Article

Any advice for someone (me) in sales who fails to see how lean can help?

Dear Gemba Coach: Our company has a long history of lean in manufacturing, but I work in the sales department. We have our own sales…

by Michael Ballé

Case Study

Transforming Healthcare: What Matters Most? How the Cleveland Clinic Is Cultivating a Problem-Solving Mindset and Building a Culture of Improvement

Imagine if you could create a culture of excellence and improvement in a large healthcare organization. That’s the challenge that pushed the Cleveland Clinic to…

by David Drickhamer

Article

Bringing Lean to Your Sales Team

LEI faculty member Brent Wahba discusses the importance of bringing lean into your sales department as well as where to start.

Article

Ask Art: What Do You Look At in a "Pre-lean" Company?

Art Byrne identifies factors such as excess inventory and floor space, long turnaround times, and numerous other elements to study when considering the long-term value…

by Art Byrne

Article

How to Wipe Out IT’s “Technical Debt” with PDCA

Besides bonds, bank loans, and other types of corporate debt, your company also holds "technical debt," the burden of future IT rework caused by superficially…

by Mike Orzen

Article

Ask Art: Is Lean Inward-Focused?

Art Byrne has been asked over and over if lean is inward-focused or customer-focused. There are aspects of lean that may suggest otherwise at a…

by Art Byrne

Article

Ask Art: Why Do People Reject Proof that Lean Works?

Despite compelling proof, most people will find a way to doubt the power of lean to improve their particular work, shares Art Byrne, who argues…

by Art Byrne

Article

What If Elon Musk Took Manufacturing Cars Seriously?

Jeff Liker asks of Tesla: What if it took Toyota’s help seriously in learning basic manufacturing before undertaking disruptive technology change? What if Tesla built…

by Jeffrey Liker

Article

Redefining Work

We need to think about redefining work. Until we – anyone who wishes to bring about organizational change – redefine the actual value-creating work of…

by John Shook

Article

SBP Has a Helping Hand in Hurricane Harvey

Learn how SBP (formerly Saint Bernard Project) is using lean to help victims of Hurricane Harvey and other natural disasters -- plus what you can…

by Zack Rosenburg

Article

A Fundamental Question

As I continue to visit your gemba and receive emails (over 500 and counting since I started in September), I am asked many questions. And…

by John Shook

Article

Lean Principles Are Changing How the U.S. Recovers from Tornadoes & Floods

When the flood waters of Hurricane Katrina receded, they uncovered tens of thousands of homes in devastated areas such as St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana, that…

by Chet Marchwinski and Zack Rosenburg

Article

Striking With The Zen Stick

A key part of lean coaching is the practice of striking with a zen stick, says Dan Prock. This helps break people out of their…

by Dan Prock

Article

How Lean is Ruining My Life

Since you began learning about Lean, have you noticed it's nearly impossible to get through a day without seeing opportunities for improvement everywhere? LEI Coach…

by Danielle McGuiness

Article

Grasping the Real Situation

Emmanuel Jallas visits a well-respected company that is vocal about its lean transformation. Upon further investigation he finds that like so many places, lean was…

by Emmanuel Jallas

Article

Don't Start with Tools!

Starting off your lean transformation with one of the various tools at your disposal is certainly tempting. But according to Craig Stritar and Mark Rosenthal,…

by Mark Rosenthal and Craig Stritar

Article

Coaches coaching coaches

The Olympics are always great fun. It is inspiring to see human performance taken to such astounding levels. Watching the London games, I found myself…

by John Shook

Article

And You Forgot About Overproduction

John Shook discusses waste - specifically, overproduction

by John Shook

Article

Beach Reading

The second edition of Lean Thinking has been out two months now and at least a few members of the Lean Community seem to have used it…

by James (Jim) Womack, PhD

Article

Taking a Value Stream Walk at Firm A

I was out walking through a company this past week, something I often do. The firm I visited had asked what I thought of their…

by James (Jim) Womack, PhD