Lean Enablers for Systems Engineering

The new field of Lean Systems Engineering (LSE)1 is the application of Lean
Thinking to SE and to the related aspects of enterprise management (EM). SE is focused on flawless performance of complex technical systems. Lean Thinking is the holistic management paradigm credited for the extraordinary rise of Toyota to the most profitable and the largest auto company in the world, see Womack [9]. Toyota is well known for practicing excellent Product Development and SE2. For example, the Prius car design was completed in nine months from the end of styling, a performance not matched by any competitor [10]. Lean Thinking has been successfully applied in defense industry and in the U.S. military itself, (e.g., [5], and the Air Force Lean initiative named AFSO-21).

It has become an established paradigm in manufacturing, aircraft depots, administration, supply chain management, health, and product development, including engineering. Lean SE is the area of synergy of Lean and Systems Engineering with the goal to deliver the best lifecycle value for technically complex systems with minimum waste. Lean SE does not mean "less SE". It means more and better SE with higher RAA (responsibility, authority and accountability), leading to better and waste-free workflow, and Mission Assurance. Under the Lean SE philosophy, mission assurance is nonnegotiable,
and any task which is legitimately required for success must be included, but
it should be well planned and executed with minimum waste.