The success of the Toyota Production System is well known. Toyota is the most productive and innovative automobile manufacturer in the world. Directly or indirectly they have pioneered approaches and principles such as, among many others, just in time, one-piece flow, and "andon." The Toyota Production System was the basis for "lean manufacturing." The purpose of lean manufacturing is to improve product cycle time, cost competitiveness, and quality by eliminating any waste in the manufacturing process through continuous improvement by a motivated workforce. The authors, as part of the NASSCO shipbuilding production system project, were responsible for introducing lean manufacturing to the project team and developing a "Guide to Lean Shipbuilding." This paper first discusses what lean manufacturing is, and then reports on a benchmarking visit to Japanese shipyards. Finally, a description of lean shipbuilding and its implementation is presented with case examples of lean workshops.