Product & Process Development Articles
How to Launch Better Products Faster
A veteran lean product and process development (LPPD) coach explains the similarities and differences between Agile and LPPD methodologies, clarifying…
Read articleThe State of US Manufacturing and Its Role in Innovation: a Conversation with Ben Armstrong and Jim Morgan
Ben Armstrong and Jim Morgan explore America’s industrial past, assess its present, and discuss the challenges and opportunities that lie…
Listen to podcastNine Tips to Better Process Development
Achieve exceptional results with your next product launch. Master nine proven techniques for designing successful, waste-free processes.
Read articleWhatever Happened to Quality First: Rethinking Product Development in the Wake of Recalls and Catastrophic Failures
This Design Brief tackles the often-overlooked topic of building quality into new products. Learn how a customer-centric approach in development…
Read articleQuality Leadership at the Forefront of Innovation: A Conversation with Jeri Ford of Lucid Motors
Lucid Motors’ Vice President of Quality, Jeri Ford, shares lessons from the automotive industry on how to build a culture…
Listen to podcastFrom Concept to Perfection: Toyota’s GD3 Method Sets a New Standard in Product Quality
The innovative GD3 method can help you rethink product development to improve customer satisfaction, boost cost-effectiveness, avoid recalls, and prevent…
Read articleOperations IS Your Customer
Discover how redefining operations as the primary customer of engineering can transform product development, enhance collaboration, and drive unprecedented improvements…
Read articleSoftware’s Quality Leap: Three Lessons from Toyota’s Dantotsu Approach to Reduce Defects at Scale at Theodo
Bridging the gap between manufacturing and software, Theodo cofounder and CTO Fabrice Bernhard, explains the company’s transformative journey of applying…
Read articleDesigning Sustainable Value Streams
Download LEI's latest ebook on how Lean Product and Process Development enables organizations to design and deliver innovative, profitable, and…
Read articleDesigning for the Environment
Explore how Lean Product and Process Development (LPPD) can lower carbon emissions and address other sustainability concerns.
Watch videoDeveloping Products Customers Love: Discussing Lean Product and Process Development with Two Retired Honda Leaders
LEI talks with Frank Paluch and Lara Harrington about developing the Honda Passport, the role of the chief engineer, and…
Listen to podcastPutting People First
LEI's lean product and process development coaches share the sixth of several guiding principles that will help you improve the…
Read articleTeaming Up for Growth: Developing People and Technical Skills as They Develop Products.
The current LEI Lean Product and Process Development (LPPD) Collaborative Study Team reports on the results of recent work to…
Read articleCollaborating on Improving the Product Development Process
Members of LEI's Lean Product and Process Development Learning Group share their successful strategies.
Read articleTeaming Up to Develop Better Products: Maximizing the Study Phase’s Impact
The current LEI Lean Product and Process Development (LPPD) Collaborative Study Team reports on the results of recent work to…
Read articleDesigning the Value Stream
LEI's lean product and process development coaches share the fifth of several guiding principles that will help you improve the…
Read articleSynchronizing Workflows
LEI's lean product and process development coaches share the fourth of several guiding principles that will help you improve the…
Read articleTeaming Up to Overcome Common Business Challenges
By creating Collaborative Study Teams (CSTs), organizations learn together how to improve their product and process development performance.
Read articleEmpowering Frontline Operators with Human-Centric Technology: a Conversation with Natan Linder
LEI chats with author and entrepreneur Natan Linder about the potential of software to enable improvement among frontline workers.
Listen to podcastHow to Improve Your Product Development Process
Members of LEI's Lean Product and Process Development Learning Group share their successful strategies.
Read articleThe Healing Power of Lean Product and Process Development in Healthcare
Can Lean Product and Process Development or LPPD, which evolved in the automotive industry, work in healthcare? Paul Paliani, who…
Watch videoHow to Improve Decision-Making to Accelerate Product Development
GE Appliance’s next-generation dishwasher development team created a decision-flow mapping process to eliminate project delays.
Read articleLessons from a Chief Engineer on Starting and Sustaining Lean Product and Process Development
A Caterpillar executive shares his insights on applying LPPD principles.
Watch videoWhy Value-Stream Mapping is Essential to Product and Process Development
Learn about a proven way to help cross-functional teams clearly “see” their work and achieve their full potential.
Read articleHow Purpose Shapes Culture
The author of Joy, Inc. reflects on the struggles and rewards of building a leadership culture that elevates human energy.
Read articleBuilding in Learning and Knowledge Reuse
LEI's lean product and process development coaches share the third of several guiding principles that will help you improve the…
Read articleEmbracing Regret for Better Living: A WLEI Podcast with author Dan Pink
LEI chats with author Dan Pink about his new book and how it relates to retrospective outlooks and continuous improvement.
Listen to podcastUnderstanding Before Executing
LEI's lean product and process development coaches share the second of several guiding principles that will help you improve the…
Read articleDeveloping Products is a Team Sport
LEI's lean product and process development coaches share the first of several guiding principles that will help you improve the…
Read articleHow to Design Products and Services a Diversifying Customer Base Will Love
A leading innovation and design researcher shares practices that will help you develop products and services that meet the needs…
Watch videoDesigning the Future: A WLEI Podcast with Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe and former COO Jim Morgan
LEI explores the early days and product development strategies of electrical-vehicle startup Rivian.
Listen to podcastHow to Launch Great Products Your Customers Will Love
A product director describes how her team increased its new-product adoption rate from 25% to 81% in three years.
Watch videoSeeking Radical Quality in the Tech Industry
The CTO of a website design firm explains how a recent book on radical quality improvement in manufacturing inspired him…
Read articleWhy You Need a Better Process Development System
Two veteran lean product and process development coaches share the benefits of improving this critical, too often overlooked part of…
Watch videoOrganizing for Successful Product and Process Development
This short video shows how one organization brought a large team together to learn what their customers value.
Watch videoCoach’s Corner: How To Put People First Using Lean Practices
A veteran lean product and process development coach explains what leaders must do to create a people-first culture.
Read articlePeople-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…
Listen to podcastWhy the Most Important Product Leaders Can Develop is Their Team
While new technology and innovative ideas may seem paramount to achieving development excellence, it's really the people within the teams…
Watch videoLeadership Lessons from Rivian: a Clip from WLEI
In a clip from one of our most popular podcasts, LEI President Josh Howell talks with electric car manufacturer Rivian's…
Watch videoCoach’s Corner: Designing the Entire Value Stream From Concept to Product End Life
Creating an environmentally-conscious value stream can be done with LPPD principles in mind. Just ask Katrina Appell, who explains how…
Read articleCreate Profitable Value Streams
Why does lean product development focus on building profitable value streams? LEI Senior Advisor John Shook explains in this month's…
Read articleHow Designing Value Streams, Not Just Products, Creates Competitive Advantage
TechnipFMC and Pella Corporation leaders describe how lean development practices helped them develop better products, create profitable value streams and…
Watch videoCoach’s Corner: Why Your Development Plans and Obeya Practices Aren’t Working – and How to Fix Them
If your development plans and obeya practices aren't working, you're not alone. John Drogosz offers ways to get the most…
Read articleContributor’s Corner: How Synchronizing Workflows Helped TechnipFMC Develop Its Latest Robot
Following the lean product and process development principles yields significant benefits. Just ask Scott Fulenwider and Hanna Schell as they…
Read articleHow Synchronizing Workflows Eliminates Waste in Development Processes
Two leaders share their secrets of effective value-stream mapping and synchronizing workflows.
Watch videoHow Building in Learning and Knowledge Reuse Improves Product Development Success
Three leading practitioners share successful examples of how they built learning and knowledge reuse into their development process.
Watch videoHow to Save Time and Money in Innovation by Reusing Knowledge
Massive books of knowledge or huge lists weren’t very effective ways of getting the engineers he managed to reuse knowledge,…
Read articleCoach’s Corner: Understanding the Value of a Concept Paper
The Concept Paper's integral role at Toyota homes in on the process, encouraging questions and deeper understandings along the way.
Read articleFront-Load Your Design Process By Using Set-Based Design
Jeffrey Liker highlights the benefits of set-based design in this in-depth reflection of his time working in product development at…
Read articleCoach’s Corner: How to Design a Knowledge-Sharing System
Encouraging learning and knowledge reuse in your development process takes more than a system to capture it — you must…
Read articleContributor’s Corner: Learning With 10X Speed at US Synthetic
How rapid learning cycles helped the synthetic diamond manufacturer slash its idea-to-test turnaround time from 43 days to 4.5 days…
Read articleUnderstand Before You Execute
Leading practitioners share the benefits of understanding this principle of lean product and process development.
Watch videoUnderstanding the 4S Help Chain, Part 2: Lessons from NUMMI on How to Adapt the Model to Product Development
How do you create an andon signal for your product and process development process? Matt Zayko, a technical coach for…
Read articleHow the Study Phase Helps You Create More Value for Your Customers and Less Drama for Your Development Teams
A product development team volunteered to pilot applying lean product and process development principles -- and discovered how critical "understanding…
Read articleCoach’s Corner: The Four Critical Elements of Collaboration
The building blocks of purpose, process, and more lead to effective collaboration, as Eric Ethington highlights these fundamental elements and…
Read articleDevelopment is a Team Sport
Experts and executives join Jim Morgan in explaining how collaboration is vital to new product, process, and services development. Plus,…
Watch videoPi Day: Exploring the Intersection of Science and Dessert
In recognition of Pi Day, think about how you might inspire future generations to pursue careers in science and technology…
Read articleCOACH’S CORNER: The 4 Critical Elements of Collaboration
Confronting a confounding but not uncommon problem when you're trying to collaborate.
Read articleHow Ford Built an Aligned Team Using ‘Matched Pairs’
Inside a winning strategy for Ford Motor Company's new product development process.
Read articleWhy it’s Better to Focus on Value, Not Waste
Learn the benefits of shifting your focus from eliminating waste to increasing value, along with two of the best value-creating…
Read articleHow to Engage Everyone to Create a “Continuous Innovation Machine”
In a presentation to hundreds of engineers at a Fortune 100 manufacturer, Jim Morgan, an engineering PhD and former product…
Read articleLean Product & Process Development Guiding Principles At-A-Glance
An infographic summarizes the six guiding principles of lean product and process development.
Read articleThe 6 Guiding Principles of Lean Product and Process Development
Learn the six guiding principles of Lean Product and Process Development and how they can help your organization accelerate the…
Watch videoPractical Approaches for Making Innovation an Enterprise-Wide Activity
Jim Morgan tells an interviewer how to make innovation an enterprise-wide endeavor, based on his years of experience as a…
Read articleThe Role of Lean Product and Process Development in Building the Lean Enterprise
A distinguished group of lean leaders discusses the role of Lean Product and Process Development in building the lean enterprise…
Read articleChanging the Way New Value is Created with Lean Product and Process Development
Learn the six guiding principles of LPPD and why they are critical to successful new product, process, and service development.
Read articleMining the Lessons From Designing the Future
Designing the Future shares a wealth of insights that transcend product development minutiae; this articles shares the broader argument presented…
Read articleLean Management Leaders Weigh in on Climate Change, Coronavirus, Innovation, and More
Jim Womack, founding CEO of the nonprofit Lean Enterprise Institute (LEI), and Jim Morgan, an experienced product development executive, explained…
Read articleThe Second P in LPPD: Why the Future is About Lean Product and Process Development
Jim Womack, speaking at the Designing the Future summit in 2019, describes the thinking behind lean product and process development…
Read articleProduct Development Lessons from a Global Pandemic
How a Lean Product & Process Development (LPPD) approach would accelerate a Covid-19 vaccine.
Read articleUnderstanding Lean Product and Process Development: An LEI Explainer Video
Learn what Lean Product & Process Development (LPPD) is, why it's critical in developing successful value streams, why companies struggle…
Watch videoTapping Technology to Boost the Power of Lean: A Talk with Jeff Liker and Jim Morgan
What principles should guide lean thinkers as they introduce digital tools into their work? How about people, processes, and purpose,…
Read articleQuick and Practical Tips for Effective Virtual Process Mapping
In the wake of new lockdowns to halt the spread of the coronavirus, companies need ways for home-based team members…
Read articleWhy Product Focus is Customer Focus
How can you know your entire organization is aligned around delivering best in class value to your customer? Your product…
Read article“Too much, Too early” and other Common Pitfalls of Lean Product Development
Veteran product development coaches Eric Ethington and Matt Zayko provide insights about the most common mistakes they see companies make…
Watch videoExploring the Technical and Nontechnical Challenges of Being a Chief Engineer, a Candid Conversation with Two CEs (Part 2)
Chief engineers typically have strong technical skills to effectively lead and manage the work of engineers, designers, and other developers.…
Watch videoExploring the Technical and Nontechnical Challenges of Being a Chief Engineer, A Candid Conversation with Two CEs (Part 1)
Chief engineers typically have strong technical skills to effectively lead and manage the work of engineers, designers, and other developers.…
Watch videoExploring the Technical and Nontechnical Challenges of Being a Chief Engineer, A Candid Conversation with Two CEs
Chief engineers typically have strong technical skills to effectively lead and manage the work of engineers, designers, and other developers.…
Read articleAutonomous Car Beta Version, Anyone? A Q&A with Jim Womack on Disruptive Innovation
What may be ahead for carmakers, product developers, and the lean management movement in a disrupted world is the subject…
Watch videoBe 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…
Read articleHow A Virtual Obeya Can Enable Effective Teamwork
As we are working socially distanced apart we need to create systems that enable us to effectively enable people to…
Read articlePreventing Problems by Thinking Upstream: A Talk with Dan Heath
Tune in to the LEI podcast to catch a conversation with Dan Heath on his new book Upstream, which urges…
Read articleWhy You Need a Product Focus for an Enterprise Transformation: A Talk By Jim Morgan
In this talk from the 2018 Designing the Future summit, former Rivian COO and LEI Senior Advisor Jim Morgan discusses…
Read articleWhy You Need a Product Focus for Enterprise Transformation
Lean Product and Process Development serves as an enterprise activity that can engage the entire organization and improve operations and…
Read articleThe Value of A Visual Schedule is Developing Shared Understanding
People closest to the work should understand it best, so they are in the best position to share what the…
Read articleDealing with Standard Costing in Lean Organizations
If you are in the accounting department in a lean manufacturing company, and your company uses a standard costing system,…
Read articleAre These Two Non-learning Trends Hurting Your Company Culture?
The beating heart of continuous improvement is learning, concludes author and product development executive Jim Morgan, who has done pioneering…
Read articleLean Product and Process Development Learning Group Update: Technical Organizations Share Common Practices to Spread the Learning
Lean Product and Process Development Learning Group Update: Technical Organizations Share Common Practices to Spread the Learning
Read articleSmitten Engineers or Love at First Sight of a Solution?
Entrepreneur Tyler Schilling has felt the pain of engineering heartbreak – falling in love early with a solution only to…
Watch videoWarning: What You Call Kaizen May Really Be Rework
If you begin your lean management transformation on the shop floor, you run the risk of having to rework processes…
Read articleGetting the Right Product Right, and Other Product Development Trends
As a lean product and process development coach John Drogosz, PhD, works closely with companies in a variety of industries…
Watch videoProduct Development Is Where to Cut Carbon Emissions; Here’s How
Consumers want products updated more frequently, which is great for consumers and business but not so great for the environment…
Read articleThe Dark Side of Concurrent Engineering
One of the fastest ways to reduce development lead time from concept to market is to work concurrently. But as…
Read article12 Wastes of Product & Process Development
The wastes found in manufacturing are well known and relatively visible. But as you move upstream into the very different…
Read article4 Core Principles of Lean Product and Process Development Explained
The ability to consistently create “insanely great” products, as Steve Jobs would say, is the ultimate competitive advantage. But many…
Read articleAny advice for a team with a new boss who doesn’t know lean but wants us to switch to agile instead?
Dear Gemba Coach: We have a new boss who doesn’t know lean and is asking our lean team to switch…
Read articleHow Does LPPD Help Create a Lean Enterprise?
What is LPPD? As noted by Jim Morgan LPPD is a set of principles and practices that promote collaboration, transparency,…
Read articleJoin the Conversation and Stop the Rework
In the spring of 1997, as I was starting the nonprofit Lean Enterprise Institute, I visited a company that I…
Read articleCutting Carbon Emissions and Product Costs Through Lean Product and Process Development
As the need to reduce carbon emissions becomes clearer, the need to understand the impact and consciously consider it during…
Read articleMatched Pairs: To Improve Supplier Relationships, Start Inside Your Organization
Jim Morgan shares how adopting a Matched Pair strategy that teams supply chain and engineering leaders with a common plan,…
Read articleA Little Bit of Lean Product and Process Development with Very Large Results
Believing it had only enough land and budget for a badly needed new parking garage, a hospital was able to build…
Read articleLean Principles Speed Workflow in New Product Development
After successfully implementing lean principals in manufacturing, Solar Turbines took them to product development processes, reducing firefighting and boosting development…
Watch videoNot So Simple: Pioneering Lean Product Development
Jean Cunningham, LEI’s executive chair, offers lessons from her time as CFO of lean management pioneer Lantech when it successfully…
Read articleProcess Excellence Means Developing New Processes Along with New Products
The traditional way of developing new products or services in isolation from the processes that must deliver them almost guarantees…
Read articleAs someone who is new to lean, is there something I’m not being told?
Dear Gemba Coach: I’m new to lean, and I find it fascinating. Is there something I’m not being told? Is…
Read articleLean Is A Product-Driven Strategy
What is at the core of lean? Michael Balle argues, in terms of our best known example: "Toyota is not…
Read articleDesigned In Quality
Extraordinary quality is not only designed into the product, it is designed into the development process itself, says Jim Morgan,…
Read articleIs value engineering just about cutting costs?
Dear Gemba Coach: My boss has hired a consultant to do value engineering, who has us looking for design opportunities…
Read articlePi-Day, Robots, and the Joy of Making Things
To mark Engineers Week, Feb. 18-23, we’re reprising a story about celebrating Pi Day by Jim and Mary Morgan, a…
Read articleWhat If Elon Musk Took Manufacturing Cars Seriously?
Jeff Liker asks of Tesla: What if it took Toyota’s help seriously in learning basic manufacturing before undertaking disruptive technology…
Read articleLean Production Begins with LPPD
To create a "turbo-charged product-creating machine, start by designing clear processes with useful tools and a “people first” culture--which form…
Read articleTransformative Steering
After three years of working with learning partner companies, LEI’s Lean Product and Process Development group observed that the companies…
Read articleLPPD Under the Sea: Efficient Product Design with Subsea 2.0
In this excerpt from the new book Designing the Future, authors Jim Morgan and Jeff Liker share the case study…
Read articleAn Innovative Framework for Designing Better Products and Services – and a Better Future
Because of the enormous “shadow” it casts over the entire enterprise for years, product development literally designs the future of…
Read articleLean Digital Transformation
Discover how the application of lean principles can improve entire corporate ecosystems to deliver digital services and products that customers…
Watch webinarPutting Passion on Your Dashboard
Understanding what customers value requires more than a marketing approach, says Dave Pericak, explaining how he learned about customer value…
Listen to podcastReview: Designing the Future
In his review of the new book Designing The Future, Michael Ballé points out that it “makes clear the central…
Read articleBook Review: Designing the Future
Forget frameworks, processes, rote step methods. Read this book and think back to the “Why?” before the “What?” and “How?”:…
Read articleDesigning the Future Jim Morgan Talks Passion with Dave Pericak – A WLEI Special
In this special edition series, Designing the Future. Jim Morgan talks with Dave Pericak, the Chief Engineer of the 2015…
Listen to podcastGetting Started with Lean Product and Process Development
Learning and applying the concepts of LPPD is no different than learning any other new skill in life, says Andy…
Read articleDon’t Retire Your Knowledge–Reuse It
Companies can tackle the problem of the surge of retiring baby boomers by adopting the lean principle of knowledge reuse,…
Read articleLean Product and Process Development Group Update: Leading Companies Share and Learn from Common Challenges
The Lean Enterprise Institute recently organized a meeting of the Lean Product and Process Development Learning Group that brought together…
Read articleThoughts on Digitization, Work, and Continuous Improvement
The opportunities and changes presented by digitization are issues for all lean practitioners not only those in IT. Here are…
Read articleUse Lean Development Principles to Avoid “Traveling Hopefully” Down the Wrong Path
Lean development is less about creating highly detailed plans based on things you can’t possibly know in the beginning of…
Read articleToyota the Disrupter
Toyota may not be the first company you think of for disruptive product and process development, but perhaps they should…
Read articleFresh Eyes Bring Lean Problems into Clarity
“Fresh eyes” reviews are an indispensible part of developing new value. It’s amazing what you can learn from the input…
Read articleWhat is Lean Product & Process Development (LPPD)?
This animation offers an overview of this proven approach to new product, process, and service development.
Watch videoLean Lessons from Tesla
This piece throws no shade at Tesla, a company that serves as a highly-charged conduit for many a heated debate…
Read articleToyota chief engineers have no power? Really?
Dear Gemba Coach: We often hear that Toyota chief engineers have no power. Really? So how does that work? Why…
Read articleThe Road to Production Hell is Paved with Lack of LPPD
The real work of companies like Tesla who face stupendous challenges in launching a product should have happened long before…
Read articleEP. 6 Fighting Poverty with Lean Product/Process Development at MIT D-Lab
D-Lab at MIT is using LPPD thinking to help solve problems in the developing world, and are truly making the…
Listen to podcast9 Tips for Better Design Reviews
Design reviews can be the heartbeat of a healthy operating system. Here are some tips for creating better design reviews.
Read articleLean Principles Apply to Fuzzy R&D Too
Lean principles work not only for incremental innovation and repetitive R&D work but for the “fuzzy” or disruptive part of…
Read articleEp. 2: Shook & Womack discuss the creation of the books Learning to See and Managing to Learn
20 years ago the book Learning to See was published, bringing with it the concept of Value Stream Mapping. Now…
Listen to podcastBut when should we use design thinking or lean thinking?
Dear Gemba Coach: I read your latest and very interesting Gemba Coach column comparing design thinking and lean thinking. But…
Read articleUnique Industries Continue to Share and Learn from their Common Challenges: Fall 2017 LPPD Learning Group Activity
The Lean Enterprise Institute (LEI) organized the second Lean Product and Process Development (LPPD) Learning Group event of 2017, which…
Read article7 Elements of Quality on the Shop Floor
"How do you lean out a quality approach that can work on the shop floor (maybe even compatible in a…
Read articleHow Do You Know What Your Product or Service Needs to Be?
What does it take to know what your product or service needs to be? The obvious answer, it would seem,…
Read articleHow Obeya Improved Our Product Development Efforts
As a followup to John Drogosz's piece on the stages of obeya from last week, Andy Houk, a client of…
Read articleDeveloping Your Obeya, Stage-by-Stage
In his years as a LPPD coach, John Drogosz has seen that "most teams do go through several stages of…
Read articleRiding the Goodyear Wheel to Innovation Excellence
Norbert Majerus of Goodyear shares the Womack and Jones-inspired model that helped his company overhaul its product development operations.
Read articleAsk Art: Does lean compromise innovation?
To some, lean and innovation seem counterproductive. But Art Byrne is not one of them. Find out why he says…
Read articleThe Concept Paper for a New Product: The Kickstart of a LPPD Project
Lean product and process development is not an easy undertaking, neither to understand nor execute. Luckily, there is a tool…
Read articleEnabling Fast and Innovative Product Development at Bose
Bringing products to market as quickly as possible is a key cornerstone of lean product and process development. With this…
Read articleWhat are the key traits I should look for in a potential Chief Engineer? A Q&A with Katrina Appell
The Chief Engineer is a key cornerstone of lean product and process development. Katrina Appell has been asked many times…
Read articleWhat’s a good “small step” to start off my LPPD transformation? A Q&A with Katrina Appell
A lean product and process development transformation may seem daunting, but all you really need to get started is a…
Read articleHow Does Shop-Floor Lean Compare to Lean Product and Process Development (LPPD)? A Q&A with Matt Zayko
Matt Zayko was recently asked, "Is my knowledge of shop-floor lean enough for me to get by in product development?"…
Read articleInnovative Companies Continue to Learn from Each Other: Fall 2016 LPPD Learning Group Event
Find out what learnings took place at the Fall 2016 LPPD Partners' Meeting in Davis, California.
Read articleYou Can’t Manage a Secret
How did the obeya management system come to be at Toyota? How has it been refined since its beginning as…
Read articleWhen Lean Gets Personal
Lean is not simply about making things better; Jim Morgan shares how his experience with lean healthcare taught him how…
Read articleHow Do You REALLY Put Yourself in Your Customers’ Shoes? A Q&A with Eric Ethington
The customer is king in lean. That's why it's critical to know their values, needs, interests, etc. in order to…
Read articleGreen from the Start
LEI faculty member Jim Morgan shares his insights with Kelly Singer, managing editor of the Lean Green Institute, on how…
Read articleAsk Art: How is lean the opposite of everything people have been trained to do?
Art Byrne explains why, and how, lean practice is the opposite of what most people have learned about work in…
Read articleHow We A3 at Goodyear
Just as lean is situational, A3s are situational too - companies like Goodyear have a variety of types of A3s…
Read articleMaking Things Better – 5S-ing the Community
Do you use any lean tools to make your community a better place? Tony Heath has, ever since he was…
Read articleHow can kanban or lean possibly apply in an office?
Dear Gemba Coach: You often say that one can’t do lean without kanban, and that continuous improvement without kanban is…
Read articleWhat are the elements of knowledge-based product development?
Dear Gemba Coach, What would be a knowledge-based approach to product development?
Read articleWhat Do I Tell My Leaders When Experiments Fail?
When experiments fail, it's natural for a leadership team to get nervous. But in the context of lean, they shouldn't…
Read articleThe Crucible of Innovation
Innovation is key to a successful successful development project, we always read. But innovation is a fickle term that gets…
Read articlePut the ‘i’ Before the Apple
Apple is a company with a reputation for keeping its customers' needs at the forefront of its product development decisions.…
Read articleThe Hidden Waste in Inspection
When looking for areas of muda, your inspection department probably isn't the first place that comes to mind. But you…
Read articleTake Your Product Testing to the Extreme
Many of the principles of lean product and process development can seem counterproductive at first glance. For example, what if…
Read articleMore than a New Product – A New Way of Thinking
"Successful entrepreneurs, whether they are lone figures toiling in garages or supporting new work at major companies, are rightly celebrated…
Read articleLeading Companies Gather for a Two-Day Lean Learning Exchange
The latest LPPD Learning Partners' learning event was held at GE Appliance Park in Louisville, Kentucky. Thirty-five people from five…
Read articleHow important is it to consider differences in roles between our current project manager and a chief engineer?
Dear Gemba Coach: Management wants us to start lean in product development, but refuses to consider the difference in roles…
Read articleHow do I keep visual management from becoming “wallpaper?” A Q&A with John Drogosz
"Many managers try to convince everyone (including themselves) that they are visually managing their projects or departments," writes John Drogosz,…
Read articleGenerating Multiple Alternatives is Not Necessarily Waste
I was once asked: 'How is set-based design lean? Isnít designing multiple alternatives creating waste and the opposite of lean?'î…
Read articleThe Importance of Embracing Development Conflict
Conflict is something almost all professionals have been told to avoid at all costs. Jim Morgan begs to differ. "Whenever…
Read articleSeeing and Understanding the Work in Product and Process Development
"The role of most lean tools is to enable problems to be identified or to enable problems to be solved,"…
Read articleValue Stream Mapping in a Product Development Context: A Q&A with John Drogosz
Lean Product and Process Development Senior Coach John Drogosz answers countless questions about LPPD every day. Now, in his first…
Read articleCreating New Value and a Lesson in Fundamentals
After a recent trip to Toyota's headquarters in Japan, Jim Morgan made an epiphany about the Toyota Production System and…
Read articleInteroperability: The Human Dimension of Design Excellence
Did you know only 51 percent of new product development efforts are meeting schedules, and a mere 56 percent meet…
Read articlePut Your People at The Center of Your Development System
"It is your people that provide the skills, energy and creativity," writes Jim Morgan. "They are the single most important…
Read articleGoodyear’s Great Year: An LPPD Success Story
Lean product and process development (LPPD) successes can be found at companies of every size and industry - such as…
Read articleTurn on the Spigot: Create Flow in R&D
"Flow in R&D is as critical as in manufacturing," writes Terry Barnhart. "It is a little more difficult to see,…
Read articleIs your obeya room used for real learning or as a glorified action plan?
Dear Gemba Coach: How can I use an obeya for learning rather than for project management?
Read articleThree Core Capabilities in Any Lean Product and Process Development System
"Good development leaders work in earnest to create a 'safe culture' for people to share issues. Working to [drive out…
Read articleLean Product Development at Cathedral Hill Hospital
Read Baris Lostuvali's case study on bringing LPPD to the Cathedral Hill Hospital in San Francisco.
Read articleStart Up By Diving Deep
"The important thing is answering some fairly core questions about your business before spending time and money developing solutions," write…
Read articleThe Joy of Lean Innovation: A Case Study of Menlo Innovations
Richard Sheridan and James Goebel of Menlo Innovations set out to create a joyful enterprise, one that they, their team,…
Read articleValue Stream Mapping and Obeya: Key Enablers for Better Product Development
For an organization to be continually relevant and profitable, it needs to develop products and processes that consistently create value.…
Read articleDesign Thinking for Lean Practitioners
"You don’t have to look very far to see that lean problem-solving has a reputation of perfecting something that already…
Read articleSerious Games
Boaz Tamir (President of Lean Institute Israel) and lean coach Smadar Cohen Isvoranu share their reflections on a recent lean…
Read articleLean Startup: The Most Revolutionary Idea Since SMED?
"From my view, Lean Startup is quite simply the most revolutionary idea to advance the way business is practiced since…
Read articleLean Product and Process Development – Stories from the Field
Jim Morgan shares stories of his field work and research for LPPD at LEI.
Read articleLet the Work Define the Process
We’re all short on time, but think for a moment with your team about the real work to be done…
Read articleCrossing Silos: Connecting Disconnected Communities at LeanUX NYC
LEI’s John Shook will give a talk, “Lean is About Building an Organization That Learns to Learn" at this year's…
Read articleFrom Victim to Partner: The Evolution of a Manufacturing Development System
"Excellence in product development is not 'an engineering thing'; it is an enterprise thing," writes Jim Morgan. And it's helpful…
Read articleBuilding as Product
"A building project, although it has many different moving parts and players, is a product. It’s a uniquely different product…
Read articleWhy Creating Products Customers Actually Want Requires a Great Process
80% of the cost (and hence, waste) is committed for a new product or service by the time product designs…
Read articleInnovation at Smartphone Speed
Ever wonder what it takes to make those smartphone chips? Learn how IBM continuously improves smartphone technology using lean thinking…
Read articleCan creative people, like product developers, follow such a structured method such as lean?
Dear Gemba Coach: For product development you need creative (maybe even chaotic) people. Are those people suited to follow such…
Read articleJim Morgan on What It Takes to Transform An Organization’s Product Development System
Jim Morgan, Senior Advisor for Product and Process Development at LEI, shares his view of what's required for organizations to…
Read articleLean & Scrum: Complementary Methods with a Shared Lineage
Lean coach Steve Bell shares his thoughts on Jeff Sutherland's presentation at the Lean IT Summit earlier this month in…
Read articleFront-loading Product Development
Anyone in product development is familiar with the agony of late-stage changes, sometimes called loopbacks. The common advice to head…
Read articleFraming Art and Science: What Lean Knowledge Are We Going to Create Together?
"What is the purpose of lean product development? Where are its limits? Who plays, and what is 'out of bounds?'…
Read articleLean Product Development is About Thinking Horizontally in a Vertical World
Check out the blog from Day 2 of the Lean Product and Process Development Exchange (North America) conference in Durham,…
Read articleDeliberate 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,…
Read articleThe Designer’s Dilemma
Durward Sobek unpacks the "designer’s dilemma"—the situation wherein you have the MOST freedom to make decisions when you know the…
Read articleRon Pereira and Jim Morgan Discuss the Power of Lean Product and Process Development
Check out excerpts from Gemba Academy's podcast with Jim Morgan on core lean product and process development concepts, what makes…
Listen to podcastWhy Lean Startup Experiments are Hard to Design
Grace Ng, co-founder of Javelin (a software and services company dedicated to implementing Lean Startup), reflects on what she's learned…
Read articleReal Concurrent Engineering: Developing Engineers and Products Simultaneously
Jim Morgan and Durward Sobek compare and contrast Lean with traditional product and process development.
Watch videoUsing Lean To Fundamentally Rethink How We Develop Products and Services
Jim Morgan (former Global Engineering Director at Ford Motor Company) and Durward Sobek (Professor of Industrial Engineering at Montana State…
Watch videoThe 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…
Read articleStarting Up, Growing Up, and Starting Over
In an essay first published in Gemba Walks (2nd Ed) and adapted for the Post, LEI founder and thought leader…
Read articleJim Morgan on Creating the Future
Jim Morgan speaks about creating the future at the 2014 Lean Summit in Brazil.
Watch videoJohn Drogosz on Product Development
John Drogosz gives a talk on lean product development from the University of Michigan.
Read articleIs there such a thing as lean manufacturing engineering?
Dear Gemba Coach: I keep reading about lean engineering and lean design. Is there lean manufacturing engineering?
Read articleThrow Out Your Assumptions About Your Customer
LEI intern Francesco Possio reflects on his Lean Startup Machine workshop experience at the Cambridge Innovation Center.
Read articleProduct Focus = Customer Focus
"Customer-defined value creation is the first principle of lean thinking... But how do you know your hard work will deliver…
Read articleWhere Lean Meets Innovation
"Many people see Lean purely as an improvement method, not a total enterprise solution or a new way of doing…
Read articleProduct and Process Lean
Dear Gemba Coach: Lean product development guys tout the gospel of product focus as core to lean success. No argument…
Read articleWhat comes after Lean?
Lean practice is an ongoing process, it never ends. But what are we learning about the field? What comes after…
Read articleThe Faster We Go, the Behind-er We Get
Speed to market is not just about doing things faster. It’s about taking the time to do things more intentionally.…
Read articleDesigning Hospitals in Collaboration with Patients and Families
LEI coach Danielle Blais shares her reflections on a recent visit to Nemours Children's Hospital in Orlando, a hospital built…
Read articleReason #27 Why Your CEO Is Just Not That Into Lean
You know the value of Lean, but maybe your boss or a key member of the senior leadership team doesn't.…
Read articleManaging the Wisdom of the Many
"Lean organizations that depend on the qualities of rare individuals face multi-dimensional risks," writes Boaz Tamir, President of Israel Lean…
Read articleUpcycling Products Customers Actually Want
Nathan Rothstein, president of Project Repat, shares the story of how his startup evolved from an interesting idea to a…
Read articlePart 2: What is the best lean way to understand VALUE (in terms of what our customers want)?
Dear Gemba Coach, What is the best lean way to understand VALUE (in terms of what our customers want)
Read articleHow do we get started with lean tools in new product development?
Dear Gemba Coach: My company already has a deep rooted lean culture. However, it would seem that the next evolution…
Read articleWhy isn’t there more emphasis on lean engineering?
Dear Gemba Coach: Why isn’t there more emphasis on lean engineering?
Read articleThe Insourcing Boom
From industrial monument to memorial and then back again, the improving fortunes of GE’s huge Appliance Park plant illustrate the…
Read articleWhat would a lean transformation mean for the IT Department? What benefits would it create for the company?
Dear Gemba Coach: We’ve asked our IT department to be involved in kaizen events several times, but it is always…
Read articleShould I Use Lean for Headcount Reduction?
Dear Gemba Coach: My company wants to reduce its fixed costs. And as part of this my management has asked…
Read articleLean Product Development at Ford
Jim Morgan, director, Global Body Exterior and Stamping Business Unit Engineering at Ford, discusses lean product development methods in this…
Listen to podcastThe Remarkable Chief Engineer
Last week I shared this principle quoted from an unexpected source, the U.S. Marine Leadership Manual: "An individual's responsibility for…
Read articleCadence
What do the numbers 1/16, 4/04, 5/03, 5/30, 8/22, 10/23 and 12/20 have in common? They are the dates (day/month)…
Read articleKaizen or Rework?
I recently visited a contract electronics manufacturer with a striking capacity for kaizen – the steady improvement of every step…
Read articleLean Publishing and Lean Solutions
Normally I walk through other people’s industries. But today let me take a brief walk through my own: publishing. You…
Read articleLean Consumption
"Lean Consumption" is the lead article in the March 2005 issue of the Harvard Business Review. It previews the breakthrough…
Read article2024 Lean Summit Recap
LEI's Lean Summit showcased how leaders leverage lean for innovation from AI-powered healthcare to US manufacturing's revival.
Read articleUnderstanding the 4S Help Chain, Part 1: Lessons from NUMMI on How to Manage Work Disruptions
What are the four critical characteristics of an effective help chain? Matt Zayko, a technical coach for LEI's Lean Product…
Read articleMeeting the 19-Billion-Dose Challenge
What does it take to meet the historic challenge of rapidly increasing the annual global vaccine capacity from 5 billion…
Read articleReach for Your Mind Before Your Wallet
Josh Howell shares how the lean principle of reaching for your mind before your wallet can mitigate risk through careful…
Read articleTaking Time for a Year-End Reflection with the Most Popular Lean Articles, Podcasts, and Videos of 2020
This year's content featured plenty of guests, returns from lean legends, and handfuls of ways that lean has been applicable…
Read articleRemembering Norman Bodek, the “Miraculous Life” of an Author, Teacher, and Publisher of Groundbreaking Business Books
Called “Mr. Productivity” and the “Godfather of Lean,” Norman Bodek began 41 years ago translating and publishing groundbreaking books by…
Read articleArt of Lean on Work & Waste, Part 3: Excess Inventory
Take a closer look at the various types of inventory, with an eye toward identifying waste, with your guide, Art…
Watch videoArt of Lean on Work & Waste, Part 2: Overproduction
Take a closer look at and gain an in-depth understanding of the waste overproduction with Art of Lean, Incorporated President…
Watch videoTap 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…
Read articleHow to Ensure the Safety of Hospital Staff During the Pandemic
In the seventh and final post of a seven-part series, the Global Lean Healthcare Initiative focuses on keeping staff safe.
Read articleReimagining restaurants after Covid-19
The future has never looked more uncertain for restaurants and cafes. The authors share a set of practical lean tips…
Read articleHow Hospitals are Leveraging Visual Management in the Battle Against Covid-19
A Lean Global Network team of lean practitioners and coaches shares a set of lean healthcare tips hospitals can use…
Read articleLean and “emotional heijunka” in a Time of Pandemic
In this timely reflection, Jim Womack calls for "emotional heijunka": taking a deep breath, identifying the most important problems that…
Read articleAsk Art: How Does Lean Bring the Customer Directly Onto the Shop Floor?
The lean approach reduces setup times, creates flow, improves quality, lowers cost and drastically shortens lead times, says Art Byrne,…
Read articleShould I be worried that management is buying software for virtual gemba walks?
Dear Gemba Coach: A consultant is selling us “virtual gemba walks” software to schedule gemba visits with a “leader standardized…
Read articleRivian: The Electric-Vehicle Company Taking the Auto Industry by Storm
In this podcast, Rivian Founder and CEO R.J. Scaringe and former COO Jim Morgan discuss the challenges of forming a…
Read articleWhat Ever Happened to Mura?
If we really want to dig down into the root causes of waste, we need to bring the two lost…
Read articlePeople First Leadership: A Conversation by Jim Morgan with Alan Mulally
Alan Mulally is a brilliant engineer who led historic transformations as CEO of Boeing Commercial and then Ford Motor Company.…
Read articleAnd Now For Something Completely…Lean
Lean practice is no joke, argues Brent Wahba. And yet he draws lessons from great comedy to help address this…
Read articleAlan Mulally, former Ford and Boeing CEO sits down with Jim Morgan to discuss Leadership, Designing the Future Special Ep. 2
“It seemed nothing short of a miracle could save Ford Motor Company in the mid 2000s. Ford didn’t receive a…
Listen to podcastTake Baby Steps Towards Improvement
As you think about your 2019 resolutions, ask yourself if you’re making the change too big and, therefore, too scary,…
Read articleA Great Company Culture Takes Purpose
If you’re determined to move your culture from good to great, listen to CEO Tyler Schilling as he describes two…
Watch videoAsk Art: Why Should I Be Able to Make Every Product Every Day?
Working on the goal of "every product every day" helps all companies realize the benefits of lean as a strategy,…
Read articleLessons from Japan: Day Two
A group of lean learners are touring world-class enterprises in Japan; here are postcards capturing their daily lessons gleaned from…
Read articleStability Before Innovation
Given its foundational strengths of stable and robust product development, production, supplier development, and general management system, Toyota is well…
Read articleExpanding Our Perspective on Lean Management, Part 2: Lean has its Roots in Spirituality
To explore the idea that there may be other angles for understanding lean management than business or analytical perspectives, a…
Read articleAsk Art: Is there a balance between lean and full automation?
As a followup to his piece last month dealing with another aspect of lean and automation, Art Byrne now explores…
Read articleLean Roundup: Jidoka
"Jidoka captures the principle of building quality into the production process—of designing work so that the people making the product…
Read articleLean Thinking at 20, Part 2: A Q&A with Jim Womack and Dan Jones
Twenty years ago Jim Womack and Dan Jones helped launch the lean movement as we know it today with their…
Read articleInnovation in the Work
LEI's chairman explores the meaning of “innovation” and lean thinking’s relationship to it, bringing a fresh perspective to challenge traditional…
Read articleOrchestrating Your Product Development Process with Milestones
"Effective milestones are an important part of a company’s development process, especially in today’s era of team-based sprints and stand-ups,"…
Read articleDoes 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…
Read articleJust Trying “Stuff” Is Not A Real Experiment
"Today it seems like you can’t throw a stick of butter without hitting someone who is “running a lean experiment”…
Read articleWhat is leader standard work?
Dear Gemba Coach: Is there such thing as a leader standard work, and, if so, what is it?
Read articleA3 Thinking Roundup
Following last week's immensely popular Posts on the origins of A3 thinking, LEI Senior Editor Tom Ehrenfeld compiles a collection…
Read articleWhy Value-Stream Mapping is So Difficult in the Public Sector
Identifying value in an organization isn't the easiest task to accomplish. If you happen to work in the public sector,…
Read articleHow do I introduce kaizen to IT?
Dear Gemba Coach: Based on your experience, what is the best strategy to introduce kaizen as social, ongoing events without…
Read articleFord’s Focus: Lean Lessons from the Recession’s Greatest Success Story
After listening to Jim Morgan talk about Ford Motor Company's lean turnaround strategy during the Great Recession, Cam Ford (no…
Read articleGemba Walking on Mars
Lean is all around us in our daily lives - including at the movies, as Lean Institute Brasil president Jose…
Read articleRedefining Work
We need to think about redefining work. Until we – anyone who wishes to bring about organizational change – redefine…
Read articleThe Chief Cause of Problems is Solutions
"In complex organizations, we [oversimplify] problems, try to fix them as painlessly as possible, cross our fingers, and move on…
Read articleJust-in-Time Roundup: Great Lean Reads From Across the Web (Vol. 7)
Five recent articles from across the web to help you reflect on your organization's approach to lean transformation or your…
Read articleTPS 2.0?
Jim Morgan and Jeffrey Liker chime in on Toyota's announcement of their TNGA program (Toyota New Global Architecture). "The impetus…
Read articleTraining as a Crutch
Your organization has a problem. Something has gone wrong. A process that was previously working fine is no longer working.…
Read articleJust-in-Time Roundup: Great Lean Reads from Across the Web (Vol. 4)
LEI editors share an interesting assortment of lean-themed and lean-related articles from across the web, this time from Harvard Business…
Read articleTWI Job Instruction As a Way of Sharing High Value Knowledge
"Before we try to create value, we first need to study the jobs — looking for those parts of the…
Read articleLean Alone is Never Enough
Lean can help any organization become more efficient and effective, but there is much more to being successful than just…
Read articleLevelled Production: Why Do It?
Ian Glenday explains how levelled production and "economies of repetition" make way not just for stability, but improved business performance.
Read articleI want to apply lean to engineering. Any thoughts?
Dear Gemba Coach: I am the regional manufacturing VP of a large industrial company. After the latest reorganization, engineering now…
Read articleLong-term Organizational Health or Sugar High?
"We know 'flavor-of-the-month' initiatives can't be the focus of a lean leader," writes Bob Miller of the Shingo Institute. So…
Read articleContinuously Improving Lean IT at Toyota
Pierre Masai, Vice President and Chief Information Officer of Toyota Motor Europe, weighs in on the changing face of Lean…
Read articleYour Product Isn’t Everything, It’s the Only Thing
Jim Morgan, former product/process development executive at Ford (and co-author of The Toyota Product Development System), reflects on what should…
Read articleLean Consortia “Lessons Learned”
Here is a quick overview of the lessons learned by experienced leaders in our case study on lean consortia.
Read articleWhy It’s Time to Embrace Design Thinking
What do lean thinking and design thinking have to do with each other? What do practitioners in each field have…
Read articleTHE IMPROVEMENT KATA AT AEROJET
Aerojet explains how they're using VSM + the Improvement Kata to connect daily process improvement with the organization's strategy.
Watch videoEngineering Checklists
Dear Gemba Coach: How do I apply standardized work to product development?
Read articleWhat Are the Different Types of A3s?
What are the different types of A3s and what are they used for?
Read articleLean Product Development and Engineering at Ford
James Morgan, director, Global Body Exterior and Stamping Business Unit Engineering, Ford Motor Company, explains how he got skeptical engineers…
Read articleToyota 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…
Read articleHow can firing people be part of developing people?
Dear Gemba Coach: Can you explain how you reconcile the principles of "developing people" and "firing people," especially in light…
Read articleNice Car, Long Journey
2008 marks the 100th anniversary of the introduction of the Model T Ford. This truly is “the machine that changed…
Read articleGross Domestic Product Verses Gross Domestic Waste
I’ve always been fascinated by how humans count, especially the way we always seem to count the wrong things. Recently…
Read articleA Postcard — with Leadership Insights — from Nashville
A look back at LEI’s Lean Transformation Summit in 2018 shares a few tips from CEO keynoters on how to…
Read articleCreate Constancy of Purpose
Looking back on the admirable work of two lean leaders who established constancy of purpose, Jim Womack asks: what would…
Read articleHow One Company is Using Lean Fundamentals When Facing Disruption
Companies that have been built using lean principles are turning to these core ideals when confronting the unique challenges caused…
Read articleWhat should I expect as a lean manager?
Dear Gemba Coach: I’m currently a team leader, and I’ve been offered a job as a lean manager – what…
Read articleHow Can Lean Help Respond to Crises?
Although lean might seem fragile to crises, because of low inventories, it’s quite the opposite, says Michael Balle: Lean thinking…
Read articleAsk Art: What Are the Most Important Management Changes Needed to Implement A Lean Turnaround?
Lean thinking requires a totally different mindset than traditional management, argues lean veteran Art Byrne. This is probably the most…
Read articleWhy We Believe that Pull Flows Are Too Often Overlooked
In this incisive series of articles on the essential value of pulled flow, the lean sensei women argue, in the…
Read articleCan lean management help with the start of production?
Dear Gemba Coach: Can lean management help with the start of production?
Read articleIsn’t flow the ultimate aim of lean?
Dear Gemba Coach: Isn’t flow the ultimate aim of lean?
Read articleWant Better Relations and Results from Suppliers? Hear Two Execs Explain the Benefits of “Matched Pair” Leadership
New products and service development does not stop at the exterior walls of your company. Outside suppliers play critical roles,…
Watch videoLean Thinkers Are Systems Thinkers
Lean thinkers are systems thinkers, argues Rich Sheridan: "Intentional cultures thrive when the simple systems put in place reinforce every…
Read article4 Actions that Solved My Lean Management Identity Crisis
Mike Orzen had lean management down cold – or so he thought. After all, he makes a living teaching it…
Read articleCultivating Intuition at the Gemba
Our trainers conditioned us to water the seed of experience and use it not just to fire-fight but rather be…
Read articleSeafood Restaurant Fishes for Problems Customers Really Care About
The executive chef at Legal Sea Foods explains how the restaurants are cutting lead times from fishing boat to your…
Watch videoJishuken, Part Two: The Power of Self-Learning
Consider Jishuken to be an intensive effort to drive individuals and the organization to a higher level, says Mark Reich,…
Read articleCan Lean Know-How Come Home?
When you decide to stop making things, you lose the ability to make things, argues Eric Buehrens: not just the…
Read articleAs Toast Kaizen Turns 20, Bruce Hamilton Shares How This Famous Video Came About
Watch this "director's cut" video by Bruce Hamilton sharing the backstory behind what has become a classic lean resource: Toast…
Read articleLean Roundup: Respect for People
Respect for People is one of the most abstract and yet most concrete tenets of lean, a guiding principle that…
Read articleThe Quiet Factory
Could noise be considered another waste to be reduced in the system? Matt Savas ponders the implications of a Toyota…
Read articleWhy do you keep referring to Toyota; does it still matter?
Dear Gemba Coach: I’m very interested in lean, but fail to see why you guys keep referring to Toyota. What does…
Read articleAre Design Thinking and Lean Thinking the Same?
Dear Gemba Coach: As a practitioner and advocate of design thinking, I’ve been curious about lean, but it seems to…
Read articleFollow-up Webinar Q&A with Jim Lancaster, Lantech CEO and author of the Work of Management
"The Real Work of Management" webinar drew an engaged audience that wanted to know more about the daily management system…
Read articleWhy do lean management experts differ on how to apply lean principles?
Dear Gemba Coach: I’ve worked with several managers who worked at Toyota or Toyota suppliers who were considered experts in…
Read articleYou can do a lot by doing a few things
"Developing a good strategy and actually executing it is really hard," writes Leslie Barker. "What I didn’t fully realize was…
Read articleLeaders’ Actions Speak, but Their Talk Matters Too
How leaders talk to employees can either help or hurt efforts to create and sustain a culture of engagement and…
Read articleHow can I tell good lean consultants from bad?
If lean’s not a scam – but there are scammers -- how can I distinguish good lean consultants from bad?
Read articleDeveloping Better Habits Using A3 Thinking
Think A3 thinking is only for solving organizational problems? Think again! LEI faculty Katie Anderson shares her secrets for using…
Read articlePlanning Meetings Around A3s
"How many times have you sat in a meeting to discuss solving a pressing, urgent or serious problem – and…
Read articleFocus Your Operating System To Bring Your Strategy to Life
A strategy can just turn into wallpaper if you don't have the right systems in place to support it. Jim…
Read articleDoes respect for humanity mean the same as respect for people?
Dear Gemba Coach: Does respect for humanity mean the same as respect for people? I hear that the literal translation…
Read articleDo we need more research to understand what works and what doesn’t when implementing lean healthcare?
Dear Gemba Coach: There are controversies over whether lean/TPS works in healthcare or not. Authorities in lean practice suggest conducting…
Read articleIs there “mudagement” in your organization?
"Mudagement." What a strange word. But to Tony Lamberton, the concept behind that word has made all the difference in…
Read articleYou Are Not Different: Make universal lean principles work locally
Lean principles are universal, argues Orry Fiume, but the application of them is always local. Don't use this challenge as…
Read articleI’m struggling to understand exactly what people mean by a “lean system”?
Dear Gemba Coach: I’m struggling to understand exactly what people mean by a “lean system”?
Read articleLean Fitness: The Individual vs. the Organization
"For both the individual and the organization, the problem is the same," writes Dan Markovitz. "There may be a stated…
Read articleYou Can’t Learn Lean by Talking About It
Larry Navarre, instructor at Kettering University with 20 years experience in industry, shares what he's learned about teaching lean thinking.
Read articleContinuous Improvement is Good, But Is It Lean?
Take a look at your organization. Is Lean clearly directed and connected to strategy? Are senior leaders directly involved in…
Read articleRich Sheridan on How to Succeed by Building a Strong Learning Culture
Rich Sheridan, CEO of the software company Menlo Innovations, talks with LEI's Chet Marchwinski about Menlo's unique learning culture, taking…
Read articleMake Broccoli (Or Lean) Taste Better Through Experiments
"Whether it’s eating healthy, saving for retirement, or pursuing Lean, we are all biased towards maximizing the here and now…
Read articleThe Angry Team Member and the Changing Organization
Toyota veteran and lean coach Lesa Nichols reflects on one of the most challenging and ultimately rewarding conversations she had…
Read articleWhy Skill-Based Learning is Harder Than You Think
Lean practitioner Joel Gross explains why skill-based learning (like learning how to problem solve using PDSA) requires active, hands-on practice…
Read articleIt’s About Best Practicing
"Just like practicing to learn to play an instrument, practicing the Improvement Kata helps us learn to view uncertainty more…
Read articleWe found your visit rather challenging … does “real” lean have to be such a struggle?
Dear Gemba Coach: The question I’m facing internally is whether “real” lean needs to be that challenging or is there…
Read articleA 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?…
Read articleLeadership Q&A: Thomas Hartman, Senior Director, Autoliv Americas
From the LEI senior executive series on Lean Leadership: Autoliv’s Thomas Hartman describes the development of a lean problem solving…
Read 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…
Read articleChallenge: Understand and Adapt for Sales Pace Growth
It's our first Lean Challenge post! Come up with a plan to help a machining business deal with the technical…
Read articleWhy One Startup Will Never “Change the World”
Nathan Rothstein, co-founder of Project Repat, calls for founders to stop pitching their companies as "world-changing" charitable organizations. Businesses should…
Read articleAre You Making Enough Mistakes?
How comfortable are you making mistakes? Do you make it safe for your team members to make mistakes? Boaz Tamir,…
Read articleHow a Problem-Solving Culture Takes Root
Changing one's own leadership behaviors is no easy task, but it can be done. Leaders can shift away from giving…
Read articleManaging By Not Wandering Around
“We’re still very early in our journey,” says Dan McDonnell, VP of Operational Excellence at Ingersoll Rand. “But we’re following…
Read articleLean Transformation Starts with a Learning Culture
After attending a Lean Applied to Sales seminar, Tina Roach and Pete Mangan of ProMed Molded Products knew they needed…
Read articleTransforming Transformation
We are all trying to transform. That's what lean thinking and practice are all about: challenging us to reflect deeply…
Read articleAlice Lee on the Challenges and Rewards of Applying Lean to Healthcare
Alice Lee, VP of Business Transformation at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, discusses BIDMC's unique application of lean…
Watch videoShould I use an A3 report to kick off a problem-solving effort?
Dear Gemba Coach: Should I use an A3 report to kick off a problem? I encourage my managers to tell…
Read articleStarting Points for Different Value Streams
No lean transformation story is the same. Read Dan Jones's take on gaining traction for lean learning within your organization…
Read articleWhat Is Your Purpose? Who Is Your Audience?
In this article, the third in a series of starting your A3, sensei David Verble suggest that you reflect more…
Read articleVisual Management – the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Visualization is a good thing. We all know that. And many of us in the Lean Community practice it, to…
Read articleIt seems that lean these days is all about learning and coaching. What about the good ol’-fashioned just-in-time stuff of the earlier days?
Dear Gemba Coach: It seems that lean these days is all about learning and coaching. What about the good ol'-fashioned…
Read articleFulfillment-Stream Measurement Systems: Driving Action in Real Time
Derek Browning, a lean supply chain executive at LeanCor, takes time out from a lean logistics conference to answer questions…
Read articleDon’t Gloat Too Quickly – If This Could Happen to Toyota, It Could Happen to You …
Okay, so how do you respond to a "crisis"? My recent encouragement to Toyota President Akio Toyoda that "It isn't the…
Read articleThe Business Case for Kaizen
Dear Gemba Coach: I can see the benefits kaizen has brought our company, but find it hard to formulate the…
Read articleSo Long 2009 – Hello 2010!
Whew, what a year! Most everyone I know is eager to escort the hard times of 2009 out the door…
Read articleHow Much Control Do I Need (and Need to Give Up) to Lead?
Dear Gemba Coach: I am interested in setting up a team for implementing lean. So far I have been trying…
Read articleCreating Value or Shifting Wealth?
How do we judge the progress of the Lean Movement? One critical indicator is our success in extending lean thinking…
Read articleThe Big Opportunity
I started studying manufacturing performance††26 years ago this fall. We set out at MIT to perform the most exhaustive and…
Read articleLean Consumption, Lean Provision, and Lean Solutions
Here’s some good news for the Lean Community. I was recently in Spain where I toured a facility belonging to…
Read articleThe Dramatic Spread of Lean Thinking
Without question, lean thinking was born in the factory. Then lean thinking spread to logistics, to tie supplier production tightly…
Read articleGetting Back to Basics
I recently had a request from a Detroit newspaper to write a brief piece for the Motor Show on how…
Read article