Definition
The operator whose work was taken away after the unit was levelled off and who could be removed from the unit was arranged separately; The real manual savings occurred only when he was removed.
In detail
Least Man refers to the operator who can be removed from the cell after cell balancing; labor cost savings count only when he is actually removed. It addresses the problem of "false savings" in Kaizen activities, emphasizing that cost reduction must be based on actual headcount reduction. Unlike efficiency improvement, it focuses on cost rather than labor hours. The usual outputs are a staffing adjustment plan and confirmation of cost savings. "Removing from the cell" and "actually reducing expenditure" are two steps: removing from the cell only releases this operator from the cell's balancing, and the destination can be reassignment (see "Employee Redeployment"); only when the company's total headcount does not increase as a result can true cost reduction be discussed.
Example in practice
An assembly cell reduces operation time through Kaizen, but headcount is not reduced. Finance points out that only by moving surplus people out of the cell can there be any possibility of saving money. So the cell leader transfers one operator out of the cell to another position, and the cell staffing is updated accordingly—this step only completes "moving out of the cell," which is capacity release; only after confirming that the company's total headcount has not increased as a result (neither adding back in the original cell nor creating a new position to receive this operator) does Finance confirm that wage costs have actually decreased.