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In Four Types of Problems, continuous improvement expert and author Art Smalley shows you how to break the “hammer-and-nail” trap.

He demonstrates that most business problems fall into four main categories, each requiring different thought processes, improvement methods, and management cadences.

"It is a must read for any leader who wants to create lasting value by building not just a great product, but a turbocharged product creating machine."

– from the Foreword by Alan R. Mulally 

This groundbreaking workbook, which has introduced the value-stream mapping tool to thousands of people around the world, breaks down the important concepts of value-stream mapping into an easily grasped format.

Value-stream maps are the blueprints for lean transformations and Learning to See is an easy-to-read, step-by-step instruction manual that teaches this valuable tool to anyone, regardless of his or her background.

Creating Continuous Flow is the next logical step after Learning to See. The value-stream mapping process defined the pacemaker process and the overall flow of products and information in the plant.

The next step is to shift your focus from the plant to the process level by zeroing in on the pacemaker process, which sets the production rhythm for the plant or value stream, and apply the principles of continuous flow.

The Lean Bakery

This story is about a real world problem solving and lean thinking by the owners of a successful bakery and cafe business in Barcelona, Spain. They supply over 100 cafés daily with freshly baked bread and products, from a small 7,000 sq. ft. factory.

The Lean Dentist

Dr. Sami Bahri describes how he and the staff in his dental practice transformed their work with lean thinking, and moved from a traditional batch-and-queue approach to using flow to meet the needs of their patients.