The method of lean management is very successful in Polish enterprises. In today’s turbulent world, many companies want to increase their efficiency and reduce costs. The lean gives them the opportunity to do so, eliminating all activities that do not bring value from the point of view of the customer, and implementing standardized processes and procedures that contribute to the activities of workers in continuous improvement – kaizen. The purpose of this article is to present the theoretical and empirical effectiveness of lean management in Polish companies basing on the conducted research. The article consists of two parts. The first part is theoretical and based on studies of the literature it describes concepts of lean, kaizen, standardization and visualization, their main objectives and principles. The second part presents the solely empirical research, the responses of managers, specialists in lean or kaizen activities in Polish enterprises on the tools of lean, standardization and visualization.

The method of lean management is very successful in Polish enterprises. In today’s turbulent world, many companies want to increase their efficiency and reduce costs. The lean gives them the opportunity to do so, eliminating all activities that do not bring value from the point of view of the customer, and implementing standardized processes and procedures that contribute to the activities of workers in continuous improvement – kaizen. The purpose of this article is to present the theoretical and empirical effectiveness of lean management in Polish companies basing on the conducted research. The article consists of two parts. The first part is theoretical and based on studies of the literature it describes concepts of lean, kaizen, standardization and visualization, their main objectives and principles. The second part presents the solely empirical research, the responses of managers, specialists in lean or kaizen activities in Polish enterprises on the tools of lean, standardization and visualization.