Implementation of lean philosophy has gained importance since it has achieved an outstanding success especially in production systems. Principles of lean production are different from traditional systems, where parts feeding and material handling activities are performed differently especially in small lot production. Integration and coordination of these activities increase the efficiency of lean systems. In this paper, a complete design for in-plant logistics activities is performed via Axiomatic Design (AD) principles. A four-step design methodology from parts line side presentation through in-plant vehicle routing is proposed. Comprehensive literature for each design step is given, and a continuous improvement scheme for the proposed design is developed. The relations between lean principles, design parameters and lean tools are evaluated and the justification of the proposed design is shown. The findings of the study also point out voids in the literature and shed light on future studies.
