Article

Creating a System to Achieve Ambitious Goals: A WLEI Podcast

A lean veteran describes a system that can help leaders take their organizations to the next level.

by John Cotter and Tom Ehrenfeld

Article

View Crises as Manageable Challenges Through Steady Lean Leadership

If you are using lean to tackle a series of crises, you may not be using lean in the first place, say a range of…

by Lean Leaper

Video

Jim Womack and Dan Jones on the Evolution and Future of Lean

At the UK Lean Summit last month, Roberto Priolo caught up with Jim Womack and Dan Jones to talk about the current and future state…

by Roberto Priolo

Article

Will Artificial Intelligence Replace Shop Floor Thinking?

How does lean thinking help understand whether AI could replace shop floor thinking? Jacob Stoller argues that whether or not one attributes this to an…

by Lean Sensei Women

Article

Mura, Muri, Muda?

Twenty years ago this month, when my first daughter was born, the young men I supervised in MIT’s International Motor Vehicle Program went dashing out…

by James (Jim) Womack, PhD

Article

Looking Back and Ahead at The Lean Transformation Summit

Read the highlights from the 2014 Lean Transformation Summit in Orlando (featuring transformation stories from companies like GE, Cardinal Health, and Food Bank For New…

by Chet Marchwinski

Article

Lean Business-IT Integration, Part One: Who Wants to Go Talk to IT About This One?

In this, the first of a five part series, LEI faculty member Steve Bell begins with the importance of lean business-IT integration. Part Two offers…

Article

The Lives of Your Grandchildren Depend on Innovating New Healthcare Models

Renowned healthcare transformation experts examine what it will take to reinvent healthcare models through innovation and propose a new process for finding them.

Article

How Cascading A3s Deploy Responsibility to Think as Well as Assign KPIs

During a recent virtual workshop on how to use the A3 problem-solving methodology, a CEO asked how to cascade A3s down through every level of…

by David Verble

Article

Tips for Following Through on Improvement Plan Execution

There is a critical difference between follow-through and follow-up during the A3 problem-solving process as David Verble, a veteran lean management coach with 30+ years…

by David Verble

Article

Selling Water by the River

The most important challenge facing the lean community is that of sustaining both tangible and intangible improvements, says Dan Prock, who suggests that developing kaizen…

Article

Bad People or A Bad Process?

Standing in a nightmare of a line at the airport prompted Jim Womack to reflect on this problem, and conclude that this was indeed a…

by James (Jim) Womack, PhD

Article

Q & A with the Authors of Building a Lean Fulfillment Stream

A Conversation with Robert Martichenko and Kevin von Grabe, authors of Building a Lean Fulfillment Stream: rethinking your supply chain and logistics to create maximum value…

by Robert Martichenko

Article

Lean Thinking is Horizontal Thinking

In the first of a two-part interview,  Jim Womack, founder and senior advisor of LEI, talks with LeanBlog podcaster Mark Graban about a variety of lean…

Article

When problems arise, what helps you keep your focus on the work?

Learning how to create and adhere to management standard work requires a clear understanding of where all team members add value in service of our…

by Lex Schroeder

Article

When a Passion for Caring Becomes a Commitment to Process Improvement: Judy Worth and Karl Ohaus on Lean Thinking for Healthcare Organizations

LEI interviews lean practitioners and co-authors of Perfecting Patient Journeys Judy Worth and Karl Ohaus about the potential for lean thinking in healthcare, the value…

by Lex Schroeder

Article

Emergency Departments Use Lean Principles in an Effort to Perfect Patient Journeys

Sixty hospital emergency departments in Michigan formed a collaborative to apply the value-stream improvement methodology to cut the length of stay for patients.

by Chet Marchwinski

Article

Managing the Work from Startup to Scaleup

How one company tapped lean thinking and practice to design its business management system — and as a countermeasure to “big company disease.”

by Michael Ballé and Nicolas Chartier

Article

Interview with José Roberto Ferro and Robson Gouveia about the book Daily Management to Execute Strategy

An interview with the authors of Daily Management to Execute Strategy, a practical guide to building an effective daily management system in your organization.

by Robson Gouveia and José R. Ferro, PhD

Article

Getting Started with Hoshin Kanri: Answers to Common Questions

Read an excerpt from Managing on Purpose, a practical guide to implementing hoshin kanri. Coming March 2025.

by Lean Enterprise Institute and Mark Reich