Hitchhikers do not travel a fixed path. They intentionally wander so they can learn and grow along the way. Embarking on the lean journey is similar, there are many roads on which to wander and no single one is right for all. "The Hitchhiker's Guide to Lean: Lessons from the Road" reveals the most critical lessons learned over the authors' combined 30-plus years of exploring the lean highways.
One of the book's lessons from the road is you need to pay attention to where you are and where you are going, just as you do when driving a car. Lean leaders add value by changing things, moving them forward, and producing different results than the day before. To lead, you must go beyond creating a vision. You must develop the vehicle that will deliver it. "The Hitchhiker's Guide to Lean" is the vehicle that will help you move beyond the tools and take lean to a self-sustaining and continuously improving level.
The book's 10 chapters cover lean principles and thinking, lean leadership moves, the roadmap for lean transformation, common pitfalls of lean journeys, building an operating system, lean accounting, lean material management, lean in service organizations, and how individuals can apply lean to improve themselves. The book concludes with interviews of lean practitioners on the front lines of change at Chrysler, Ross Controls, DTE Energy, RSR Corporation, and Nemak.
Acknowledgments
Foreword
Introduction
Chapter 1 : Think First : Five Principles of Lean
Chapter 2 : People Need Leadership, Not Management : Five Leadership Moves for Lean
Chapter 3 : Learning Can Be Expensive : Five Common Lean Pitfalls (and How to Avoid Them)
Chapter 4 : A Thousand -Step Journey : Five Phases of The Transformation Roadmap
Chapter 5 : Pulling it All Together : Five Dimensions of An Operating System
Chapter 6 : Relearning to Count : Five Lean Accounting Principles
Chapter 7 : Move It or Lose It : Five Keys to Lean Material Management
Chapter 8 : Service on a Silver Platter : Five Factors for Lean Service
Chapter 9 : The Transformation of One : Five Practices for Personal Lean
Chapter 10 : Conversations From the Road
Index
