There are a lot of books that describe the Toyota Production System, but most do so in a way that implies that there was a master plan to create a company-wide improvement system. But as the pioneers in The Birth of Lean explain, there was no master plan—TPS came about through experimentation, trial and error, and an evolution of ideas that shaped Toyota’s structure and management system. This is an honest look at the origins of Lean, written in the words of the people who created the system. Through interviews and annotated talks, you will hear first-person accounts of what these innovators and problem-solvers did and why they did it. You’ll read rare, personal commentaries that explain the interplay of (sometimes opposing) ideas that created a revolution in thinking. In The Birth of Lean, you’ll get a glimpse inside the minds and thought processes of the system’s creators and innovators: <li>Taiichi Ohno—the man who envisioned a way of working that would evolve into the Toyota Production System </li>
<li>Eiji Toyoda—the former Toyota President and Chairman who oversaw the development of TPS and the inclusion of TQC at Toyota</li>
<li>Kikuo Suzumura—the Toyota manager recognized as the most influential in translating Ohno’s ideas into actionable items</li>
<li>Michikazu Tanaka—the manager and executive at Toyota affiliate Daihatsu who adapted TPS to his organization </li>
<li>Kaneyoshi Kusunoki—the former head of Toyota’s production engineering organization who refined the buffering system in use in Toyota’s operations </li>
<li>Masao Nemoto—the Toyota executive central to the deployment of TQC at Toyota </li>In this English translation of a previously published Japanese book, you’ll hear the words of the people who created the countermeasures that Toyota devised to address issues as they arose—countermeasures that they continue to use and adapt today. By understanding that the great minds that developed such a powerful system started with simple experiments, you’ll be encouraged to begin your own experiments and transform your organization.

The Birth of Lean

Business & Money

Biography & History

Lean Enterprise Institute, Incorporated

What does it really mean to be a learning organization? What does it take to get the people in a nonmanufacturing environment to think of work in terms of flow? How do you build a culture based on lean principles and lead that culture as it continuously evolves? In his book, Follow the Learner: The Role of a Leader in Creating a Lean Culture, Dr. Sami Bahri describes how he and the staff in his dental practice tackled each of these questions. The book describes how their organization, the Bahri Dental Group, transformed their work and their thinking from a traditional batch-and-queue approach to one focused directly on the needs of the patient, not on the needs of the practitioners. The book is organized into three sections -- Creating the Practice, Leading the Transformation, and Discovering the Principles of Lean Leadership -- that describe a personal and professional journey in terms that anyone, at any level, can learn from. It explains the technical changes that they made in the way that they scheduled and treated patients, as well as the understanding of the human interactions needed to make this new model succeed. Along the way, it demonstrates the universal application of lean concepts and methods in an environment with which you may be familiar, but is a long way from the traditional manufacturing roots of the Toyota Production System. Dr. Bahri has created an honest and straightforward look at organizational transformation. He describes the experiments that led to rapid improvement and dramatic change, as well as the lessons he learned that changed his own definition of what it meant to be a leader. And he has created a leadership model of continuous improvement that lean thinkers and leaders everywhere can understand and relate to.

The Lean Dentist

Bahri DDS, Dr. Sami

Health, Fitness & Dieting

In 12 new essays, ranging from the provocative to the practical and written specially for the second edition of Gemba Walks author and management expert Jim Womack reflects on the past 30 years of lean, and assesses the current state of lean today.He also shares thoughts on how lean thinking and practice can continue to make the world a better place by gaining traction in areas such as government and healthcare, provides practical guidance for how leaders everywhere can realize the full benefits of a lean management system, and shares hope for continued improvement on the path to better work and more value.Over the past 30 years, Womack has developed a method of going to visit the gemba at countless companies and keenly observing how people work together to create value. He has shared his thoughts and discoveries from these visits with the lean community through a monthly letter. With Gemba Walks second edition, Womack has selected and re-organized his key letters, as well as written 12 new essays.Gemba Walks shares his insights on topics ranging from the application of specific tools, to the role of management in sustaining lean, as well as the long-term prospects for this fundamental new way of creating value. Reading this book will reveal to readers a range of lean principles, as well as the basis for the critical lean practice of: go see, ask why, and show respect.Womack explains:• whatever happened to Toyota and what happens next to lean?• how lean got its name 25 years ago; a special essay co-authored by Jim and John Krafcik, president and CEO, Hyundai Motors America• work, management, and leadership -- what is the real work of the lean leader?• don’t offshore or reshore –leanshore• why companies need fewer heroes and more farmers (who work daily to improve the processes and systems needed for perfect work and who take the time and effort to produce long-term improvement)• how “good” people who work in “bad” processes become as “bad” as the process itself• how the real practice of showing respect comes down to helping workers frame and solve their own problems• how the short-term gains from lean tools can be translated to enduring change from lean management.• how the lean manager has a “restless desire to continually rethink the organization’s problems, probe their root causes, and lead experiments to test the best currently known countermeasures”By sharing his personal path of discovery, Womack sheds new light on the continued adoption and development of the most important new business system of the past fifty years. His journey will provide courage and inspiration for every lean practitioner today.

Gemba Walks Expanded 2nd Edition

Womack, Jim

Economics

What is a lean sensei and what exactly do they do? 
 That is the key question at the heart of this important new book sharing the secret of Lean thinking, which Dan Jones calls “the alternative business model for our age.” Jones explains that “behind all the tools for operational excellence and the different management system needed to support their use, lies a much deeper challenge: to develop the human potential of everyone to create a culture of accelerating continuous improvement to meet today’s changing circumstances. Learning is at the heart of lean.”
The Lean Sensei provides both a conceptual and hands-on toolkit for developing lean leaders—and becoming one yourself. It will challenge you to reflect on how you coach; share mindful questions that improve your awareness of what to look for; and keep both you and your students focused on the signs, symptoms, and syndromes that can slow your lean success. This book, written by six lean pioneers who have experienced and followed the path of the Sensei, shares a radical vision of how to flourish with this approach. They argue that Lean is a system of gaining competitiveness by continuously developing people, and as such, sensei play a vital role in helping others deepen their thinking every day. To be effective in transforming processes and the people who operate within them, any sensei “must first learn to transform yourself,” they write. 
"No one can do lean for you. It is up to you. But you will also need a Sensei to help you discover new ways of seeing and acting, and to help everyone learn to adapt to a rapidly changing world. These lean pioneers discovered what Senseis really do. Learn from them before you search for your own Sensei.”
- Daniel T. Jones, co-author of The Machine That Changed The World, Lean Thinking, Lean Solutions and The Lean Strategy

The Lean Sensei

Ballé, Michael

Chartier, Nicolas

Coignet, Pascale

Olivencia, Sandrine

Powell, Daryl

Reke, Eivind

Management & Leadership

Steady Work Reveals How to Implement a Continuous Improvement Operating System in Quick-Service RestaurantsAuthor and former Starbucks' Regional Manager Karen Gaudet offers practical and astute business guidance plus a heartfelt personal story about how "Playbook," a continuous improvement business system, revitalized the retailer during the global financial crisis and helped employees in Newtown, CT, get through the worst week of their lives.Leaders who read Steady Work will learn: <ul><li>How the system enabled a team to successfully scale up service when a Newtown, CT, Starbucks became a center for global media and the local community after a tragic shooting at an elementary school.</li><li>How Starbucks leaders implemented the flexible operating system by becoming immersed in the daily work of frontline partners -- baristas, cashiers, and support persons -- as they made espresso drinks, brewed coffee, steamed milk, heated sandwiches, restocked food, cleaned, replenished items, and interacted with customers.</li><li>How managers observed, timed, and mapped the steps required to do the frontline work and broke every task into timed components.</li><li>How point-of-sales data was combined with work components to create standardized routines or "plays" for every job so managers and partners could respond quickly and efficiently to surges in customer demand.</li><li>How task standardization and steady work cadences improved employee productivity and turnover, and customer satisfaction.</li><li>How the operating system supported Starbucks' initiative during the financial crisis to get back to its founding principles of people, community, and good coffee.</li><li>How the shift to robust standard work routines allowed managers at busy stores to take scheduled days off -- in a row without getting frantic calls from the store </li><li>How to implement, sustain, and spread this proven framework for a comprehensive continuous improvement system -- at a single location and throughout the organization.</li></ul>Steady System Handles Restaurant Demand FluctuationsClear, concise, and actionable, Steady Work is a must-read for managers and executives in retail, restaurant, and service industries as well as continuous improvement professionals in any business. It explains in detail how a lean operating system solved a critical problem that every business faces, especially quick-service restaurants: How to steadily meet huge fluctuations in customer demand with the right levels of staff and product mix.

Steady Work

Gaudet, Karen

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