Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Winner of a Shingo Research and Professional Publication Award

The new edition of this Shingo Prize-winning bestseller provides critical insights and approaches to make any Lean transformation an ongoing success. It shows you how to implement a sustainable, successful transformation by developing a culture that has your stakeholders throughout the organizational chart involved and invested in the outcome. It teaches you how to successfully navigate the politics in cross-functional process improvement projects, and to engage executives in ways that are personally meaningful to them. If you are a leader at any level in an organization undergoing or considering a Lean transformation, this is where you should start and finish ... and start again.

Read the Reviews:

"This book became an instant classic in the literature of professional operations. In this third edition, David Mann updates and expands his teaching with five additional years of valuable experience and expertise derived from his very active, multi-industry consultancy. I have benefitted greatly from his writing and wholeheartedly recommend this book to be top-of-the desk of any serious Lean practitioner or performance transformation leader."
-- Raymond C. Floyd, two-time Shingo Prize Winner, President and CEO, Plasco Energy Group

"David Mann builds substantially on his seminal work on the Lean management system. The book is full of new insight and polishes the most important ideas about Lean management. The new chapter on engaging executive leadership alone is worth the price of the book."
-- Peter Ward, Richard M. Ross Professor and Chair, Department of Management Science, Fisher College of Business, The Ohio State University

"This book has long been my 'go-to' guide on Lean management practices that help create a culture of continuous improvement and excellence. I have recommended the book to countless healthcare leaders who rave about how helpful it is in translating Lean principles into daily management behaviors. The healthcare examples make it even more relevant as a must read for any hospital leader who aims to move beyond Lean tools.."
--Mark Graban, author of Lean Hospitals, co-author of Healthcare Kaizen and The Executive Guide to Healthcare Kaizen

"As more companies outside the manufacturing sector pursue Lean transformations, Creating a Lean Culture is as critical a resource as ever. Breaking down silos and navigating tricky internecine politics remain a momentous challenge, and Mann's case-based insights are an invaluable tool."
-- Peg Pennington, Executive Director, Center for Operational Excellence, Fisher College of Business, The Ohio State University

"David has once again taken the topics that trip us up and put structure and guidance around them. His new work on executive involvement is worth the price of the book all by itself. Many of us have struggled with this topic and David provides a path to success."
-- Elizabeth M. King, Vice President Organizational Effectiveness, ESCO Corporation

New in the Third Edition :

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• List of Figures (p. xv)
• List of Tables (p. xvii)
• Acknowledgments (p. xix)
• Introduction (p. xxi)
• Section I What is the Lean Management System? Principal Elements of Lean Management
• 1 The Missing Link in Lean: The Management System (p. 3)
• Developing a Lean Culture (p. 3)
• Don't Wait-Start Now! (p. 4)
• Your Personal Lean Journey (p. 5)
• Lean Management Focuses on Process (p. 8)
• Lean Management and Continuous Improvement (p. 8)
• Parallel Implementations of Lean Production and Lean Management (p. 10)
• Changing from Conventional Production (p. 11)
• Getting Rid of the "Do Whatever It Takes" Approach (p. 11)
• Lean Processes Need Lean Management (p. 12)
• Focusing on the Process Produces Results (p. 13)
• Engaging Executives with Lean: A Different Approach (p. 15)
• Understanding the Executive Perspective (p. 18)
• Lean Orthodoxy-Not the Answer (p. 19)
• Tending to the Chain of Command (p. 21)
• Measuring the Process against Expected Outcomes (p. 21)
• How Can You Recognize Culture? (p. 22)
• Overcoming Cultural Inertia (p. 24)
• New Settings with Old Habits Won't Work (p. 25)
• How to Change Your Culture (p. 26)
• Extinguishing versus Breaking Habits (p. 27)
• Make Sure You Don't Slip Back into These Old Habits (p. 28)
• Summary: Technical and Management Sides Need Each Other (p. 28)
• Study Questions (p. 29)
• 2 Lean Management System's Principal Elements (p. 31)
• The Principal Elements of Lean Management (p. 31)
• Lean Elements Need to Work Together (p. 33)
• Execution Is Key to Lean Management (p. 35)
• Implementing Lean Management: Where to Begin? (p. 36)
• First, Improve Stability (p. 38)
• Start with Visual Controls (p. 39)
• When Implementing Leader Standard Work First Can Be Effective (p. 41)
• Leader Standard Work in Automated Production Environments and Process Industries (p. 41)
• Does Lean Management Apply in Process Industries? (p. 43)
• Process Focus and Leader Standard Work in Process Production (p. 46)
• When Leader Standard Work Can Come First (p. 47)
• Summary: Four Principal Elements of Lean Management (p. 48)
• Study Questions (p. 49)
• 3 Standard Work for Leaders (p. 51)
• Leader Standard Work Is Process Dependent (p. 52)
• A Recipe for Success (p. 52)
• Leader Standard Work as Interlocking Layers (p. 56)
• Leader Standard Work Shows What to Do-and What Not to Do (p. 57)
• Leader Standard Work Should Be Layered from the Bottom Up (p. 62)
• Designed Overlap in Leader Standard Work (p. 63)
• What Does Leader Standard Work Cover? (p. 64)
• Team Leaders (p. 65)
• Supervisors (p. 66)
• Value Stream Managers (p. 66)
• Form and Format for Leader Standard Work (p. 67)
• Leader Standard Work: Compliance or Improvement? (p. 68)
• The Role of Training for Lean Implementation (p. 72)
• Summary: Leader Standard Work Is Element 1 of Lean Management (p. 73)
• Study Questions (p. 74)
• 4 Visual Controls (p. 75)
• Visual Controls Focus on Process and Actual Performance (p. 77)
• A Variety of Tools to Visually Monitor Processes (p. 78)
• Hour-by-Hour Production Tracking Charts (p. 78)
• How Visual Controls Enforce Discipline (p. 79)
• Job-by-Job Tracking Charts (p. 83)
• Priority Board Hourly Status (p. 90)
• Completion Heijunka (p. 92)
• Between-Process Tracking (p. 94)
• Noncyclical Process Tracking (p. 96)
• Maintaining Visual Trackers and Acting on the Information They Provide (p. 100)
• Benefits of Using Simple Visual Controls Instead of More Sophisticated Information Technology (p. 102)
• Both Visuals and Automated Tracking (p. 105)
• Accuracy versus Precision of Visual Information (p. 106)
• Proximity of Visual Controls (p. 108)
• Flexibility of Visual Controls (p. 108)
• Visual Controls and the "Fingerprint Factor" (p. 109)
• The Power of Networks (p. 109)
• Intangible Benefits of Visual Controls (p. 111)
• Summary: Visual Controls and the Data for Lean Management (p. 111)
• Study Questions (p. 112)
• 5 Daily Accountability Process (p. 115)
• How Conventional Production Differs from Lean (p. 115)
• Three Tiers of Daily Meetings (p. 116)
• Tier 1 Team Leader and Production Crew (p. 119)
• Tier 2 Supervisor and Team Leaders (p. 120)
• The Green Dot/Red Dot Convention (p. 122)
• Day-to-Day Project Management (p. 125)
• Tier 3 Value Stream Leader with Supervisors and Support Groups (p. 125)
• Daily Accountability Exposes and Solves Problems Quickly (p. 126)
• Further Note on Task Assignments and Follow-Up (p. 126)
• It's Not about the Boards! (p. 129)
• Early Boards as Experiments (p. 130)
• Accountability Boards and Geographically Dispersed Locations (p. 130)
• Flat-Screen Monitors (p. 131)
• The "Vacation Paradox"' and Capacity for Improvement (p. 132)
• Improve-the-Business Capacity (p. 133)
• Impact of a Daily Few Minutes (p. 137)
• Accountability in Office Processes (p. 137)
• Summary: Daily Accountability Improves Processes (p. 138)
• Study Questions (p. 139)
• 6 Lean in Administrative, Technical, and Professional Work (p. 141)
• Lean Management in Enterprise Business Processes (p. 142)
• Lean: Not Just for Manufacturing Anymore (p. 146)
• Resistance: Accountability and Visual Controls (p. 146)
• Making Performance Visible-and Comparable (p. 147)
• Enterprise Value Streams and Their Political Environment (p. 154)
• Organizational Governance for Enterprise Value Streams (p. 159)
• Lean Leader: Point of Contact with Executive Team (p. 165)
• Process and Structure (p. 165)
• RG&A Workshop Participation (p. 166)
• RG&A Reviews Two-Way Commitments (p. 167)
• Summary (p. 168)
• Study Questions (p. 169)
• Section II Learning Lean Management and Production: Supporting Elements of Lean Management
• 7 Learning Lean Management: The Sensei and Gemba Walks (p. 173)
• Your Sensei and "True North" Provide Direction (p. 175)
• Gemba Walking (p. 278)
• How Lean Typically Starts and Grows (p. 180)
• Gemba Walking Teaches How to See in New Ways (p. 181)
• Seeing through the Surface (p. 132)
• Focus on Both Processes-Technical and Management (p. 184)
• Being the Sensei: Gemba Walking as a Structured, Repeatable Process (p. 189)
• Letting "Students" Know What to Expect (p. 189)
• Summary: Learning Lean Management by Being a Sensei's Apprentice (p. 191)
• Study Questions (p. 192)
• 8 Being the Sensei: Engaging Your Executives in the Lean Initiative (p. 193)
• Symptoms: Orphans, New Sheriffs, and the Next Big Thing (p. 195)
• When Gemba Walks Are Not Enough (p. 198)
• A Framework for Understanding the Engagement Problem (p. 200)
• Redesigning Executive Gemba Walks (p. 201)
• Experiential Learning (p. 202)
• Repeatable Process (p. 202)
• Lean Management as Structure (p. 202)
• Nuts and Bolts of Executive Gemba Walks (p. 203)
• Strategic Breakdowns Are Management Problems (p. 204)
• "New" Executive Gemba Walks: Tools, Structure, Process (p. 207)
• Summary (p. 211)
• If the Student Hasn't Learned, the Teacher Hasn't Taught (p. 211)
• Consider Executives as Customers (p. 212)
• Study Questions (p. 213)
• 9 Leading a Lean Operation (p. 215)
• Nine Leadership Behaviors to Learn (p. 215)
• Attribute 1 Passion for Lean (p. 218)
• Willingness to Make Personal Change (p. 219)
• Attribute 2 Disciplined Adherence to Process-Accountability (p. 220)
• Attribute 3 Project Management Orientation (p. 222)
• Attribute 4 Lean Thinking (p. 224)
• Lean Thinking Looks for the Sources of Problems (p. 225)
• Attribute 5 Ownership (p. 225)
• Attribute 6 Tension between Application and Technical Details (p. 225)
• Attribute 7 Balance between Production and Management Systems (p. 228)
• Attribute 8 Effective Relations with Support Groups (p. 230)
• Attribute 9 Don't Confuse Measures of Process with Measures of Results (p. 231)
• A Measure of Process or Result? (p. 234)
• Frequency of Observation (p. 235)
• Lean Leaders Recognize Imperfection (p. 236)
• Summary: Consistent Leadership Is the Crucial Ingredient in Lean Operations (p. 237)
• Study Questions (p. 238)
• 10 Solving Problems and Improving Processes-Rapidly (p. 239)
• A Root Cause Orientation to Problem Solving (p. 239)
• Workarounds Are Anti-Improvement (p. 241)
• A New Way of Thinking (p. 241)
• Should Perfection Be a Goal? (p. 243)
• Structured Problem-Solving Process (p. 244)
• Who Makes Improvements? (p. 245)
• Short-, Medium-, and Longer-Term Improvements (p. 245)
• Recommending Future Improvements (p. 247)
• Managing Improvement Activities (p. 247)
• Improvement Resources and Skills (p. 250)
• A Rapid Response System and Implications for Support Groups (p. 251)
• Support Group Response Time (p. 252)
• Leadership Alignment versus Changing Reporting Relationships (p. 252)
• Summary: Finding the Root Cause of Problems Is Key (p. 257)
• Study Questions (p. 258)
• 11 People-Predictable Interruption, Source of Ideas (p. 259)
• Whom Do I Expect Today? The Attendance Matrix (p. 260)
• Who Starts Where Today? The Tabor and Rotation Plan (p. 262)
• Completing the Labor Planning Suite (p. 262)
• Who Is Qualified for Which Jobs? (p. 264)
• How Can I Encourage Participation? The Idea System (p. 265)
• Who Will Work on Suggested Improvements? (p. 266)
• A Visual Improvement Suggestion Process (p. 266)
• Making Listening Visible (p. 269)
• Quick Wins and Just Do It Processes (p. 272)
• Lean Training for Line Leaders (p. 273)
• Where Conventional Training Fits In (p. 273)
• Knowledge, Practice, Feedback: The Role of Coaching (p. 276)
• What If Frontline People Don't Buy into Lean? (p. 277)
• Responding to Low Performers (p. 278)
• Progressive Discipline (p. 279)
• Human Resources Policy Issues in Lean Management (p. 280)
• Involve HR in Lean (p. 280)
• Summary: Resolving People Issues to Support Lean Production and Lean Management (p. 282)
• Study Questions (p. 283)
• 12 Sustain What You Implement (p. 285)
• You Already Have a Management System! (p. 286)
• What Should You Do? (p. 288)
• Rely on Leader Standard Work (p. 289)
• Maintain the Visual Controls (p. 289)
• Conduct Gemba Walks Regularly (p. 290)
• Expect to Repeat Lessons (p. 291)
• "On Board" versus Active Involvement (p. 291)
• Keep Yourself Honest (p. 292)
• Ultimately, A Do-It-Yourself Proposition (p. 292)
• Assess Your Lean Management System (p. 293)
• Details of the Lean Management System Assessment (p. 294)
• When Should You Assess? (p. 298)
• Who Should Assess? (p. 298)
• Interpreting the Assessment (p. 300)
• Keep Asking These Questions! (p. 300)
• A Lean Culture Is a Beautiful Thing (p. 301)
• Summary: Maintaining Lean Management (p. 302)
• Study Questions (p. 304)
• Appendix A (p. 305)
• Appendix B (p. 315)
• Appendix C (p. 325)
• Bibliography (p. 349)
• Index (p. 351)
• About the Author (p. 367)

Author notes provided by Syndetics

David Mann is the author of Creating a Lean Culture: Tools to Sustain Lean Conversions . The book was awarded the Shingo Prize for Operational Excellence in 2006 and has become a best-seller in its field. It has been translated into Chinese, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Thai.

In 15 years of Lean experience at Steelcase, Inc., Mann developed and applied the concepts of a Lean management system supporting 40+ Lean manufacturing value stream transformations, and led an internal consulting team that supported over 100 successful Lean enterprise business process value stream conversions. He established a Lean consulting practice in 2005 and retired from Steelcase in 2009.

Mann's consulting, teaching, and coaching experience includes Lean transformation in manufacturing, enterprise business processes, and healthcare organizations. His practice includes clients in healthcare, mining and energy, discrete and process manufacturing, technology, food processing, and enterprise business processes.

Mann is a frequent consultant trainer and speaker on Lean leadership and management, a Shingo Prize examiner, and a faculty member in management science at the Fisher College of Business, the Ohio State University. Mann is an organizational psychologist, earning his Ph.D. at the University of Michigan in 1976. He lives in West Michigan with his wife, a retired criminal prosecutor. They have two daughters. For more information, visit www.dmannlean.com or contact him at dmann@dmannlean com.