
Hosted in partnership with Oakland University, this event is part of the
LEI Lean Transformation Community-Building and Workshop Series.
Based on the recently published book The Power of Process, this one-day, in-person workshop will teach you how to design lean principles and practices into your processes upfront when you can make the greatest impact for the least cost.
Through instruction and hands-on exercises, this workshop will help you gain a strong foundation of all phases of lean process design and allow you to explore the tools to implement lean process design. Critically, it will help you both design lean processes and manage the design of lean processes more effectively.

In process development, when you design is as critical as what you design. As the graph above illustrates, the earlier you discover issues and make changes, the greater the and the lower the cost of making the changes. As time passes, the cost of changes increases rapidly, and the ability to the outcomes decreases. By using the lean process design methodology, you’ll design out potential wastes from production and delivery.
Most organizations have experienced the attempted launch of new processes developed by “siloed” departments, each working to complete their tasks and with their own definitions of “good.” In this workshop, you’ll learn the practices and tools that will enable you to break down this siloed thinking and collaborate more effectively across functional groups to design successful value streams that hit business targets with little to no rework.
Learning the lean process design methodology will arm you with what you need to know to reduce — and even eliminate — the problems that plague traditional approaches, helping you create a repeatable, sustainable process development system that ensures you reliably and efficiently deliver on time and budget successfully with minimal resources, frustrations.
When you register, you will receive a copy of The Power of Process: A story of Innovative Lean Process Development, coauthored by Workshop Coach Eric Ethington.
Who will benefit?
- Development leaders, managers, and engineers in any industry who want to escape the frustrations and overcome the problems of traditional development practices
- Leaders and managers across the enterprise, such as operations, supply chain, purchasing, logistics, delivery, service, marketing, and sales professionals, who are tired of having new products and services “thrown over the wall” and of dealing with the costly waste of rework late in projects
- Executives and continuous improvement professionals seeking to extend lean thinking and practices into their development approach.
What will I learn?
Upon completion, you will understand and be able to begin implementing:
- The foundational concepts of lean process development.
- The 6CONx model for executing lean process development.
- Key concepts and tools that will help you improve the work and the process of lean process development.
- An action plan for getting started.
Group Discount
Register three or more attendees for the same workshop and save 12.5% off every registration. To receive a group discount, register as a group through the registration link and the discount will automatically apply.
Cancellation Policy
You can cancel your registration for in-person workshops four weeks before the course start date for a full refund. A cancellation occurring within four weeks of the workshop dates will be subject to a $350 fee. To cancel, please call LEI at (617) 871-2900 or email registrar@lean.org.
Eric Ethington
Senior Coach and Chief Engineer
Product and Process Development
Lean Enterprise Institute
President, Lean Shift Consulting
Eric has distilled his passion for and knowledge of lean thinking and practice in product and process development, nurtured over 30 years of work experience, into The Power of Process: A Story of Innovative Lean Process Development (2022). Before founding Lean Shift Consulting and becoming a coach and program manager at LEI in 2016, he […]
Read more about Eric Ethington