Article

Hoshin Kanri as a Foundational Piece of a Lean Management System

Hoshin kanri is more than a strategic planning tool—it’s a dynamic, socio-technical process that aligns organizations at every level through shared purpose, problem-solving, and continuous…

by Jeffrey Liker and John Shook

Article

Lean Summit Deep Dive into Hoshin Kanri

At Lean Summit 2025, Mark Reich shared insights from his decades of experience with hoshin kanri—from Toyota to LEI. He and a panel of executives…

Article

Getting Started with Hoshin Kanri: Answers to Common Questions

Read an excerpt from Managing on Purpose, a practical guide to implementing hoshin kanri. Coming March 2025.

by Lean Enterprise Institute and Mark Reich

Article

Hoshin Kanri Ensures Frontline Problem-Solving within Lean Management

In this edition of The Management Brief, Mark Reich explains how hoshin kanri links strategic goals with frontline problem-solving, creating a unified approach to continuous…

by Mark Reich

Article

Pivoting Just-In-Time with Hoshin Kanri at Toyota

Learn about the power of hoshin kanri, a systematic approach to defining a strategy and, more importantly, a management system that engages all people to…

Article

Achieve Your Deeper Goals Through Daily Work With Hoshin Kanri

Hoshin kanri is a living process of planning, testing ideas, adapting, and learning, says Jeff Liker, in which people work towards clear targets addressing the…

by Jeffrey Liker

Article

Lean Roundup: Hoshin Kanri As a Strategic Force

Hoshin kanri can support and vitalize your strategic vision as well as bolster your ongoing work, writes Tom Ehrenfeld in this Lean Roundup.

by Tom Ehrenfeld

Article

Why You Should Link Hoshin Kanri with A3 Problem-Solving

With A3 tightly linked to hoshin, an organization will not only solve problems but also will have the opportunity to innovate new ways of operating…

by Mark Reich

Article

Lean Roundup: Hoshin Kanri

Hoshin Kanri, described as "a management system that allows the organization to quickly and effectively adjust its priorities while engaging the team," has been the…

by Tom Ehrenfeld

Article

What are the pitfalls of implementing hoshin kanri?

Dear Gemba Coach: I’ve heard of hoshin kanri, and I’d really like to try it in my company – what should I keep in mind?

by Michael Ballé

Case Study

Ensuring Success of Hoshin Kanri – a Better Way to Plan and Execute Your Strategy

Logoplaste's global vice president of lean and strategy shares a few vital lessons, learned through experience, about a proven way to set and achieve your…

by Patricia Panchak

Article

Lean Roundup: How Hoshin Kanri Creates a "Line of Sight"

Like anything that is essential to lean, one must understand how hoshin kanri works from the very detailed, elemental levels of the work of the…

Article

Could hoshin kanri be too bureaucratic for my small tech company?

Dear Gemba Coach: I get frustrated with being the only one seriously concerned with experimenting and learning new systems, so I implemented hoshin kanri to…

by Michael Ballé

Article

How the Hoshin Kanri Process Coupled with Coaching Drives Lean Transformation, Part 1

A veteran coach shares a few intangible truths you'll need to know to execute an organizational transformation using hoshin kanri.

by Laura Mottola

Article

How the Hoshin Kanri Process Coupled with Coaching Drives Lean Transformation, Part 2

Discover how a coach can help leaders execute a successful organizational transformation using the hoshin kanri process.

by Laura Mottola

Article

Policy Deployment: aka Strategy Alignment, aka Hoshin Kanri (Appendix 2 to the Eletter “Lead from the Front, Lead from Behind”)

As a way of illustrating the most common misconception about hoshin kanri, namely, that it’s a top-down deployment process, LEI CEO John Shook explains in…

Article

I fail to see the difference between hoshin kanri and the strategic planning we used to do. What am I missing?

Dear Gemba Cocah: My boss has hired a consultant to take us through the Hoshin Kanri process. So far, I fail to see the difference…

by Michael Ballé

Lexicon Term

Hoshin Kanri

Hoshin Kanri (aka “policy deployment”) is a strategic framework for building sustained high performance and producing results through structured plan-do-check-act (PDCA) thinking. More specifically, it…

Article

3 Lessons Maersk Learned from Adopting Hoshin Kanri

Deploying hoshin kanri at Maersk was challenging, recounts Agne Nainyte, who shares the details of this work that helped the organization shift from firefighting to…

by Agne Nainyte

Article

Aligning Goals and Actions: Insights into Hoshin Kanri

Download The Management Brief,  featuring practical insights and case studies on using hoshin kanri to align an organization around a strategy.

by Josh Howell, James (Jim) Womack, PhD, Charlie Murphy, SVP, Turner Construction and Mark Reich