The concept of lean management in an organization, improving products and processes using the Lean Manufacturing concept, is discussed in this paper. Striving for excellence is the key factor in maintaining competitiveness on the market. Only organizations able to adapt to changing environmental conditions faster than others achieve an advantage, and the management in line with the Lean Manufacturing philosophy is de facto change management. In this paper, important factors in the ceramic industry, which should be taken into account when implementing Lean Manufacturing are characterized. Important factors affecting the implementation of lean tools include, such as: the size of the enterprise, involvement of employees, knowledge about the Lean concept, technological factor, type and variety of the product line, as well as the specificity of the ceramic industry. The greatest opportunity associated with the implementation of Lean is to increase the competitiveness of the company obtained through: meeting the quality and economic expectations of customers. The greatest opportunity associated with implementation of the Lean is to increase competitiveness of the company obtained through: meeting the quality and economic expectations of their customers. Practice shows, however, that despite the simplicity of rules and tools, few organizations manage to achieve the level of excellence of the pioneer of this concept, the Japanese Toyota Corporation.

The article presents the results of the research on the level of implementation of Lean instruments in the ceramics industry. The research was carried out in ceramic factories in Poland and Germany. Based on the results obtained, the most commonly used Lean instruments in the ceramics industry were defined. The dependence of the use of Lean instruments on the size of the enterprise was also determined. It was established that the Lean activities undertaken in the ceramics industry are focused solely on the implementation of individual methods and tools, without a pre-defined goal. This approach in the ceramics industry is ineffective, but unfortunately it is most often used in the implementation of the Lean philosophy, especially in small ceramics enterprises.

Results of research connected with determining the degree of implementation of 5S practices in ceramics industry are discussed in this paper. Direct survey with employees of companies plus expert interview was used in the research. A 21 point scale was used to assess the degree of implementation the 5S practices at individual stages of the manufacturing process. The specificity of production in ceramics industry enforces maintaining the regime of cleanliness during production. The research revealed that the level of conscious implementation of the 5S practices in companies depends on the culture of organization and the degree of involvement of employees in the improvement actions in their company. The presented results are a part of the research aimed at determining reference requirements for companies in terms of implementation and making use of the Lean Management (LM) instruments.

The problem of implementation of the concept of Lean Manufacturing in the ceramic industry, based on the enterprise manufacturing ceramic fancy goods, is presented in this article. The most important information about the concept of Lean Manufacturing, as well as the current state of implementation of the Lean concept in the ceramic industry. Major barriers in the implementation of the Lean concept are identified and selected instruments of the Lean concept applied in individual areas of the waste elimination are assigned.