Lean is not a new concept; in fact, since the turn of the 20th Century lean principles been instrumental in the growth and transformation of industries and economies across the globe. Although the specific term was not coined until much later, the first advances in the lean movement were made in the automotive manufacturing industry – with the innovative plant operations of Henry Ford and later the seminal restructuring of Toyota business operations by Taiichi Ohno. In recent decades, the principles of lean thinking have been extrapolated from their roots in manufacturing and applied to a number of other modern business structures, always with resounding success.

This book will guide you through the core aspects of lean principles, allowing you to see how implementing this philosophy throughout your workforce could revolutionize your company, or even your entire industry. The key concept at the heart of lean thinking is striving to keep only what is valuable to the end customer. In the case of this book – the end customer is you: the reader. We have kept the material lean – shaving off any superfluous information – so the ideas you’ll find here can be easily digested, understood and implemented, with no time wasted on waffle.