An essential guide to bringing lean to your business and your life The Lean Book of Leanprovides a succinct overview of the concepts of Lean, explains them in everyday terms, and shows how the general principles can be applied in any business or personal situation.

Acknowledgements xi Preface xiii 1 Introduction to Lean 1 The definition of Lean 1 Lean – the natural order of living 3 The shopping trip 3 2 The Core Lean Principles 7 Be customer demand-driven 8 Maximise flow 11 Identify and eliminate waste 13 Declare war on variation 16 Organise your people around outcomes you want 19 Equip your people with the right skills 21 Clear and simple measures and controls 22 Defining your “Ideal State” 24 In conclusion 25 3 More About Flow 27 Know your limitations (aka constraints) 28 Take good care of your constraint 31 Feed meeeeeee!!! 31 Keeping going 33 The Whack-a-Mole game of constraints 34 The dish of the day is ... 35 And our latest offering is ... 35 Entropy 36 Continuous improvement 36 And the moral of all this ... 38 Some everyday examples of flow – or the lack of it! 38 Traffic lights vs. roundabouts 39 The DIY enthusiast 41 The airport check-in 44 In conclusion 46 4 Lean Enterprise vs. Lean Manufacturing 47 Planning vs. execution 48 Priorities and decisions 54 Supplier relationships 56 What can we now provide? 57 Getting the best deal 58 Support functions 59 Finance 60 Engineering 61 HR 62 In conclusion 62 5 Organising for Lean 65 Turning tradition upside down 65 Getting ahead in a PCO 70 The football team 73 Theory vs. reality 74 The unfortunate but inevitable consequences 75 In conclusion 76 6 Measuring the Right Stuff and Metrics 79 What’s important? 81 Individual performance vs. team outcomes 85 The balanced scorecard 88 Controls 89 Decision trees 92 In conclusion 98 7 Lean vs. Six Sigma 99 Basis for change 100 Incremental vs. transformational 101 What comes first, Lean or Six Sigma? 103 In conclusion 104 8 The Lean Mindset 107 It’s not just about what you know 107 Lean critical mass 108 Lean leadership 111 Discipline 113 Leadership vs. management 113 Knowing the difference between accountability and responsibility 114 Consistency 114 Engagement 114 Asking the right questions 115 Process thinking 115 Transparency and visibility 116 Certification? 117 5S as a foundation for Lean 119 In conclusion 120 9 The Dreaded Business Case! 121 Business case, benefits case, case for action, best guess, what? 121 The financial justification 122 The kick in the backside 124 The motivational speech 125 Is it worth talking about? 125 Getting management bought in 125 Some business case bear traps 126 The devil’s in the detail 127 Fit for purpose 128 Where are the big fish hiding? 130 The cherry picker 130 In conclusion 131 10 Keys to Success and Sustainability 133 Top reasons for failure 133 How to avoid them 136 Buy-in at all levels 136 Get the fundamentals in place 140 Working on the right stuff 141 Life doesn’t stand still 144 In conclusion 145 11 A Few Key Tools 147 Diagnostic tools 147 5 Whys 148 Value stream mapping 148 Root cause analysis 154 Voice of the Customer 158 Implementation tools 160 Standardisation 160 “IS–IS NOT” thinking 166 Good day vs. bad day 168 Kaizen Events 170 If you don’t have rhythm, you can’t dance! 175 How it works 176 In conclusion 181 12 A Few Words On Technology 183 What’s good, what’s not 184 Closing the gaps 185 In conclusion 190 13 Getting Help 193 We are not alone 193 Partnering with other companies 194 Best practice reference visits 195 Forums, blogs and social media 198 Institutions 199 Don’t try this at home! 200 Reasons to hire and not to hire a consultant 201 Getting the right help 204 In conclusion 207 14 Results, What to Expect and What is Possible 209 Financial benefits 210 Revenue enhancement 210 Cost reduction 211 Cash flow 213 Non-financial benefits 214 Safety 214 Job satisfaction 214 Environment 216 Avoidance of whatever 216 So what’s in it for me? 217 In conclusion 218 15 In Conclusion 221 Appendix – Glossary 223 Afterword 245 Index 247

AN ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO BRINGING LEAN TO YOUR BUSINESS AND YOUR LIFE The Lean Book of Lean takes Lean out of the factory and explains its core concepts in everyday terms, demonstrating how its general principles can be applied in any professional or personal situation. Do you need to be more agile, efficient, responsive, productive and smart? This conversational guide shows you how to gain these advantages in every aspect of life and business, from your morning routine, to the factory floor, to the C-suite. Written specifically to demystify Lean, this quick, smart guide discards unnecessary specialisation and shows how Lean principles can be used every day to do more with less. Look inside to: Master the basic principles of LeanRecognise and develop Lean behaviours in your everyday lifeStudy examples of Lean practices, policies, behaviours and operationsApply Lean concepts in all areas of your life Lean is about achieving a desired outcome with the minimum amount of fuss and effort, and this hands-on guide practises what it preaches. While covering all of the essentials you need to know, The Lean Book of Lean is concise enough to be read in a couple of sittings.