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Everything about Lean thinking
Framework aiming to provide a new way to think about how to organize human activities
Lean thinking is a business management framework made up of a philosophy, practices and principles which aim to help practitioners improve efficiency and the quality of work. Lean thinking encourages whole organisation participation. The goal is to organise human activities to deliver more benefits to society and value to individuals while eliminating waste. Wikipedia →
🧭 Start here: a 6-step reading path
- Read the overview: Lean thinkingA 5-minute orientation
- Skim a recent paper: Lean Thinking: An Essential MindsetInfluential work since 2022
- Pick up a classic book: The Trousers of RealityThe most-reprinted book on the subject
- Read the landmark paper: Applying lean thinking to new product introductionCited 130 times
- Go sideways: Lean manufacturingA closely related topic
- Go sideways: KaizenA closely related topic
📖 Definitions
Noun A methodology focused on maximizing customer value while minimizing waste through continuous improvement.
🗂️ The subject at a glance
🏆 Landmark papers (most cited)
Applying lean thinking to new product introduction
The Limits of Lean Management Thinking:
Systems thinking, lean production and action learning
Lean thinking for a maintenance process
The propagation of lean thinking in SMEs
Some challenges facing Lean Thinking in healthcare
Lean thinking in the European hotel industry
LEAN thinking in Finnish healthcare
🆕 Influential since 2022
Lean Thinking: An Essential Mindset
Reducing Changeover Time Between Surgeries Through Lean Thinking: An Action Research Project
Does organizational readiness matter in lean thinking practices? An agency perspective
The influence of lean thinking on philanthropic organisations' disaster response processes
Assessing internal organizational pathways to reduce knowledge waste: a Lean thinking perspective
📚 Books worth reading
The Trousers of RealityBarry Evans · 2009
Ranked by number of editions on Open Library, a rough measure of how lasting a book is.
🔗 Related topics
- Lean manufacturing Lean manufacturing is a management system built on three principles: produce only what is needed, when it is needed; correct abnormalities as soon as they…
- Kaizen Kaizen (Japanese: 改善; "improvement") is a Japanese vocabulary word that outside of Japan has been adopted as a concept in business studies which asserts…
- Takt time Takt time, or simply takt, is a manufacturing term to describe the required product assembly duration that is needed to match the demand. Often confused…
- Lean IT Lean IT is the extension of lean manufacturing and lean services principles to the development and management of information technology (IT) products and…
- Toyota Production System The Toyota Production System (TPS) is an integrated socio-technical system, developed by Toyota, that comprises its management philosophy and practices…
- Kanban (development) Kanban (Japanese: 看板, meaning signboard or billboard) is a lean method to manage and improve work across human systems. This approach aims to manage work…
- Value-stream mapping Value-stream mapping, also known as material- and information-flow mapping, is a lean-management method for analyzing the current state and designing a…
- The Toyota Way The Toyota Way is a set of principles defining the organizational culture of Toyota Motor Corporation. The company formalized the Toyota Way in 2001, after…