Recommended Lean Reading

Here is a list of books that Jim uses / recommends for the Lean White Belt series:

Essential Lean reading:

Lean Thinking, 2nd edition, by Jim Womack and Dan Jones (the bible on Lean)

The Toyota Production System, by Taiichi Ohno (what Toyota did with Lean)

Learning to See, by John Shook and Mike Rother (the basic book for Value Stream Mapping).

The Toyota Way, by Jeffrey Liker (the Toyota Culture)

The Toyota Way Fieldbook is a companion to the international bestseller The Toyota Way. The Toyota Way Fieldbook builds on the philosophical aspects of Toyota's operating systems by detailing the concepts and providing practical examples for application that leaders need to bring Toyota's success-proven practices to life in any organization. The Toyota Way Fieldbook will help other companies learn from Toyota and develop systems that fit their unique cultures.

Learning to See: Value Stream Mapping to Add Value and Eliminate Muda
When John Shook worked at Toyota he noticed that the senior experts on the Toyota Production System often drew simple maps when on the shop floor. These maps showed the current physical flow of a product family and the information flow for that product family as they wound through a complex facility making many products.

Creating a Lean Culture: Tools to Sustain Lean Conversions helps lean leaders succeed in their personal batch-to-lean transformation. It provides a practical guide to implementing the missing links needed to sustain a lean implementation. Mann provides critical guidance on developing and using the key elements of a lean management system, including: leader standard work, visual controls, daily accountability processes, maintaining a process focus, managing key HR issues, and much more.


Also recommended are these targeted, Shopfloor Series Books:

Autonomous Maintenance for Operators
Author: Japan Institute of Plant Maintenance

This book provides operators, supervisors, team leaders, and TPM coordinators with useful guidance for autonomous maintenance.

Cellular Manufacturing: One-Piece Flow for Workteams
Author: Productivity Press Development Team

Introduces production teams to Cellular Manufacturing; a process which involves rearranging traditional operational-based factory layouts into process-based cells that promote a smooth production flow by cutting waste.

5S for Operators: 5 Pillars of the Visual Workplace
Author: Productivity Press Development Team

The premiere book in Productivity Press' Shingo Prize Winning Shopfloor Series, 5S for Operators is a must read for anyone who is serious about unleashing the power of the 5S System in their workplace.

Focused Equipment Improvement for TPM Teams
Author: Japan Institute of Plant Maintenance

Focused equipment improvement (FEI) is one of the pillars of TPM. This book gives shopfloor TPM teams, including production workers, maintenance technicians, engineers, and managers, a strong framework for further improving equipment performance.

Identifying Waste on the Shopfloor
Author: Productivity Press Development Team

In Identifying Waste on the Shopfloor, the Productivity Development Team has created an excellent guide to quickly understanding, identifying, and eliminating shop floor waste. From inventory waste to process-related waste, Identifying Waste on the Shopfloor covers every type of waste generating event, policy, and mindset. The book then gives you tools to effectively eliminate them from your manufacturing processes.

Just-in-Time for Operators
Author: Productivity Press Development Team

Are you ready to implement a just-in-time (JIT) manufacturing program but need some help orienting employees to the power of JIT? Here is a concise and practical guide to introduce equipment operators, assembly workers, and other frontline employees to the basic concepts, techniques, and benefits of JIT practices.

Kaizen for the Shopfloor
Author: Productivity Press Development Team

Prepare your entire workforce to truly benefit from your next kaizen event! Now you can give your frontline employees the information they need to understand, plan, and implement kaizen.

Kanban for the Shopfloor
Author: Productivity Press Development Team

Kanban for the Shopfloor is the latest addition to Productivity's Shopfloor Series, winner of the 2000 Shingo Prize. Written at a basic knowledge level for a wide audience, Kanban for the Shopfloor gives your shopfloor workers the information they need to understand, plan, and implement kanban.

Mistake-Proofing for Operators: The ZQC System
Author: Productivity Press Development Team

Prevent defects by educating operators to control processes so mistakes are not made. Introduces front-line workers to basic ZQC methods. Easy-to-read format covers all aspects of this important manufacturing strategy.

OEE for Operators: Overall Equipment Effectiveness
Author: Productivity Press Development Team

The goal of Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) is to increase equipment effectiveness so each piece of equipment can be operated to its full potential and maintained at that level. But in order to maximize equipment effectiveness, you need a measurement tool that can help you understand your equipment problems so you can take steps to eliminate them.

Pull Production for the Shopfloor
Author: Productivity Press Development Team

Written at a basic knowledge level for a wide audience, Pull Production for the Shopfloor gives your shopfloor workers the information they need to understand, plan, and implement pull production.

Quick Changeover for Operators: The SMED System
Author: Productivity Press Development Team

Shingo's book on the SMED system redesigned for operators. Application of Shingo's techniques can reduce lead-time from weeks to days and lower work-in-process inventory and warehousing costs.

Standard Work for the Shopfloor
Author: Productivity Press Development Team

Standard Work for the Shopfloor introduces production teams and managers to basic standard work concepts and applications. Use this book to get everyone on board to maintain quality, efficiency, safety and predictability. This book will enable plant managers to explain and thereby get the support they need from higher management for their performance improvement efforts.

TPM for Every Operator
Author: Japan Institute of Plant Maintenance

Lean & Six Sigma as a Biz Strategy

"Along came lean ... and we started seeing dramatic improvements, not just in such dimensions as productivity, inventory turns and on-time delivery, but also in scrap reduction. We quickly learned that lean drives quality, big time."

Whether it is manufacturing or health care, organizations are putting quality efforts and lean in the same continuous improvement toolbox. This article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel talks about the opportunities to dovetail Six Sigma programs with Lean as a strategy to improve Wisconsin organizations.