Although lean workstations appear much the same as their more traditional brethren, they are, in fact, inherently different.
"With a lean workstation, everything must be choreographed like an orchestra, so that every movement has a purpose," says Rick Harris, president of Harris Lean Systems Inc. "It requires a new way of thinking. Traditionally, most workstations were laid out for the material handler's convenience, not for the value-adding operator."