There is a second approach  to Lean Manufacturing which is promoted by Toyota in which the focus is upon implementing the 'flow' or smoothness of work (opposite of mura, unevenness) through the system and not upon 'waste reduction'.

Techniques to improve flow include production leveling, "pull" production (by means of kanban) and the Heijunka box.

The difference between these two approaches is not the goal but the prime approach to achieving it.

The following is the five principles of lean:

Principle 1: Accurately specify value from the customer's perspective for both products and services.

Principle 2: Identify the value stream for products and services and remove non-value-adding waste along the value stream.

Principle 3: Make the product and services flow without interruption across the value stream.

Principle 4: Authorize production of products and services based on the pull by the customer.

Principle 5: Strive for perfection by constantly removing layers of waste.

Lean Tools

For many, Lean is the set of  'tools' that assist in the identification and steady elimination of waste (muda), the improvement of quality, and production time and cost reduction.
To solve the problem of waste, Lean Manufacturing has several 'tools' at its disposal.
These include continuous process improvement (kaizen), "5 Whys"  the and mistake-proofing (poka-yoke).
In this way it can be seen astaking a very similar approach to other improvement methodologies.