Welcome to lean. As you begin your lean journey, it is important to recognize two critical points: the road ahead is daunting—yet the potential payoff from your effort is enormous.

Jim Womack and Dan Jones define the promise of lean thinking as

“a way to specify value, line up value-creating actions in the best sequence, conduct those activities without interruption whenever someone requests them, and perform them more and more effectively. In short, lean thinking is lean because it provides a way to do more and more with less and less—less human effort, less human equipment, less time, and less space—while coming closer and closer to providing customers with exactly what they want.”

And yet, in his foreword to Jeff Liker’s book Becoming Lean, Jim Womack also acknowledges the tough job of putting lean into practice.

 “Why is lean thinking and lean manufacturing so challenging to implement? It is not—as many early commentators believed—a set of isolated techniques, but a complete business system, a way of designing, selling, and manufacturing complex products that requires the cooperation of thousands of people and hundreds of independent organizations. A successful ‘lean leap’ requires ‘change agent’ leadership, a sensei (teacher) to demonstrate the techniques, a long-term commitment to the work force to inspire their best efforts, proactive development of the supply base, aggressive management of the distribution and sales system (accounting methods plus individual compensation) that motivates managers to do the right thing every time.”

This section represents a starting point for individuals and teams beginning lean. The first question in the Common Lean Questions section of this site provides links and information on some basic questions. Additionally this Q&A with LEI President of Lean Education David LaHote provides direction on the best strategy for starting your lean learning. And LEI recommends that you use this map as a rough guideline in calibrating your particular journey.

LEI offers a range of training, tools, and other materials to fit your particular needs. For a conceptual grounding in the history, principles, and development of lean, the best place to start is with The Machine that Changed The World, Lean Thinking, and Toyota Production System. For an overall depiction of the way in which lean implementation works as a system, and which creates havoc even when done properly, read The Gold Mine.

As you turn to specific practices such as value-stream mapping, you will find supplemental resources for many of the LEI workbooks in the LEI Library, which has extended sections for each resource. Finally, you can find additional resources by topic as you search through our Archive of articles, and our Community Forum.

Good luck with your journey, and please help us improve this site by letting us know what has worked and what has not: in the spirit of kaizen, we pledge to improve our service to you.