Change: Apply LEAN to embed continual improvement

Install LEAN for a continuous improvement engine. The five steps of the LEAN process are:

1. Defining customer value;
2. Defining the value stream;
3. Making it flow;
4. Pulling from the customer back; and
5. Striving for excellence.

LEAN focuses on implementing the high-level principles of long-term thinking, eliminating waste from work processes, respecting people and partners and con-tinuously learning and improving.

Related Best Practices

• Lean
• Changing Your Organization
• The Living Company - Learning Organizations

Resources

• Triumph of the Lean Production System, John Krafcik, article (1988)
• The Toyota Way, Jeffrey K. Liker, McGraw-Hill (2004)
• Lean Thinking, James Womack and Daniel Jones, Free Press; 2nd edition edition (2003)
• Lean manufacturing page on Wikipedia
• The Lean Enterprise Institute, Inc. (LEI), founded by James P. Womack in 1997, is a nonprofit education, publishing, research, and conference organization with many resources on Lean.

Author

The author of this page is Terry Gardiner

Terry Gardiner is the founder and President of Silver Lining Seafoods and NorQuest Seafoods - a medium-size Alaska seafood processing company; and currently a Board member of the Anvil Corporation, an employee-owned company specializing in oil and gas engineering.

His co-operative experiences include member director of the Commercial Fishermen Co-operative association; creation of legislation for the Alaska Commercial Fishing and Agriculture Bank; and advisor to the US Dept of Health and Social Services for the state Health CO-OPs.

Terry served ten years as a member of the Alaska House of Representatives -several legislative committee chairmanships, Speaker of the House, Chairman of the Alaska Criminal Code Commission and board member on various state and federal boards and commissions.

His non-profit experiences include National Policy Director for the Small Business Majority in Washington DC; working with the Herndon Alliance and ForTerra.

Terry authored the leadership book, "Six-Word Lessons to Build Effective Leaders: 100 Lessons to Equip Your People to Create Winning Organizations".

For more check: Terry Gardiner Long bio