Articles
Learn more about your selected topics.
Why We Are a Nonprofit (And How You Can Benefit)
Every month I get calls and emails from folks thinking the Lean Enterprise Institute (LEI) is a consulting business and…
Read article The Prospects for Lean
As we all return to work in the New Year, I wanted to provide a few thoughts on the prospects…
Read article Is Lean Mean?
I was recently asked a question that demanded an answer: “How can you advocate ideas that improve efficiency but destroy…
Read article The Beginner’s Guide To Lean
Toyota has just overtaken Ford as number two in the global motor industry, and at the Tokyo motor show confirmed…
Read article Is Lean Green?
People often tell me that lean thinking must be “green” because it reduces the amount of energy, manufacturing space, and…
Read article The Lean Service Machine
The Harvard Business Review details how Jefferson Pilot Financial applied lean principles to its insurance business, not only to cut…
Read article The Power of a Precise Process
When I first started to study the Toyota Production System many years ago, I was struck by something very simple:…
Read article Dueling Sensei and the Need for a Standard Operating System
Recently I witnessed a sight I’ve seen too many times before. I was visiting a company when a new sensei…
Read 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…
Read article Jim Womack on how lean compares with Six Sigma, Re-engineering, TOC, TPM, etc., etc.
It amazes me, but I still get lots of questions about how “lean” compares with Six Sigma, Total Productive Maintenance,…
Read article
Creating the Course and Tools for a Lean Accounting System
A unit of Parker Hannifin used a financial kaizen and other lean accounting techniques to bridge the gaps between shop-floor…
View case study We Have Been (Lean) Thinking
In the many years since we launched Lean Thinking, events amply confirm our long-held view that managers will try anything…
Read article