Articles
Learn more about your selected topics.

Who Owns Your A3? (Part One)
LEI Director of Strategy and Operations Mark Reich shares how he learned a key lesson from his time at Toyota:…
Read article
Delivering Effectively on a Noble Mission: Community Servings Gets High-Quality Meals to the People Who Need Them
At the Lean Enterprise Institute (LEI), our partner organizations usually come to us, or a learning relationship develops over time…
Read article
How can we reconcile the lean principle of respect for people with our disrespectful atmosphere?
Dear Gemba Coach: My company's lean program stigmatizes competent people as “concrete heads” for disagreeing with the lean coaches, even…
Read article
Identifying the Organizational Problem and Opportunity at Community Servings
Lean is first and foremost about learning by doing, so during summer 2012, the LEI team headed to Community Servings…
Read article
THE ROLE OF THE LEAN COACH
Here's one for discussion... a useful way to look at Lean coaching.
Watch video
Businesses Sharing Processes Face a “Prisoner’s Dilemma”
Managers and executives today face a “prisoner’s dilemma” in which they have to “betray” other departments or companies along a…
Watch video
Leadership Q&A: Michael Hoseus, a former general manager at Toyota
From the LEI senior executive series on lean leadership: In this interview from LEI's Executive Series on Lean Leadership, Michael Hoseus, who…
Read article
Lean Business-IT Integration, Part Five: Measurement – Finding Our True North
In the fifth article of a five-part series on Lean IT, LEI faculty member Steve Bell addresses measurement. Part One…
Read article
Where Lean Leadership Begins
As with all lean practice, leadership begins with grasping the current state. For lean leaders that means understanding the external…
Watch video
How do we mid-level managers convince the CEO and senior management that adopting lean practices is worthwhile?
Dear Gemba Coach: The recent webinar on the business case for lean was particularly useful for us because it raised…
Read article
Jay Johnson, president, Plumbers Supply Company
As part of a continuing series on leading lean transformations, the Lean Enterprise Institute (LEI) interviews executives from a variety of companies…
Read 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…
Read article