A Lean Safety Gemba Walk is a walk through the work area (Gemba) that focuses on the continuous improvement of safety. When conducted in a respectful manner, by skilled facilitators, Safety Gemba Walks can have a dramatic long-lasting impact on the culture of a business. Lean Safety Gemba Walks: A Methodology for Workforce Engagement and Culture Change is a follow-up to the author's bestselling book, Lean Safety, published in 2010. It is a natural progression from the philosophical overview provided by Lean Safety to the reality of the application of those principles in facilities around the world.This book presents a collection of Lean Safety Gemba Walk case studies that are based on the author's experiences over the last four years. As the stories unfold, readers are transported on a journey of discovery through the Gemba and begin to see safety differently just as those who physically participated. Illustrating the importance of employee engagement and culture change, the book provides you with the tools to engage managers, employees, and hourly staff in the continuous improvement of safety. The concepts covered will allow you to empower employees to make a difference in their safety culture rather than simply complying with safety rules.

The fact that a process produces garbage is a testament to design inefficiency, and this book explains how to use the nature of that garbage to pinpoint and eliminate those inefficiencies. Lean Waste Stream: Reducing Material Use and Garbage Using Lean Principles supplies an unprecedented look at how to address business waste in a manner that will improve your organization's environmental and financial performance.Tackling the problem of business garbage from a Lean perspective, the book maintains a focus on how to minimize garbage in ways that cut costs. It considers the problem of garbage in terms of transportation, inventory, and labor costs with an effort to connect reductions in garbage production at all stages with lower operating costs and improved productivity.Explaining how to use garbage analysis as a tool to identify the problems in process flow that produced the garbage, this book describes how to look downstream for options to reuse, repurpose, and recycle garbage to minimize landfill impact and costs. The text includes practical exercises with step-by-step instructions, as well as real-world examples that illustrate how specific wastes have been dealt with profitably by various organizations.

A facilitator has been traditionally defined as someone who helps a group of people understand their objectives, and assists them in planning to achieve them, without taking a position in the discussion. Recently, the International Standards Organization's (ISO's) implementation and other long-term, multi-year team involvement has challenged neutrality in all cases and has created a new type of facilitator, the results facilitator.The Results Facilitator: Expert, Manager, Mentor identifies the skills, training, and education that today's facilitators must possess. Outlining the new role of the facilitator, it presents powerful tools and techniques that can help facilitators achieve success. Continuous learning is a must and should follow the model-Learn-Practice-Evaluate-Act.The book demonstrates the use of Critical Success Factors (CSFs) for measuring progress toward achieving the objectives of a long-term program. It also supplies authoritative guidance on how to effectively plan, conduct, and complete meeting responsibilities. What can go wrong for a facilitator is outlined and methods to eliminate or mitigate these undesired situations are shown.The text details the core competencies that have been established by the International Institute for Facilitators (INIFAC) as well as the International Association of Facilitators (IAF). It shows where improvements can be made in each and recommends a joint IAF and INIFAC effort to consolidate into one facilitator's competency list.The book explains the need for an additional phase to the Tuckman's Group Dynamic Model. It shows several coaching processes including how to use the Toyota Production System's Kata for team improvement. The chapters have a facilitator exercise at the ends to help the reader apply their new knowledge to build their confidence and knowledge.

The problem with most Hoshin Kanri books is that they describe a complex methodology that is overwhelming to most leaders and their organizations. The need to essentially change the culture of the entire organization to make Hoshin work isn t practical for most companies when first starting out.The Basics of Hoshin Kanri uses an easy-to-follow story format to simplify and explain Hoshin Kanri a method for strategy deployment. Supplying clear descriptions of the steps of Hoshin Kanri, it advocates using Hoshin as an important tool for improving an organization s existing planning and execution system while simultaneously moving the culture of the organization forward.The book provides readers with a new understanding of Hoshin Kanri as a powerful deployment system for strategic planning, defining a direction and priorities, and aligning the organization around that direction. It begins by telling the story of a manufacturing executive that uses a simple Hoshin Kanri approach to make significant change in his personal life.Next, the book illustrates how this executive prepares to apply Hoshin Kanri to deploy strategy within his business. It concludes by presenting fascinating excerpts from the author s own interviews with experts in the field of Hoshin Kanri. All business leaders want their organizations to be "great" in all respects, but the reality is that they must get to "good" before they can consider becoming "great."

Does your organization provide customer satisfaction or does it inspire customer loyalty? Which is more important? See how lessons learned from the service sector were applied to manufacturing and other diverse settings, including the nonprofit sector and even on one's own home front.Exploring the Kano Model, The Customer-Driven Organization: Employing the Kano Model explains why just meeting customer needs is no longer enough for today's organizations. It explains how to identify true customers both internal and external.Readers will learn how to directly apply Kano principles in their own business environments or personal lives, to establish priorities, increase efficiency, improve communication, and expand on existing relationships.The book explains how to establish a value proposition for your organization and, more importantly, how and when to provide "delightful" service. Demonstrating how to incorporate the Kano philosophy into your day-to-day activities, this book is a must-read for any organization or individual looking to do more with less by achieving a truly customer-driven focus.

If you've employed consultants and embarked on a Lean transformation only to find your efforts stall after the consultants leave, this book will teach you what you must do to stay the course over the long term. Using a compelling novel format, Sustainable Lean: The Story of a Cultural Transformation illustrates the process of implementing a sustainable Lean transformation. The book follows Jim, the plant manager of an electronics firm that has already seen its first Lean initiative fail. Jim realizes that if he doesn't act quickly, his job and the jobs of everyone in the factory might be in jeopardy. Jim meets a Lean consultant who agrees to help him implement and sustain a new transformation. Readers follow along as Jim learns invaluable lessons that help him and his plant see costs plummet, on-time delivery reach nearly 100 percent, and defects drop by close to 80 percent.Using simple terms and an ongoing example, the book demonstrates how to use top-down metrics to identify strategic and tactical opportunities for improvement. It describes how to conduct Hoshin Kanri (strategic policy deployment). It also describes the relationship between top-down metrics, organizational accountability, the breaking down of "stovepipes," and the concept of "alignment" that comes about as the result of Hoshin Kanri. Detailing a data-driven methodology to help you set boundaries for effective decision making, this book will inspire manufacturers to achieve world-class production and efficiency standards one factory, one business at a time.

Things that are good for the planet are also good for business. Numerous studies from the likes of the Economist Intelligence Unit, Harvard, MIT Sloan, and others indicate that organizations that commit to goals of zero waste, zero harmful emissions, and zero use of nonrenewable resources clearly outperform their competition.Like lean thinking, greening your business is not just a nice to have ; at least not anymore. It is now a key economic driver for many forward looking firms. This book is packed with case studies and examples that illustrate how leading firms use lean and green as simultaneous sources of inspiration in various sectors of industry - from automotive and retail to textile and brewing. Take Toyota as an example, the holy grail of economic efficiency for decades. This book, shows that Toyota tops the green chart too, describing Toyota s notion of Monozukuri: sustainable manufacturing.Creating a Lean and Green Business System: Techniques for Improving Profits and Sustainability offers opportunities for innovation that can simultaneously reduce dependence on natural resources and enhance global prosperity. It explores less understood aspects of lean and green discussing their evolution independently as well as the opportunities that exist in their integration, highlighting the importance of a cultural shift across the whole company.Outlining a systematic way to eliminate harmful waste while generating green value, the book explains how to: Become economically successful and environmentally sustainable by adopting the lean and green business system model Adopt a systematic approach to become lean and green, and develop your own roadmap to success Use the cutting edge tools, techniques, and methodologies developed by the authors Translate the techniques and culture that underpin lean into environmental improvements Creating a Lean and Green Business System:

In 1791, Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton wrote that "not only the wealth, but the independence and security of a country, appear to be materially connected with the prosperity of manufacturers." Centuries later, U.S. manufacturing jobs continue to be outsourced at an all-too-rapid pace. Examining the current U.S. manufacturing environment, including the unsustainable trade imbalance, Intelligent Manufacturing: Reviving U.S. Manufacturing Including Lessons Learned from Delphi Packard Electric and General Motors outlines concrete suggestions that can help to stop the outflow of manufacturing jobs and prosperity from our shores. The book explains why most companies have not reaped the benefits promised from the implementation of the multitude of methodologies that have inundated manufacturers and outlines the steps companies can take to reverse this trend. The author's 30-year background in engineering and manufacturing, in both national and international assignments, puts him in a unique position to supply insights on foreign competition that few are able to provide. In addition to discussing the tools and concepts with a proven history of success, the book also elaborates on what doesn't work. It presents an insider's perspective of what went horribly wrong within Delphi and GM so other manufacturing companies can avoid making the same mistakes.The book describes how to effectively set up a manufacturing system and accurately measure and control direct labor. It shares easy-to-implement tools that the author developed and implemented with proven track records for improving performance. Such tools include computer programs that can provide a competitive advantage, a proven way to reduce total process cycle time, and a scientific way to establish proper lot sizes.Instead of presenting a lot of theory, the author provides ideas based on common sense and practical experience. The concepts and tools outline

The biggest competitive advantage an organization can achieve comes from the synergies created by employees skilled in enhancing organizational dynamics. The Seven Kata: Toyota Kata, TWI, and Lean Training supplies time-tested tools and advice to help readers adapt to changing conditions and outcompete their rivals. It explains why a mix of the skill sets that Training Within Industry (TWI) and the Toyota Kata (behavior patterns) teach is the ideal recipe to boost organizational synergies and enhance any Lean transformation. Winner of a 2013 Shingo Prize for Operational Excellence! Bridging the kata/TWI nexus, the book lays out a road map for Lean success. It devotes a chapter to each of the Seven Kata and suggests possible courses of action dependent on your organization's strengths and constraints. Bringing together valuable information on many of the disjointed Lean practices, it explains key Lean concepts, including gemba walks, genchi gembutsu, and PDCA. After introducing kata, it reveals the different kata inherent in the three major TWI courses and the TWI Job Safety course. It illustrates the value stream analysis relationship to the kata and the kata relationship to TWI. It also demonstrates how to use kata to solve the problems identified in your value stream analysis while simultaneously conditioning your employees adaptive thinking patterns. Supplying a clear understanding of exactly where the seven kata apply in your Lean journey, the authors include helpful guidelines for coaching a kata. They also highlight mistakes they have experienced or witnessed so you can avoid the same pitfalls. As globalism continues to make management's organizational skills a competitive differentiator, this book provides you with the tools to use the seven kata to place your orga

Visual Workplace/Visual Thinking (VWVT) was written by the acknowledged leading expert in workplace visuality. While other books touch upon visual workplace tools and practices, no other author has addressed the topic with the clarity and depth presented here. This is a seminal book, considered by many the definition of the field itself. First published by a small, independent press in 2005, the book won the prestigious Shingo Research Prize in the same year. It was then and remains the only book of its kind that describes the conceptual and practical foundation for workplace visuality, derived from dozens of hands-on implementations in some of the world's best or most challenging companies. Written not by an academic, but by a hands-on practitioner who has worked for three decades with companies in various phases of visual transformation, the work carries the reader from the usual starting point of 5S through to the full power of the visual-lean (R) alliance. The book's 11 chapters are in four sections. The first defines the visual workplace in relation to operational excellence, along with the eight building blocks of visual thinking. The next section, which targets the cultural conversion, is unexpectedly thrilling as it describes the genuine transformation of both company and employee which is at the heart of every visual conversion. Section 3 maps the logic and sequence of Dr. Galsworth's 10-Doorway template as you learn about the visual side of 5S, visual standards, visual scheduling, visual material control, visual metrics, visual problem-solving, visual leadership as well as the visual machine (R) and visual-lean (R)office. The final section of VTVW places visual management within the visual continuum, shows you how to use the ten doorways to assess your own company, and concludes with a discussion of the visual-lean alliance, illustrated through a conversion case study. With over 25 full-color albums of visual solutions, 50+ graphs and charts, a detailed table of contents and in-depth Index, this 277-page book positions the technologies of the visual workplace as a premier improvement strategy on every company's journey to operational excellence.

At last, this much anticipated book has been published and provides a much needed breath of fresh air. The Strategos Guide to Value Stream and Process Mapping has helpful tips on facilitating group VSM exercises and helps put VSM in the greater Lean context. With photos and examples of related Lean practices, the book focuses on implementing VSM, not just on drawing diagrams and graphs. This is the most comprehensive and practical book on the subject to date.

Since the success of products significantly depends on the quality of product performance, inadequate management of the product design process can lead to improper performance of products that can result in significant long-term business losses. Design for Profitability: Guidelines to Cost Effectively Manage the Development Process of Complex Products presents a design guideline for complex product design and development that enables you to cost-effectively improve the technical performance of your products and consequently improve your competitiveness in the marketplace as well as improve profitability. The book helps you improve the competitiveness of your organization in the market and eventually improve profitability. It presents a mobile robots design guideline based on an empirical study of the mobile robots design process. This is an unprecedented guideline based on the empirical investigation of the internal aspects of the design process of complex products for cost-effectively enhancing the competitiveness in the market. The book also presents a hybrid lean-agile design paradigm for mobile robots. In addition, it points out key approaches and risks to manage the product development process efficiently. In designing complex products and integrated systems, industrial designers face a dilemma of cost-effectively striking a balance between product development time and product performance attributes. This book shows how and when value is added in product design and development through identifying statistically the most and least correlated design activities and strategies to product performance attributes. Introducing a new paradigm in the field of engineering design, the book gives you key approaches to efficiently manage the product development process.

Unlike other books that promote a specific process and performance improvement discipline, this book shows organizations how to achieve success by fixing basic operational issues and problems using a broad and wide-sweeping process-based toolkit. In addition, it helps individuals who have worked in stale- or siloed-thinking enterprises make the transition to a process or improvement-oriented culture and teaches those who are unfamiliar with process tools to look at their work with a new lens and adopt a continuous improvement and analytical-thinking mindset. The authors have successfully used the various methods, tools, and concepts found in this book to overcome practical, daily problems at various organizations. This book will surely help operators, managers, practitioners, and executives, who are charged with improving processes and workplace culture, produce better products and services.

Applying lean to the supply chain is a hot topic. While lean operations can produce significant benefits to an organization, the greatest benefits will not be realized unless lean is extended beyond the organization to involve both suppliers and customers. Lean Supply Chain: Collected Practices and Cases provides a variety of case studies taken from articles previously published in Lean Manufacturing Advisor -- the monthly newsletter by Productivity Press.

Proven to increase efficiencies in the manufacturing sector, Standard Work has become a key element in reducing process waste, ensuring patient safety, and improving healthcare services. Part of the Lean Tools for Healthcare Series, this reader-friendly book builds on the success of the bestselling, Standard Work for the Shopfloor. Standard Work for Lean Healthcare explains how to apply this powerful Lean tool to increase patient safety and reduce the cost of providing healthcare services. It illustrates how standardization can help you establish best practices for performing daily work and why it should be the cornerstone for all of your continuous improvement efforts. Presented in an easy-to-assimilate format, the book describes work in terms of cycle time, work in process, takt time, and layout. It also: Defines the key concepts of standard work and explores the essential elements of a continuous improvement culture Provides detailed guidance through the process of creating, maintaining, and improving standards Illustrates the application of standardization and standard work in healthcare with a range of examples Includes access to helpful websites and further reading on standardization, standard work, the 5S System, and Lean healthcare A joint effort between the Rona Consulting Group and Productivity Press, this book presents invaluable insights from pioneers in Lean thinking to help you avoid common mistakes that can lead to unnecessary wastes of time and resources. Each richly illustrated chapter includes a chapter summary, reflection questions, and margin assists that highlight key terms, how-to steps, and healthcare examples making this an essential resource for healthcare professionals starting out on their Lean journey.

Si usted quiere entender como se origino el sistema de producci?n Toyota y por que tiene exito, debe leer este libro. Aqui encontrara una introducci?n avanzada del justo a tiempo. El mundo le debe mucho a Taiichi Ohno. Nos ha demostrado como fbricar con mayor eficacia, como reducir costos, como producir una mayor calidad, y a examinar atentamente como nosotros, en nuestra calidad de seres humanos, trabajamos en una fbrica. El relato que Ohno cuenta en este libro es brillante. Deberia ser leido por todos los gerentes. No es solo un relato acerca de la fabricaci?n; sino tambien sobre como dirigir exitosamente una empresa.

Based on the author's years of experience working with Toyota's master teachers and with companies in the midst of great change, this book follows the story established in the Shingo Prize-winning book, Andy and Me: Crisis and Transformation on the Lean Journey.In a cool and readable style, Andy and Me and the Hospital: Further Adventures on the Lean Journey follows Tom Pappas's relationship with Andy Saito, a reclusive retired Toyota guru. Tom and Andy are pulled into a major New York City hospital in crisis. Can they translate and apply Toyota's powerful methods and thinking to save the hospital from disaster?Using a compelling novel format, the book demonstrates how to apply Lean thinking in a healthcare setting. It illustrates the situations, characters, and plant politics you will most likely face as you progress through your Lean healthcare journey. As the story unfolds, you will discover the way of thinking and behavioral changes required to implement proven Toyota Production System (TPS) methods, tools, and thinking in healthcare. You will learn: What a Lean transformation in a hospital should look like The overall approach you need to take The leadership and behavioral changes required How to improve processes and better develop and engage people How to build and sustain a Lean management system How to translate and apply Deming's "profound system of knowledge" This book provides clear and simple guidance on what it takes to successfully implement Toyota methods in healthcare settings. It shares helpful insights on how the different elements need to fit together to deliver measurable process improvement results. Just like its bestselling predecessors, this book includes study questions after each chapter to support learning and to facilitate discussion in workshops or classroom settings.

Your customers want innovation and value, and they want it now. How can you apply Lean principles and practices throughout your enterprise to drive operational excellence, reduce costs while improving quality, enable efficient growth, and accelerate idea-to-value innovation? Shingo Prize-winning author Steve Bell and other thought leaders show you how guiding you to more effectively align people and purpose, promote enterprise agility, and leverage transformative IT capabilities to create market-differentiating value for your customers. Combining research and insight with practical examples and in-depth case studies that can be put to immediate use, Run Grow Transform: Integrating Business and Lean IT is a must read for leaders and senior managers from all disciplines, showing you how to: Drive enterprise outcomes and strategy through adaptive Business/IT learning Maximize collaboration, leverage the knowledge and skills of your teams Overcome enterprise-wise obstacles commonly encountered by Agile development teams Improve infrastructure reliability and cost, learn how to get the best results from operations frameworks including ITIL, COBIT and ISO 20000 Apply Lean principles to Enterprise Architecture and Business Process Management disciplines Make informed, value-based choices about outsourcing Tap into big data and social media to listen to and interact with the virtual voice of your customers Streamline management, collaboration, and communication systems Identify and measure the right things that lead to customer value What readers are saying: This book focuses on the most critical and challenging issue for any aspect of the development or use of IT: creating a collaborative learning culture.Jeffrey K. Liker, Shingo Prize-winning Author of The

These 20 essential keys have helped many manufacturing companies integrate the top manufacturing improvement methods into a coordinated system for drastic and continual improvement in involvement, quality, and productivity. This program provides the strategies necessary to achieve ambitious goals through a five-level scoring system. The revised edition is improved with upgraded criteria for the system to guide your company to world-class status. New material and updated layout make implementation even easier. Two valuable case studies demonstrate effective use by both a Japanese company and an American manufacturer.

In an environment where many organizations think of human capital assets as little more than expense items that impact the bottom line, this book will help human resource (HR) professionals initiate a shift toward a new culture in which management views employees as true partners in achieving organizational success.The Field Guide to Achieving HR Excellence through Six Sigma provides detailed guidance on how to utilize the Six Sigma methodology and the TLS Continuum to achieve the business model that is required to thrive in today's business environment. The book demonstrates a clear path to continuous improvement that is based on the practice of spreading quality throughout the organization so that it becomes everyone's responsibility.This book is the sequel to Achieving HR Excellence through Six Sigma. In this book, Daniel Bloom provides a road map on how to implement the concepts found in the first book.The book begins by explaining how to create an HR Center of Excellence and then provides an understanding of the define-measure-analyze-improve-control (DMAIC) process and its implementation for HR. This road map will help you determine where your organization is failing to meet the voice of the customer.The book presents proven Six Sigma solutions for initiating and sustaining organizational change as well as strategies that allow leadership to make adjustments to processes if your organization falls short of meeting the need of the customer. It includes case studies of organizations that have successfully utilized the Six Sigma methodology to improve workflow and correct HR issues including the actual project documents used to implement the methodology.A word of caution: If the reason you are looking to improve work flow is to find ways to reduce headcount, then this is not the book for you. Instead, if you are looking for a guide that can help you become a strategic partner, administrative expert, employe

There is a seismic shift underway in the employer/employee relationship that is redefining the nature of jobs and careers. Sole proprietors and independent contractors now represent more than 20 percent of the workforce, and that number is expected to reach nearly 50 percent within the next 10 years.Despite the proliferation of people engaging in freelance and contract work, however, the path to success is not always easy. Free Agent: The Independent Professional's Roadmap to Self-Employment Success details a pragmatic action plan to help you succeed in this new skills marketplace.Supplying practical strategies to help you get ahead of the change and become an in-demand resource with a steady stream of income, the book describes how work is changing and what is driving the growth of freelancing. Next, it explains how to get your new independent venture off the ground, how to find your first client, and what you need to know to avoid common pitfalls.To transition successfully from employee to free agent, you must have a plan to avoid the pitfalls and a support team to give you the expertise on complicated topics such as business structure, contracts, and accounting. This book is your guide to successfully navigating the transition.Detailing the tools and practices that will enable you to succeed as a free agent, the book includes case studies and interviews with those who have already made the transition. The book concludes by describing how to optimize your new freelance work style to make the most of your time and energy, so you can focus on doing more of what you love.

Mastering Complexity is designed to help readers develop and maintain logical, adaptable solutions to business problems. It demonstrates how to visualize business dependency connections with a square spreadsheet called a Dependency Structure Matrix (DSM). Once the links representing dependencies are visualized in a DSM, it can be used to improve the business. The book focuses on simple practices that the reader can easily understand to solve business problems on his or her own. The book begins by identifying how logical elements are represented in a DSM spreadsheet. It shows where the elements can run in parallel, where the elements must run in sequence, and where the elements are tangled together. The book shows how to untangle these elements so they can be understood. The book then demonstrates how to build a dependency map in a DSM spreadsheet. It defines the various types of dependencies and shows how to order the spreadsheet elements to create a workflow. The author shows how to assign risk levels to the spreadsheet elements so a workflow can be optimized to manage risk. The book concludes with a look at several software tools that can be used to create, manipulate, and analyze DSM spreadsheets. It discusses how the tools work and where they can be ordered.

Updating the tools, principles, and methods presented in the bestselling first edition, this updated edition explains how to implement the authors proven improvement methodology that unifies the Theory of Constraints with Lean and Six Sigma. The book uses a compelling novel format to demonstrate how to achieve superior on-time delivery along with unprecedented levels of profitability.Besides explaining how to implement the authors unified improvement methodology, the book arms readers with a proven method for convincing management that using the improvement methodology outlined in the text will lead to significantly higher levels of profitability.This edition has been updated with an expanded appendix that includes more in-depth discussions of the tools covered in the first edition. This edition also sheds more light on the reasoning behind why the very best improvement results can be achieved by the unification of the Theory of Constraints, Lean, and Six Sigma (TLS). The appendix also provides additional detail about how the concepts covered in the book can be applied to your organization.The primary theme throughout this book is the focus on the unity and enhancement of improvement tools and methods. The book includes an appendix that allows readers to explore, in much more detail, the principles, tools, and techniques presented in the novel portion of the book.The authors detail a pioneering pathway for significant gains in profitability and market share for any company choosing to implement the methodologies that are presented. Some of the concepts, tools, and principles presented may seem counterintuitive to many readers, but if the principles are understood and followed, the exceptional results are sure to follow

Although batching often appears more efficient than one-piece flow for individual tasks, the practice creates waste for other parts of the organization that more than offset its perceived benefits. A silent productivity killer, batching is an extremely difficult mindset to overcome and, as a result, numerous Lean initiatives have been destroyed by it.This book argues the case for one-piece flow over batching. It identifies the eight root causes of batching, the wastes created from batching, how batching drives the eight wastes, and the advantages of one-piece flow.One-Piece Flow vs. Batching: A Guide to Understanding How Continuous Flow Maximizes Productivity and Customer Value provides concrete arguments as to why batching, while sometimes necessary, is never the most efficient solution for most processes. It explains why flow, especially one-piece flow or continuous flow, should always be your ultimate objective when driving for increased productivity in any process.Using case studies to illustrate how to channel current mindsets toward one-piece flow as the preferred operation, the book is designed to support anyone involved in continuous improvement activities. It provides the tools and understanding you will need to overcome resistance to implementing flow and, in particular, one-piece flow processes whether it be on the factory floor or in a banking office.

How many IT books have you read that are long on theory and short on practical application? They are interesting, but not very impactful. They provide a framework from which to think and understand, but lack a process from which to act. Addressing this urgent need for the IT community, The Lean IT Field Guide explains how to initiate, execute, and sustain a lean IT transformation.Illuminating a clear path to lean IT, the authors integrate more than two decades of combined experience to provide you with a proven method for creating and sustaining a true lean IT workplace. This field guide not only highlights the organizational techniques of more agile and lean processes, but also the leadership work required to help management adopt these new approaches.Based on proven methods from different industries, including banking, manufacturing, insurance, food and beverage, and logistics, the book details a clear model that covers all the components you need to achieve and sustain a favorable work environment and culture in support of lean IT.Filled with anecdotes and case studies from actual businesses, the book includes pictures, templates, and examples that illustrate the application of the lean methods discussed.