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…

Article

Lean Consortia: Sharing Experiences, Learning from Others

Manufacturers, healthcare organizations, government agencies, and others gain powerful benefits through collaborative learning and networking in lean consortia. Consortium members trade improvement ideas and experiences,…

Book

Getting the Right Things Done

For companies to be competitive, leaders must engage people at all levels in order to focus their energy and enable them to apply lean principles…

by Pascal Dennis

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…

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

What are the biggest obstacles you are facing in your lean journey?

Company culture, weak management support, lack of lean knowledge – even federal budget sequestration – were among the answers you gave when we asked, "What…

Article

Align Your Continuous Improvement Efforts: Practical Tips from 4 CEOs in 4 Major Business Sectors

Four CEOs who are leading lean management voices in the critical economic sectors of manufacturing, supply chain, healthcare, and education, offer advice on aligning your…

by Chet Marchwinski

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

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

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…

Case Study

Leveraging Lean to Get the Oil Out

Aera Energy LLC, a California oil and gas company, relies on lean principles to improve key processes, including drilling new wells, repairing existing ones, and…

by Doug Bartholomew

eBook

The Lean Manager

For many companies, the most important problem is not doing lean; it is becoming lean. How can they advance beyond realizing isolated gains from deploying lean tools, to fundamentally changing how…

by Freddy Ballé and Michael Ballé

Article

Developing Students, Improving Universities

"Today, lean thinking in higher education is uncommon," writes Theresa Coleman-Kaiser of Michigan Tech University. "As a rule, institutions that teach lean continuous improvement in…

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

Article

Standardized Work for Kaizen: Define, Achieve, Maintain, Improve

We can all agree that kaizen (continuous improvement to create more value with less waste) is important, but do you have standardized work for kaizen?…

by Tracey Richardson

Article

What is the Theory of Constraints, and How Does it Compare to Lean Thinking?

The following article reviews the Theory of Constraints (TOC), first published in The Goal by Eliyahu M. Goldratt and Jeff Cox in 1984, and compares…

by Sergio Rattner

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

Continuous 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 specifying the process improvements needed?…

by Dave LaHote

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

Ugly Babies, Silent Enemies and Other Short Stories from a Continuous Improvement Conference

Besides the lessons, challenges, and results that belong to a company’s lean transformation, there are personal journeys as well. Here’s a summary of some we…

by Chet Marchwinski