While not practical for operations which very low processing times and correspondingly high change-over times (both values defined by takt time), it is nevertheless a Lean Manufacturing goal to achieve single piece flow in every operation possible. Achieving one-piece flow requires the elimination of waste.
Throughout human history, most people live and die in the social class into which they were born. If they were born poor, chances are they will die poor. One way societies can help people rise in social class is to initiate new enterprises, like improved educational opportunities or technological advancements.
But when most people are working harder for less, when others cannot work at all, when the cost of health care devastates families and threatens to bankrupt our enterprises, great and small; when the fear of crime robs law abiding citizens of their freedom; and when millions of poor children cannot even imagine the lives we are calling them to lead ...