Article

You 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 an excuse to avoid Lean.

by Orest (Orry) Fiume

Article

Can Lean and ERP Work Together?

With its top-down approach to materials planning and production scheduling, enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems often conflict with lean production's pull scheduling. Despite this and…

by Doug Bartholomew

Video

Why 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 bringing new products and services…

by , Eric Ethington and Matt Zayko

Article

Denver Health Becomes Profitable After Using Toyota as a Template

In a story about the lean healthcare success at Denver Health, Governing  cites five lean principles championed by the Lean Enterprise Institute: (1) Identify the…

Article

New Sloan must define new GM

James Womack, founder and chairman of the Lean Enterprise Institute, writes in Automotive News that the genius of Alfred Sloan in saving GM in the…

by James (Jim) Womack, PhD

Article

Taking the Wheel as Toyota Skids

As he assumes the presidency of Toyota Motor Corporation after a 25 year apprenticeship, Akio Toyoda embodies the company's Toyota Way philosophy. For example, in a surprise…

by Micheline Maynard

Article

Mr. Ford's Wrong Turn

In an op-ed piece in The Washington Post, James P. Womack, founder and chairman of the Lean Enterprise Institute, responds to an assertion by Ford Motor Co.…

by James (Jim) Womack, PhD

Article

Lean Enterprise Institute Responds to The Wall Street Journal's Mischaracterization of Just-in-Time

A message from LEI to the Lean Community 

Article

How is lean different from Taylorism?

In a special column, Michael Ballé breaks from his standard practice of answering readers’ questions to weigh in on the controversy comparing lean management to…

by Michael Ballé

Video

Organizing for Successful Product and Process Development

This short video shows how one organization brought a large team together to learn what their customers value.

by Lean Leaper

Article

Boston Marathon 2013 – Reflections

In business, as in sports, we like to compete. We believe competing can benefit everyone. “Everyone” means everyone – not just the “winners.” Competing is…

by John Shook

Article

Building 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 success of your organization's new…

by Lean Leaper

Webinar

Creating a Learning and Improvement Environment in a Virtual World

Mount Sinai Health System Shares its Approach to Adapting Quickly to New Realities.

by Alice Lee, Joseph Mari, Andrew Nenos and Swati Garg

Article

From Port to Plate: How Legal Sea Foods Is Improving Through Lean

Legal Sea Foods is working with LEI to help launch a movement to change everything about the way traditional restaurants work. Legal, a family business…

by Lean Leaper

Video

Clarifying the '5 Whys' Problem-Solving Method

This brief animation offers a detailed explanation of one way to discover a problem's root cause.

by Lean Enterprise Institute

Article

What are you going to do about your plant's 'cats and dogs'?

Dealing with "cats and dogs,” parts or products that are typically small volume, high variety, hard to make, or all of the above, always present a challenge.…

by Mike Wroblewski

Video

How the Coloplast Parts Distribution Center Reduced its Process Lead Time

How the Coloplast Parts Distribution Center in Tatabanya, Hungary, reduced its process lead time from 3 to 14 days to half a day.

by Roberto Priolo

Article

The Silent Killer of Health Care Transformation: Being Overburdened by Too Many Choices

Writing on the Huffington Post, Beau Keyte discusses a major problem that exists in our current system of healthcare transformation and compares the process to…

by Beau Keyte

Video

Jim Womack Explains the Origins — and Value — of Value-Stream Mapping

In this brief video, the LEI founder and senior advisor offers an introduction — or refresher on why value-stream mapping is vital to your continuous…

by James (Jim) Womack, PhD

Video

Development is a Team Sport

Experts and executives join Jim Morgan in explaining how collaboration is vital to new product, process, and services development. Plus, they offer specific ways you…

by James Morgan, PhD