Article

Lean Roundup: 5S

LEI's Senior Editor Tom Ehrenfeld provides an engaging insight into the web's best resources on 5S, a fundamental lean tool that was the first many…

by Tom Ehrenfeld

Article

Hazards at the Huddle Board: How to Coach a Team Away from “Fast Thinking” to Disciplined PDCA

Lean practitioner David Verble, an LEI faculty member and former HR manager at Toyota, is noticing that problem-solving at huddle boards tends to veer towards…

by Doug Bartholomew

Article

The Formula for a Successful Management System: LB * OS = MS

In order to reap the benefits of an effective management system it is important that the operating system and leadership behaviors be aligned and consistent,…

by James Morgan, PhD

Article

Getting Started with Lean Accounting

Before your organization gets started with lean accounting, the accounting function must first expand its thinking beyond transactions and into practices. Here's how.

by Nick Katko

Video

Getting Started with Lean Thinking and Practice

This brief animation answers the novice lean thinkers’ most common question.

by James (Jim) Womack, PhD

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

Book

The Lean Bakery

Food should be fresh. Yet we produce it in big batches. If fast-moving, small batch, one-piece flow can work with car parts, why can’t it…

by Juan Antonio Tena and Emi Castro

Press Release

Cambridge, MA-Based Lean Enterprise Institute Announces 2 In-Depth Workshops for Creating and Sustaining Continuous Improvement Cultures

The sessions at the Institute’s Cambridge office will help managers and executives build competitive advantages through daily process improvement and innovation.

Article

Ask Art: What Happens When Standard Cost Accounting Meets Takt Time?

Trying to become a lean enterprise while retaining traditional standard cost accounting is an exercise in futility. It was developed for a steady state environment…

by Art Byrne

Article

Why (and How) We Believe Lean Can Help During COVID-19

As Lean Sensei Women, we have put together some relevant lean suggestions and ideas for your organization to use (and of course, you can apply…

by Lean Sensei Women

Article

How 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 fine, but not lean. My…

by Michael Ballé

Download

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Podcast

Lean's Role in Labor Shortages and the Supply Chain

LEI leaders talk about recent blame thrown toward Lean in the supply chain, the rising labor shortage, NFT's, and more.

by Josh Howell, Matthew Savas and Richard Vellante

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

Article

Why Lean Management Requires Humble Hubris

A lean coach reflects on the mindset and related behaviors that are the standardized work of “being the change you wish to see.”

by Jim Benson

Article

Ask Art: What’s So Important About Standard Work?

Standard work is one of the cornerstones of a lean transformation. But that doesn't necessarily mean it's fully appreciated. "People often have a hard time…

by Art Byrne

Article

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

Article

Lean business-IT integration, Part Three: What is an integrated business-it value stream?

In this, the third article in a five part series on lean IT, LEI faculty member Steve Bell explores the fundamentals of integrating business and…

by Steve Bell

Article

Leadership Q&A: Michael Hoseus, a former general manager at Toyota

From the LEI senior executive series on lean leadership: In this interview from LEI's Executive Series on Lean Leadership, Michael Hoseus, who developed his lean skills rising…

by Chet Marchwinski

Article

Identifying the Organizational Problem and Opportunity at Community Servings

Lean is first and foremost about learning by doing, so during summer 2012, the LEI team headed to Community Servings (the gemba) to learn its…

by Lex Schroeder