Rising from the ashes thanks to lean thinking
FEATURE – This Norwegian company has come back from the brink of bankruptcy by rallying its people around a common set of values, by leaning out its processes and by involving its leadership team.
lean management
A CEO’s journey of personal transformation
INTERVIEW - Grey Dube reflects on the approach, challenges and successes of becoming a lean CEO, and on how this helped turn Leratong Hospital into a lean organization.
Metrics matter
INTERVIEW – In this thought-provoking conversation, Michael Ballé and Mark Graban discuss metrics and the managerial attitude towards tracking them.
When a top exec becomes the lean manager
OPINION – What happens when a senior executive jumps the fence and finds himself having to drive the very same change he was asking others to create?
Lean thinking for the family business
WOMACK’S YOKOTEN – The author discusses the benefits that the many family businesses making up our economies can harness from embracing lean management.
The depth of lean thinking
FEATURE – To really embrace lean thinking means to ensure the bureaucratic structures in our organizations enable our people to excel, rather than constrain their creativity.
Jim Womack on what makes for a good lean employer
WOMACK’S YOKOTEN – What does a lean employer look like? In this month’s column, the author reflects on the long-term commitment to employees a company engaged in lean thinking should make.
Learning from one another accelerates our lean progress
FEATURE – By bringing organizations together to regularly share updates on their lean journeys, Instituto Lean Management has managed to create a flourishing lean healthcare community in Catalunya. But hospitals aren't the only ones benefitting.
How we secured a future for employees at Toyota Australia
FEATURE – Last year’s shut-down of Toyota’s Altona plant in Australia moved us all. Here, the former Divisional Manager of Manufacturing offers a first-hand account of how the company made the most of a terrible situation.
Changing our dealership to changes lives in the township
FEATURE – The principal of the Halfway Ottery dealership explains how their lean culture based on respect and improvement is not only changing the business, but transforming the lives of people in the townships.
How lean is securing the future of this digital advertiser
CASE STUDY – How do you keep up with a market changing at the speed of light? The Chief Inventor of an Australian digital company explains how they are using lean to safeguard their future.
Mainstream management after decades of lean
FEATURE – Lean has now been around for quite some time, and its impact on business world is hard to dispute. But what does it tell us about traditional management practices?
Jim Womack shares his lean take on Tesla
WOMACK’S YOKOTEN – In his first column of 2018, the author looks at one of the most talked about companies in the world, Tesla, from a lean point of view.
The kind of leadership mindset making lean possible
FEATURE – Using Carol Dweck’s distinction between fixed and growth mindsets, the author discusses how leaders should think and act to make lean possible. Looks like no fixed mindset is beyond saving.
Isao Yoshino reflects on the role of management at Toyota
INTERVIEW – In this Q&A with Catherine Chabiron, Toyota veteran Isao Yoshino discusses NUMMI, management at the company, and how to change the mindsets of leaders.
Jim Womack on the importance of spreading the lean word
WOMACK’S YOKOTEN – Ahead of the holidays, for his last column of the year, the author reminds us of the power of sharing. Go out and spread the lean word!
How we pioneered lean in Italy and are still leading the way
INTERVIEW – At the European Lean Summit in Venice, our editor sat down with Italy’s lean CEO extraordinaire. His company, which serves the natural gas industry, has been on the journey for almost two decades.
Five key takeaways from our lean week visiting Toyota
ROUND-UP – The Lean Global Network’s week in Japan in September was full of learning and inspiration. We asked five LGNers to share their biggest takeaways.