Intro to Lean Thinking & Practice
This online course serves as an introduction to the key concepts, philosophies, and tools associated with lean thinking and practice.
Lean thinking and practice helps organizations become both innovative and competitive, which in turn allows them to become sustainable.
Lean is about creating the most value for the customer while minimizing resources, time, energy and effort. A lean approach to work is about understanding what’s really going on at the place where value is created, and improving the processes by which products and services are created and delivered.
This engaging, online, go-at-your-own-pace course is designed to give you an understanding of what lean is, what it might look like in your workplace, and how to start applying it.
Learning Goals
This course is for people new to the concepts of lean and continuous improvement, for individuals looking to improve their lean understanding and skills, and for organizations wanting to level set the lean knowledge of their workforce.
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Discover WHY the lean way of working is beneficial.
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Recognize WHAT contributes to a lean enterprise.
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Gain motivation to learn HOW to put lean thinking into practice as an individual, team-member, and leader.
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Ground improvement efforts, problem-solving, and people development in the work.
Time Estimates Per Unit*
*Actual times may vary.
| Pre-Work & Reflection | 2 hours |
| Unit 1: Value | 4 hours |
| Unit 2: Work | 15 hours |
| Unit 3: People | 2.5 hours |
| Unit 4: Management Systems and Lean Leader Behavior | 3 hours |
| Unit 5: Basic Thinking | 2 hours |
| Post-Work & Reflection | |
| Total | ~30 Hours |
Instructor
Senior Instructor John Shook
John Shook learned about lean management while working for Toyota for 11 years in Japan and the U.S., helping it transfer production, engineering, and management systems from Japan to NUMMI and other operations around the world. While at Toyota's headquarters, he became the company's first American kacho (manager) in Japan. In the U.S., Shook joined Toyota’s North American engineering, research and development center in Ann Arbor, Michigan as general manager of administration and planning. His last position with Toyota was as senior American manager with the Toyota Supplier Support Center in Lexington, Kentucky, assisting North American companies adopt the Toyota Production System.
Shook co-authored Learning to See, the book that introduced the world to value-stream mapping. He also co-authored Kaizen Express, a bi-lingual manual of the essential concepts and tools of the Toyota Production System. With Managing to Learn, Shook revealed the deeper workings of the A3 management process that is at the heart of Toyota’s management and leadership.
Reviews
Excellent
Patience Onakpoya
This is just what I needed. I have just recently started my career in manufacturing and what I have learnt from this course comes in handy. I highly recommen...
Read MoreThis is just what I needed. I have just recently started my career in manufacturing and what I have learnt from this course comes in handy. I highly recommend for all engineers.
Read LessExcellent insight into Lean practice
Andrew Gardler
The course was thorough in delivering the knowledge regarding Lean concepts and how they work, the content was easy to follow and was easy to digest.
The course was thorough in delivering the knowledge regarding Lean concepts and how they work, the content was easy to follow and was easy to digest.
Read LessVery insightful course!
Jennifer Segers
So you want to see change?
John Munas
Sometimes it's the littlest things that make the biggest difference. Think of the smallest problem you have a work, and you might find it isn't really a pro...
Read MoreSometimes it's the littlest things that make the biggest difference. Think of the smallest problem you have a work, and you might find it isn't really a problem if you use the tools to fix it!
Read LessDefinitely worth the time investment!
Christy Leite
This was an excellent course. The topics were organized into a method of integrating video, slides, and articles/letters providing real live examples of the ...
Read MoreThis was an excellent course. The topics were organized into a method of integrating video, slides, and articles/letters providing real live examples of the application of the thought process and lean tools. Applying lean tools without the basic lean thinking will not take us very far in a lean journey. This course provides insightful material. The exercises provide insightful questions challenging the student to reflect deeply on the material just learned and how to apply it in their daily work. I highly recommend this course to employees of all organizations from the shop floor to the CEO.
Read LessStay connected on all things lean thinking and practice.
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