Which approach is used to eliminate waste in an organization and typically leads to lower costs and higher productivity?

• A. Muda
• B. quality circles
• C. lean production
• D. ISO

Answer: (C)

Lean production focuses on creating more value with fewer resources by systematically removing waste from processes. It treats activities as either value-adding or waste and aims to streamline workflows through continuous improvement, pull systems (just-in-time), and tools like value-stream mapping. By reducing inventories, unnecessary motion, waiting time, overproduction, defects, and other non-value-adding activities, costs fall and throughput speeds up, boosting productivity. Muda is the term for waste itself, not the method to eliminate it; quality circles are groups that pursue quality improvements, and ISO refers to standards, not the waste-elimination approach.