Press Release

Lean Enterprise Institute Announces Training for Supply Chain, Logistics, Warehousing, and Distribution

The two hands-on workshops will take place October 8-11, 2013, at a working supply chain operations center so attendees can experience lean management principles in…

Article

How the A3 Process Developed to Help Build Better Managers

One of the hallmarks of a successfully executed A3 process is that it is a collaborative activity--a learning process for everyone involved: for learner and…

by Isao Yoshino

Article

Be More Innovative with These Resources and Ideas for Exploiting World-Shaping Trends

Great products and services begin with great ideas and great ideas are informed by the big trends that are shaping the world. But how do…

by Chet Marchwinski and Andi Plantenberg

Article

What Lean Thinkers Think About The Gold Mine

Questions and comments†from readers to co-author Michael BallÈ about his book The Gold Mine.

by Michael Ballé

Article

Who Owns Your A3? (Part Two)

In this second of two columns, Mark Reich explains why people must own their A3 reports as a means of developing their ability to properly…

Article

What lean concepts are most difficult to teach?

Dear Gemba Coach: In your experience of teaching lean, what do you find most difficult to teach?

by Michael Ballé

Article

Remembering Freddy Ballé

On October 31st, the Lean Movement lost one of its pioneers. In this piece, Dan Jones reflects on Freddy Ballé’s legacy.

by Dan Jones

Article

Policy Deployment: aka Strategy Alignment, aka Hoshin Kanri (Appendix 2 to the Eletter “Lead from the Front, Lead from Behind”)

As a way of illustrating the most common misconception about hoshin kanri, namely, that it’s a top-down deployment process, LEI CEO John Shook explains in…

Article

Improve Continuously by Mastering the Lean Kata

Lean is about learning, say Rose Heathcote and Daryl Powell. Learning to find real problems, learning to face the limits of our current knowledge in…

by Rose Heathcote and Daryl Powell

Article

Thinking About the Why of the What of Problem-Solving

When we talk about problem-solving, what we’re really talking about here is creating adaptive capacity, the deep capability of an organization to tackle anything that…

by John Shook

Article

What's your challenge?

Toyota can’t exist -- Toyota can’t be Toyota -- without a challenge. That’s true for each individual or work group and for the company as…

by John Shook

Article

The Best Lean Healthcare Stories You May Have Missed

Looking ahead to the Lean Healthcare Transformation Summit June 5-6, Lex Schroeder rounds up some of the best lean healthcare pieces on the Post.

by Lex Schroeder

Article

And the Best Articles from 2014 Are...

Two weeks ago we asked for your favorite Lean Post articles of 2014 and the results are in!

by Lean Leaper

Article

Board Responsibilities and the Lean Management System

"A board needs to go far beyond checking performance measurements and actually hold senior leaders accountable for management systems and behaviors," writes Steve Leuschel. "As…

Article

Do I have the right attitude during gemba walks?

Dear Gemba Coach: How do I know if I have the right attitude during gemba walks? We’ve started doing those systematically, but I realize how…

by Michael Ballé

Article

Does a lean transformation boost a company's stock price?

Dear Gemba Coach: You’ve worked with a lot of different companies in the public and private sectors. How have the stock prices of the public…

by Michael Ballé

Article

The Five Poisons of Big Company Disease

What's "big company disease"? The tendency of any large company to worry about clearly defined territories, rules and procedures, and integrated systems more than a…

by Michael Ballé

Article

The Prospects for Lean

As we all return to work in the New Year, I wanted to provide a few thoughts on the prospects for lean thinking in the…

by James (Jim) Womack, PhD

Article

The Relentless Pursuit of Perfection

"I began to notice that there was a sharp contrast between well-made, crafted products and poorly made ones, and an even greater distinction between the…

by Jim Morgan, PhD

Article

Book Value: Jim Womack on Ford Methods and Ford Shops

Jim Womack, author of Lean Thinking and founder of The Lean Enterprise Institute, reflects on one of the books that greatly influenced his thinking.

by James (Jim) Womack, PhD