About the Lean Global Network
The Lean Global Network (LGN) is a consortium of not-for-profit organizations dedicated to advancing Lean Thinking and Practice throughout the world to make things better. LGN is currently comprised of 26 institutes and partners. Through co-learning action research partnerships with universities and leading companies and organizations across all sectors, and an online community of over 300,000, LGN members gather the best in lean thinking and share it with the lean community and beyond.
In response to the impact that institutes led by lean thought leaders Jim Womack in the United States, Daniel Jones in the United Kingdom, and Jose Ferro in Brazil were having helping individuals understand the potential lean thinking and practice had to transform their organizations, a community of lean thinkers and a network of lean institutes gradually began to form around the globe. The three founding LGN institutes grew out of the MIT research team that was responsible for coining the term "lean" to describe the revolutionary production and management system they identified at Toyota, as explained in the groundbreaking book The Machine That Changed the World (Womack, Jones, & Roos). The Lean Global Network was formally chartered in September 2007.
More info on the LGN members/institutes
Our Purpose and Values
We are mission-driven individuals and organizations that take responsibility for advancing lean thinking and practice in our countries and regions in order to make things better for customers and society.
LGN members aim to:
- Enable individuals to create more value;
- Improve organizational performance;
- Minimize resource use and environmental impact;
- Provide more fulfilling work and continued personal development;
- Improve the quality of life for individuals and society;
- Raise living standards and enable prosperity.
To fulfil this collective mission, we engage in a variety of activities to 1) learn to further their own understanding of lean thinking and practices, which they 2) teach and otherwise support individuals and organizations to learn and practice lean thinking, and 3) share fundamentals and latest practices with the global community.
The Leadership team of LGN
The Leadership team of LGN consists of six Executive Committee directors from around the globe, chosen yearly by network members. Current ExCom members are: René Aernoudts (Netherlands), Oriol Cuatrecasas (Spain), Josh Howell (USA), Cevdet Ozdogan (Turkey), Roberto Ronzani (Italy), Christopher Thompson (Brazil).
Planet Lean
Planet Lean is the official online magazine of the Lean Global Network and is an important source of knowledge for lean practitioners across all sectors. The magazine publishes stories of lean transformation and videos from practitioners to better share knowledge on lean thinking and practice. The resources are created by renowned lean thought leaders and are supported by all institutes in the Lean Global Network.
Over the past ten years, Planet Lean has published over 1,000 articles and its gemba-first approach to lean content creation has made it one of the leading resources for practitioners around the world, who are interested in learning from others and advancing their lean transformations.
Events
LGN events bring together leaders, management teams and practitioners from the same organization to share their lean transformation stories. LGN events consist of:
- Summits reaching several hundred to over 1,000 attendees
- Smaller regional events
- Topic or sector-specific learning events for a few dozen to 100 participants
- The Lean Global Connection is the largest free online lean event in the world. In 2022, it attracted over 7,000 attendees with its 24 hours of live broadcast and dozens of case studies from around the globe.
More info about coming events
How to join the LGN?
LGN has a presence across the globe and a virtual presence in most of the world's countries via its online community. LGN would like to expand its reach in order to have a greater impact on the advancement of lean thinking and practice across the globe. While still looking to support the development of new institutes, LGN has regional growth strategies based on partnerships with local lean thought leaders and organizations that share both our mission and our point-of-view related to lean thinking, practice, and organizational transformation.