Article

Are Lean Thinking and Practice Business Strategies?

Explore the nuances of leadership and strategy with Lean Enterprise Institute Chairman Peter Ward.

by Peter Ward

Article

Jim Womack Shares a Future-Focused Reflection on 'Machine'

Jim Womack shares a future-focused, humble reflection of the groundbreaking book he co-authored with Daniel T. Jones and Daniel Roos, The Machine that Changed the…

by Roberto Priolo

Article

Are You Fixing the System or Just a Person?

"How often do our solutions fix a person (or single event) rather than a system?" wonders Kelly Moore. Hopefully not too often at your organization,…

by Kelly Moore

Article

Detroit Auto Show Overshadowed by Dr. Womack's Trashing of Toyota

Jim Womack's most recent e-letter titled "Beyond Toyota"†has sparked a lively and even rancorous debate. "We all, even including Toyota, need to go beyond Toyota,"…

by John Shook

Article

Why Starting With a Model Area is Key to Lean Transformation

Lean coach Danielle Blais explains why starting small, with one team in one area, is so important to leading an effective lean transformation.

by Danielle McGuiness

Article

Are You Deploying Lean Mechanistically–or Organically?

Toyota operates on a complete system based on organic rather than mechanistic principles, argues Jeff Liker, who delineates the advantages of this approach.

by Jeffrey Liker

Article

Are You Creating the Right Environment?

Turner Construction is working hard to develop the "right environment" in which productive lean inquiry is baked into the working space of each situation their…

by Josh Howell

Article

Remembering 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 the Japanese managers who had…

by Chet Marchwinski

Article

Software’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 Toyota's dantotsu quality methods to…

by Fabrice Bernhard

Article

Crossing 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 LeanUX NYC conference, April 15-19.…

by Will Evans and Lex Schroeder

Article

How Do I Measure People Development?

Dear Gemba Coach: What is the metric for people development?

by Michael Ballé

Article

Let's Celebrate Work

Is your work meaningful or menial? LEI Senior Advisor John Shook challenges us to aim to make all work meaningful by building our businesses based…

by John Shook

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Make Using Lean Thinking to Help Solve Societal Problems Your New Year’s Resolution

The nation needs lean thinkers and practitioners to apply their problem-solving prowess to address issues of national concern.

by Christopher D. Chapman

Article

More Thinking About Lean Transformation

Recently we at the Lean Enterprise Institute have started a new research project trying to answer a simple question: “What is the best way to…

by James (Jim) Womack, PhD

Article

Cadence

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) that I sent out my…

by James (Jim) Womack, PhD

Article

Your Gemba Isn't the Only Gemba to Walk

We all know the critical importance of gemba walks in our organization. But what many of us forget is that sometimes visiting OTHER gembas can…

by Aaron Hunt

Article

Lean IT as a Factory?

Lean IT authors Steve Bell and Mike Orzen comment on a study by McKinsey & Company that 64% of executives are currently deploying Lean IT (Lean techniques…

Article

Lean Management Benefits Delayed at Airlines and Aerospace Companies by Traditional Management Practices

Lean manufacturing tools such as 5S, kaizen, and kanban are common in aerospace shops and offices, but their effect is hamstrung by the existing modern…

Article

The Best Article Articles 2013: Editors’ Picks

A roundup of high value-added stories you may have missed from The Article in 2013, but should bookmark for a rainy (or polar vortex) day,…

Article

Lean in Sales and Marketing

“Half my advertising budget is wasted – trouble is, I don’t know which half,” department store magnate and marketing pioneer, John Wanamaker, famously said. That…