Rooted in Purpose, Process, and respect for People, lean is about creating the most value for the customer, while minimizing resources, time, energy, and effort used.

Consumers want products updated more frequently, which is great for consumers and business but not so great for the environment because a third of man-made carbon emissions come from production processes, notes Katrina Appell, PhD, who explains how product developers can balance these competing forces.

Books on lean thinking and practice, management, instruction, and stories of transformation.

Publications like Managing to Learn, Learning to See, Gemba Walks, and Lead With Respect have become industry standards.

LEI summits and conferences raise consciousness, generate enthusiasm, and explore new frontiers in Lean Thinking.

You'll learn from leading lean practitioners and colleagues who have faced the same challenges you face now. You'll also enjoy the industry's best networking to build (or continue to build) your own network of lean thinkers. 

In-person, in-depth training at LEI build skills in fundamental and advanced lean principles. Enroll yourself and your team today!

Problem: There aren’t enough lean practitioners nor successful lean transformations.

Our proposed countermeasure is to create a fund – named after our founding CEO – to develop the next generation of lean practitioners, scale up the number of transformations, and improve people’s lives. We’ll begin testing our hypothesis this summer.

Dear Gemba Coach, I’m in a service job and I struggle with the idea of standards. I read that there can be no kaizen without standards but how can you have standards when no two instances are the same?

Good introduction to what Toyota Kata is about, to share with anyone who needs it. Captured at the 5th annual North American KataCon conference in Savannah, GA on February 18, 2019.