Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to report a research on the development of axiomatic modeling of a lean manufacturing system. Design/methodology/approach: A conceptual model for lean manufacturing has been adopted. A hierarchical structure has been developed to model the design process of a lean manufacturing system composed of functional requirements, design parameters and process variables. Findings: The theory of axiomatic design advocates the creation of process variables by mapping the design parameters in the process domain. This article serves as an efficient guideline for the design process to clarify the tools, methods and resources of designing lean manufacturing system. Research limitations/implications: The implications of the axiomatic model has been derived based on the experiences gained from a single manufacturing organization. Yet, the findings and contributions of this research work would be useful to the captains of thee majority of the manufacturing companies situated in the world. Practical implications: The axiomatic modeling approach serves as an efficient guideline for the design process to clarify the tools, methods and resources of designing a lean manufacturing system of an Indian rotary switches manufacturing organization. Originality/value: The conceptual model of lean manufacturing has been developed from literature. Based on the conceptual model, the hierarchical model for axiomatic approach has been developed. The contributions and the inferences are original and add value to the state of the art approaches. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.