GOING LEAN FIELDBOOK

Today's business managers have come to recognize the value of leaning out their operations to remove sources of waste---excess activities, delays, defects, or materials that consume time and resources but don't contribute to bottom line value. Yet many organizations seem to have stumbled in their efforts, leaving workforces deeply disillusioned and cynical of popular theories and techniques that may provide temporary improvements, but ultimately prove short-lived.

In Going Lean, author Stephen A. Ruffa introduced the groundbreaking principles of Lean Dynamics---a proven formula for business improvement that is as compelling as it is timely. Using examples from some of today's most successful corporations, he described why creating dramatic, sustainable results requires more than targeting the waste that is most visible today. Instead, it means taking a fresh look at the business, the corporate mindset, and the complex and sometimes chaotic environment in which an organization operates, and then building in mechanisms for sustaining smooth flow---dampening the disruption that is a major cause for waste to accumulate in the first place.

The Going Lean Fieldbook is a practical follow-up to Going Lean, providing in-the-trenches advice for applying lean principles throughout your organization. Valuable as a companion guide or as a stand-alone resource for how you can utilize the power of lean dynamics in your organization, this book charts out a set path toward reaching a series of critical transformation levels, detailing the activities and the hazards that can derail the journey at each point along the way. You'll learn how to promote stability, consistency, and innovation by first conducting a dynamic value assessment and attaining the buy-in that is critical to making business improvements work.

The Going Lean Fieldbook gives you a logical structure and practical advice that will help organization of all types sort through complexity and change and identifies key focal points for guiding your company's transformation. It describes a deliberate methodology to keep from stagnating as your organization advances in lean maturity, maintaining focus on attaining strong, sustainable corporate and customer value that can withstand the test of time. It's the one guide you need to turn your organization into the lean, innovative money machine you know it can be.

STEPHEN A. RUFFA is an aerospace engineer, researcher, and business consultant specializing in applying lean principles to overcome the challenges of dynamic business conditions. A winner of the Shingo Prize for Excellence in Manufacturing Research, he is the author of Going Lean.