Article

Developing PDSA Capabilities

Improvement kata and A3 management have become popular ways for developing and practicing plan-do-study (or check)-act capabilities. What’s the connection between them? When do you…

by Karen Martin

eBook

Four Types of Problems

When faced with a problem, many business leaders and teams mechanically reach for a familiar problem-solving methodology. The problem is that the methods are often…

by Art Smalley

Article

“How ThedaCare Created Its Own Management System”, Follow-Up Q&A

Kim Barnas, author of Beyond Heroes: A Lean Management System for Healthcare, answers questions that we couldn't get to during the hour-long webinar on how…

Case Study

Cultivating a Lean Problem-Solving Culture at O.C. Tanner

O.C. Tanner is in the appreciation business. It develops employee reward and recognition programs and manufactures a wide variety of emblems, rings, trophies, and other…

by Doug Bartholomew

Case Study

Lean Transformation Lives and Dies With Tools and Dies

The story of The Wiremold Company's lean transformation is familiar to many Lean Thinkers. But what isn't as well known is how the company transformed…

Article

Lean management case study series: Lean Partnership with Dealer Network Helps Vermeer Reduce End-to-End Inventory on Top Sellers

A lean transformation had taken heavy-equipment manufacturer Vermeer away from batch manufacturing, but batch ordering by dealers was delaying how quickly they got equipment like…

Case Study

Lean management case study series: Pediatric Hospital in Tough Market Pegs Growth to Lean Process Improvement

Lean improvement projects at Akron Children’s Hospital have saved millions of dollars, increased utilization of expensive assets, and reduced wait times for patients and their…

Podcast

People-First Leadership: A Conversation Between Jim Morgan and Alan Mulally

Leading through challenging times means enhancing your work process and always looking to improve people's lives. Putting people first is just one of the many…

by Lean Leaper

Article

Lean Beyond Production

Read how Lean Thinkers, using the same lean tools that worked in production, now are making improvements and benefits off the plant floor, in environments…

Article

Lean Thinking for Quicker Police Emergency Response Time

Bob Downing and Erin Magee reflect on the results of a collaborative project they worked on last year when their company was asked by the…

by Robert Downing and Erin Magee-Hall

Article

Discovering the True Value of the A3 Process

The challenge with the A3 process isn’t in learning to write an A3 report; it’s in understanding how to use it as a managerial process.

by John Shook

Case Study

Transforming Healthcare: What Matters Most? How the Cleveland Clinic Is Cultivating a Problem-Solving Mindset and Building a Culture of Improvement

Imagine if you could create a culture of excellence and improvement in a large healthcare organization. That’s the challenge that pushed the Cleveland Clinic to…

by David Drickhamer

Article

How Can One Be A Better Sensei?

Dear Gemba Coach,Our operations VP is disappointed with our lean program. Despite his close personal involvement with the program, it is not delivering the level…

by Michael Ballé

Article

Tap the Power of Flow to Develop Lean Thinkers

Flow is personal--a moment of enrichment, and a mental state. It´s stretching oneself just that little bit extra, not because someone else tells us to,…

by Eivind Reke

Article

Understanding the Fundamentals of Value-Stream Mapping

This overview explains the essential elements of this powerful lean practice.

by Lean Leaper

eBook

The Value Add Accountant

This book expands the Real Numbers message by providing detailed examples of how to reveal accounting waste, start a personal value add transition, and get buy in…

by Jean Cunningham

Article

Why Lean Isn't Successful in Healthcare

How often do you choose to improve processes that may not provide any financial benefit whatsoever? Read why lean practitioner Janice Brathwaite thinks we can…

by Janice Brathwaite

Article

Practicing Lean Fundamentals in an Office Environment

Applying lean principles in service organizations and administrative processes within manufacturing companies often confounds companies. Lean faculty member and author Drew Locher offers four key…

by Drew Locher

Article

Deliberate Innovation Through Lean Product & Process Development

Check out LEI's live blog from the Lean Product and Process Development Exchange (North America) Conference happening now in Durham, North Carolina.

by Lex Schroeder

Article

The Anatomy of Innovation

The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Shadyside enjoys a reputation for innovation, due, in part, to its recognition that finding and fixing broken processes is…

by Chet Marchwinski