Article

Book Value: The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up

Is clutter at work or at home getting you down? LEI Senior Editor Tom Ehrenfeld reviews Marie Kondo's new book, "The Life Changing Magic of…

by Tom Ehrenfeld

Article

Using the Logic of Lean Thinking to Combat Racism, Part 1 of 2

To create new anti-racist organizations, leaders need to fully embrace the five principles of lean: value vs. waste, value stream, flow, pull, and perfection. But…

by Christopher D. Chapman

Article

How Can Lean Fit Into Industry 4.0?

Lean thinkers should never become slaves to technology, says Andrew Quibell, who sketches out ways to reflect on how lean can support and enable the…

by Andrew Quibell

Video

The Art of Lean: Must-Knows for Coaching the Corrective-Action Phase of Problem-Solving, Part 2

Part 2 of 2. Building from part 1, Art further explains the A.D.P. methodology by exploring how it applies to the countermeasures you can take…

by Art Smalley

Article

Dueling Methods: 8D and A3

One of the scores of questions sent in by attendees at our recent webinar on the A3 problem-solving process was what's the difference between it…

by David Verble

Video

Exploring 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. But perhaps their greatest talent…

by Chet Marchwinski

Article

A 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 not only the garage but…

Article

In Lean We Trust; Especially in a Crisis 

When phone calls and cancellations started coming in, the COVID-19 crisis became more than a news report about somewhere else. We knew we had our own situation to deal with. 

by Josh Howell

Article

Asking Questions

It is always refreshing going to the gemba – actually walking a value stream all the way through an organisation. This is where I learn…

by Dan Jones

Article

We're Ernie and Tracey Richardson: Ask Us Anything

It's our second "Ask Me Anything" post, this time with lean coaches Tracey and Ernie Richardson. With a combined 54 years of experience at Toyota,…

by Ernie Richardson and Tracey Richardson

Article

The Deeper Purpose of Problem-Solving

Why problem-solving in a lean setting is a unique opportunity to think about how we think and develop expertise where it counts.

by Régis Medina

Article

How Menlo's Virtual Teams Are Lighting the Way Forward

While Menlo Software continues to adjust to the never-ending changes caused by COVID-19, founder Rich Sheridan takes solace that they are teeing up these challenges…

Article

Learning to Face Challenges with Agility and Resilience

In this excerpt from his book The High-Velocity Edge, Steven Spear explains how Toyota managed to adapt quickly to a catastrophic fire at one of…

Article

Unique 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 brought together the diverse industries…

by Matt Zayko

Article

Single Week Exchange of Business

You’ve no doubt heard of a single-minute exchange of dies in manufacturing, but what happens when you need to changeover your entire customer base in…

by Josh Howell

Article

Is Lean Mean?

I was recently asked a question that demanded an answer: “How can you advocate ideas that improve efficiency but destroy jobs? What the world needs…

by James (Jim) Womack, PhD

Article

How Lean Experts Create a Pipeline for Leadership Talent

Developing a pipeline for diverse leadership talent is a key principle for leading companies--and the topic of a session led by two Herman Miller leaders…

by Lean Leaper

Article

Executive Egress: Why Many Healthcare CEOs Distance Themselves from Lean Transformations. An Interview with Jack Bowhan

A troubling issue in lean healthcare that Jack Bowhan has seen too many times is a lack of CEO engagement during transformations. In his first…

by Jack Bowhan and Cameron Ford

Article

Yokoten Across the World

The trick to yokoten, the term Toyota uses for the horizontal transfer of information and knowledge across an organization, is to be sure that someone…

by James (Jim) Womack, PhD

Article

Sometimes Smaller is Better - and Better is Lean

LEI CEO Eric Buehrens reflects on how lean relates to the deeply hopeful story of renewal, reconstruction, and citizen engagement in places that have been…

by Eric Buehrens