Event

Learning to See Using
Value-Stream Mapping 

Develop a blueprint of improvements that will achieve your organization’s strategic objectives.

Article

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

Improve Continuously by Mastering the Lean Kata

Lean is about learning, say Rose Heathcote and Daryl Powell. Learning to find real problems, learning to face the limits of our current knowledge in…

by Rose Heathcote and Daryl Powell

Article

Lean Enterprise Institute Calls for Ending the “Madness” in Supply Chain Strategies

Shook made his recommendations on lean supply chains to authorities on Japan, leading investors, economists, policymakers, and business executives at Bloomberg’s Rebuilding Japan Conference.

Article

Translating Collaborative Learning Into Practice

What does collaborative learning mean for lean thinkers in practice, on a day-to-day basis? In his final talk at the 2012 Lean Transformation Summit, John…

by Lex Schroeder

Article

Who Owns Your A3? (Part Two)

In this second of two columns, Mark Reich explains why people must own their A3 reports as a means of developing their ability to properly…

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

Manufacturing’s Next Chapter

Using the experience of GE Appliance and other manufacturers, LEI CEO John Shook reminds lean thinkers that much remains to be written in “manufacturing’s next…

Article

Accounting for the Right Reasons

My first job after graduating from Purdue University was as a manufacturing engineer with the Japanese company, Aisin Seiki. Aisin U.S.A. was in the process…

Video

What are the Three A's of the A3?

John Shook explains the three A's of the A3 in this video clip from the presentation that he and Lisa Yerian, chief improvement officer at…

by John Shook and Lisa Yerian, MD

Article

Inventory Turns Charts

How can you tell if your firm is really getting lean — count the future state maps on the walls, calculate the number of kaizen…

by Lean Enterprise Institute

Article

Follow-up Q & A to the Webinar "Big Company Disease: What is it? and Why Should I Care?”

The following questions represent the most-asked ones that we couldn't get to during the webinar “Big Company Disease” with presenter Pascal Dennis.

Article

How to Lead with Respect

Showing respect to employees falls far short of leading with respect. Discover the seven core practices that true lean leaders use everyday to lead with…

by Doug Bartholomew

Article

Fight for Your Lean Team

Managers, supervisors and coaches should mindfully support the storming and norming that teams require in order to grow an existing work team into a high…

Article

Be a Better Coach; Learn to “Force” Reflection Part 2: Forcing Managers and Execs to Reflect

How to hold senior-level leaders accountable for expected behaviors and practices, such as the PDCA process' "check/reflect" phase.

by David Verble

Article

Back to Basics: Jim Womack on Why Managers Need a "Lean State of Mind"

In this classic eletter from 2009, Jim Womack explains the crucial importance of a "lean state of mind" if a lean manager is going to…

by James (Jim) Womack, PhD

Video

How Building in Learning and Knowledge Reuse Improves Product Development Success

Three leading practitioners share successful examples of how they built learning and knowledge reuse into their development process.

by James Morgan, PhD

Article

As Your Customer’s Definition of Value Evolves, So Must Yours

If you don’t realize that your customer’s definition of value has expanded to include social responsibility and racial equity, you may learn so at a…

by Christopher D. Chapman

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Article

How to Improve Your Product Development Process

Members of LEI's Lean Product and Process Development Learning Group share their successful strategies.

by Matthew Savas