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Create Profitable Value Streams

Why does lean product development focus on building profitable value streams? LEI Senior Advisor John Shook explains in this month's Design Brief Contributor's Corner.

by John Shook

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The Lean Community and the Second “P”

The second “P” in lean product and process development or LPPD is as important as the first “P.” At least it should be. But as…

by James (Jim) Womack, PhD

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Tips for Proving the Financial Value of Lean to Leadership

Of the many aspects of lean accounting, one that has proven especially useful is the principle of “cost avoidance.” Today on the Lean Post, lean…

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Why Bother Making It Visual?

What to do when you need to make the work visible, but your people aren't behind it? Leslie Barker has some suggestions based on this…

by Leslie Barker

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How to Coach a Person Who Doesn't Want to be Coached?

How do you coach someone who doesn't need your help or who thinks they know everything? This was one of several interesting questions raised during…

by Lex Schroeder

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Change Your “Pet” Problem Solving Method

Got problems with your problem-solving method? This interview by LEI's Chet Marchwinski with Four Types of Problems author Art Smalley shares advice on how you…

by Art Smalley

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Lean Without Limits

We come up with many different types of answers that sort Lean conveniently into categories for easy understanding and storage, says Renee Smith; but what…

by Renée Smith

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Reducing Wasted Motion at a Conference: Collaborative Note Taking

Mark Graban reflects on the pros and cons of collaborative note-taking at conferences and offers up an invitation/experiment to Lean Transformation Summit attendees.

by Mark Graban

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Connecting Lean Thinkers With Nonprofits in Portland, Oregon

Matthew Horvat tells the story of Lean Portland, a lean community of practice connecting lean thinkers with nonprofit professionals in Portland, Oregon.

by Matthew Horvat

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10 Lean Steps for Surviving the Recession

Jim provides an action play for lean thinkers to think leaner to get through the recession and secure a strong position for the upturn.

by James (Jim) Womack, PhD

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Don't you use kamishibai cards; you've never written about them?

Dear Gemba Coach: We use a kamishibai board along with standardized work and visual management to sustain our lean efforts on the factory floor. It…

by Michael Ballé

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The Five Whys

Dear Gemba Coach: I’m a lean coach and teach A3s in my company. Every lean book mentions “5 why,” and I can see the power…

by Michael Ballé

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Should we do lean maturity audits?

Dear Gemba Coach: Should we continue with lean maturity audits and, if so, how often?

by Michael Ballé

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Leadership and Having an Effective Plan

You wouldn’t want to be known as a source of “fake news” but are you practicing

by Andrew Quibell

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The Problem of Partial Participation: Why Failing to Fully Commit to Lean Is Not An Option. An Interview with Chris Vogel

It's surprising how many lean implementations fail due to an organization's employees not fully embracing the idea. There are many root causes of this common…

by Chris Vogel

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Lean Lessons from Tesla

This piece throws no shade at Tesla, a company that serves as a highly-charged conduit for many a heated debate about the future of manufacturing,…

by Tom Ehrenfeld

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What I Learned by Coaching at the Gemba Virtually

Lean Coach Mark Reich shares an example of how lean thinking is itself continually renewed, as leading practitioners use it to solve new problems.

by Mark Reich

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The Lean Farm

A cold wet fall Saturday at the Talking Farm in Skokie, IL was a workshop day of learning for a group of 25 urban farmers and urban…

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The Obstacle is the Path

Deborah McGee, LEI's Learning Activities Manager, reflects on the most common obstacles she sees people facing when they first try to introduce lean ideas in…

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Thinking End to End

Every value stream runs from raw materials all the way to the end customer. And value for the customer is only delivered at the very…

by James (Jim) Womack, PhD