Article

A Body Needs Skeleton and Muscle to Work

How do you create alignment across the organization when you have separate departments, value streams, and executives with conflicting priorities? Hoshin kanri. Mark Reich explains.

by Mark Reich

Page

Custom Training

In our customized coaching and learning experiences, we guide you, your team, or your company through the practical application of lean principles and practices, so…

Article

How Lean Thinking and Practice Helped Put Shots in Arms, Part 1: Building the Process

Does lean thinking work during a crisis? An in-depth review of its contribution to the design and management of Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center's…

by Ryan Haley, Crystal R. Tubbs and Peter Ward

Faculty

Beth Carrington

Since 1999, Beth has dedicated her career to coaching organizations through their lean transformations as an independent consultant and instructor at LEI and other global…

Article

Toyota Trouble: A Dialogue with Jeff Liker (AKA the Coffee Shop Talks)

With the appearance of Toyota's various quality and recall problems, Jeff Liker and I have been meeting in coffee shops in Ann Arbor to discuss…

by John Shook

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Reimagining restaurants after Covid-19

The future has never looked more uncertain for restaurants and cafes. The authors share a set of practical lean tips that can guide these organizations…

by The Lean-n-Food-Initiative

Article

Back to Work

Only a month ago I wrote about going beyond Toyota. And in light of the last month's events, I suppose that must seem prescient. But…

by James (Jim) Womack, PhD

Article

The Problem of Sustainability

I recently got a call from an old friend who led one of the first lean implementation efforts in healthcare in the mid-1990s. He has…

by James (Jim) Womack, PhD

Article

What are the key factors within an obeya room?

Dear Gemba Coach: On YouTube and in books there is a lot about A3 storyboards. Did you ever see them used to share people's plans…

by Michael Ballé

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Intentional Respect

"Most organizations fail to intentionally balance the technical tools side with the social side of Lean," writes Mike Orzen. "People say, 'We respect our people.…

by Mike Orzen

Article

Lean Transformation? Not Buying It

Companies often describe their transformation efforts in terms of an end-state: focusing on targeted results. They see transformation as a noun--a specific target or condition…

by Mike Orzen

Article

Put Your Strategy on a Diet

"When it comes to goal setting in most organizations, 'Just one more…' seems to be the compulsion," writes Pascal Dennis. Read why less is more…

by Pascal Dennis

Article

How Does Asking Questions Create Change?

Lean is not a sum of processes to acquire and apply which then will make things magically work better. It’s a set of techniques to…

by Michael Ballé and Tracey Richardson

Article

Adopt or Adapt? When Modifying Lean Makes Sense

One of the key decisions every lean coach, consultant, practitioner, and leader makes is when to fully adopt a particular lean practice or when to…

by Karen Martin

Article

Closer Collaboration for a Leaner Planet

Roberto Priolo, editor of Planet Lean, makes the case for lean learning and collaboration across the globe.

by Roberto Priolo

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Why the A3 Process Involves More than Filling in Boxes

As she details how to problem-solve using the A3 methodology, a veteran lean coach explains why it's essential to understand that completing an A3 problem-solving…

by Tracey Richardson

Article

Community Communication

Lean thinking and practice is all about tackling problems – little ones, big ones, wicked ones, sticky ones, concrete ones, fuzzy ones. We tackle problems…

by John Shook

Article

Lead from the Front, Lead from Behind

In my last letter I alluded to a common view in the Lean Community – shared by the broader business community at large – that…

by John Shook

Article

Learning Lean - Collaboratively

John Shooks reflects on the importance of continual learning in lean practice, emphasizing the distinction between being a passive knower and an active learner.

by John Shook

Article

Homicide by Example?

My LEI colleague Dave LaHote is fond of saying that managers - and especially senior managers - overestimate their effectiveness, particularly as they seek to…

by James (Jim) Womack, PhD