Chik, 2018) . In a dynamic environment, innovation plays an integral role in driving efficiency and profits in an enterprise. Therefore, enterprises must be innovative in their business processes to keep up with change. However, developing business environments that support and promote innovation require extensive changes in organizational systems and culture, which can be difficult to accomplish, and not to mention time-consuming, costly, and disruptive (Loon & Chik, 2018) . Therefore, firms should consider the long-term benefits of innovative business process and not short-term gains. Firms must also be willing to invest resources and time in organizational transformation efforts that translates into waste elimination, cost reduction, greater operational efficiency, increased profits, and a competitive advantage. According to research, organizations that are successful at innovating business processes approach it in a systematic and holistic way (Loon & Chik, 2018) . These organizations develop an innovative strategy that is integrated with their mission, vision, and values, as well as aligning their organizational systems and culture with the innovation strategy.
References
Chiarini, A., & Vagnoni, E. (2014). World-class manufacturing by Fiat. Comparison with Toyota Production System from a Strategic Management, Management Accounting, Operations Management and Performance Measurement dimension. International Journal Of Production Research , 53 (2), 590-606. doi: 10.1080/00207543.2014.958596
Halim, N., Yusuf, N., Jaafar, R., Jaffar, A., Kaseh, N., & Azira, N. (2015). Effective Material Handling System for JIT Automotive Production Line. Procedia Manufacturing , 2 , 251-257. doi: 10.1016/j.promfg.2015.07.044
Loon, M., & Chik, R. (2018). Efficiency-centered, innovation-enabling business models of high-tech SMEs: Evidence from Hong Kong. Asia Pacific Journal Of Management , 36 (1), 87-111. doi: 10.1007/s10490-017-9558-4
