In the fall of 2005, James P. Womack

James P. Womack

James P. Womack was the research director of the International Motor Vehicle Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts and is the founder and chairman of the Lean Enterprise Institute, a nonprofit institution for the dissemination and exploration of the Lean...

 and Daniel T. Jones published an article in the Harvard Business Review

Harvard Business Review

Harvard Business Review is a general management magazine published since 1922 by Harvard Business School Publishing, owned by the Harvard Business School. A monthly research-based magazine written for business practitioners, it claims a high ranking business readership among academics, executives,...

 describing a new theory called Lean Consumption.

Lean Consumption is based on Lean Manufacturing

Lean manufacturing

Lean manufacturing, lean enterprise, or lean production, often simply, "Lean," is a production practice that considers the expenditure of resources for any goal other than the creation of value for the end customer to be wasteful, and thus a target for elimination...

, also known as Lean Production. Lean Manufacturing was pioneered by Toyota founder Taiichi Ohno, and revolutionized and streamlined the manufacturing industry. Whereas Lean Manufacturing

Lean manufacturing

Lean manufacturing, lean enterprise, or lean production, often simply, "Lean," is a production practice that considers the expenditure of resources for any goal other than the creation of value for the end customer to be wasteful, and thus a target for elimination...

 set out ways to streamline manufacturing processes, Lean Consumption "minimizes customers' time and effort by delivering exactly what they want when and where they want it". Processes are focused on eliminating waste, while increasing productivity, speed of operation and improving customer interaction.

This process was proposed for large corporations, but smaller corporations have been able to take this theory and apply it to small business. This has the effect of more efficient business and better customer service and SLAs.
Related fields to Lean Consumption include:

• Six Sigma
  Six Sigma
  Six Sigma is a business management strategy originally developed by Motorola, USA in 1986. , it is widely used in many sectors of industry.Six Sigma seeks to improve the quality of process outputs by identifying and removing the causes of defects and minimizing variability in manufacturing and...
  
  

• Lean Thinking

• Theory of Constraints
  Theory of Constraints
  The theory of constraints adopts the common idiom "A chain is no stronger than its weakest link" as a new management paradigm. This means that processes, organizations, etc., are vulnerable because the weakest person or part can always damage or break them or at least adversely affect the...
  
  

Principles of Lean Consumption

• Solve the customer's problem completely by insuring that all the goods and services work, and work together.

• Don't waste the customer's time.

• Provide exactly what the customer wants.

• Provide what's wanted exactly where it's wanted.

• Provide what's wanted where it's wanted exactly when it's wanted.

• Continually aggregate solutions to reduce the customer's time and hassle.

Methodology

• Identify and improve activities that create and add value for the customer.

• Determine what processes are necessary to deliver that value.

• Cut down on activities that do not add value.

• Deliver products precisely when the customer requires them.

• Improve and streamline these processes continuously.

Companies that Use Lean Consumption and Variations

• Toyota

• Microsoft
  Microsoft
  Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
  
  

• IBM
  IBM
  International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
  
  

• Motorola
  Motorola
  Motorola, Inc. was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, which was eventually divided into two independent public companies, Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions on January 4, 2011, after losing $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009...
  
  

• List of Six Sigma companies

Lean Consumption in the IT Industry

The industry most affected by Lean Consumption is the IT

Information technology

Information technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications...

 and Computer Services Industry. Companies like Microsoft

Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...

 and IBM

IBM

International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...

 are the most notable companies to employ Lean Consumption or some variation of the theory. A notable smaller adoptee is Cybernomics, which has been able to employ Lean Consumption theory to better satisfy customers by giving them exactly what they require when they require it and at the same time, planning ahead with Proactive IT to avoid break-fix situations, all while lowering cost to the end user.

External sources

• Lean Enterprise Institute: http://www.lean.org