About Us
our purpose
Sustainable Development of Society
our Vision
Contributing to better organisational outcomes and quality of life by advancing Lean Thinking and Practice in Sub-Saharan Africa.
our mission
We aim to achieve our vision by building the community of lean practitioners through co-learning partnerships, action research and knowledge sharing.
our Vision
Contributing to better organisational outcomes and quality of life by advancing Lean Thinking and Practice in Sub-Saharan Africa.
our mission
We aim to achieve our vision by building the

Not for Profit
We are a registered NGO promoting Lean Thinking and Practice in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Specialised Unit of the Graduate School of Business UCT
We were established in 2008 by Emeritus Prof Norman Faull as a centre of excellence. Our applied research approach enables us to provide high-quality content in our workshops, experience-based facilitation in our educational programmes and high-impact results for the private and public sector organisations with which we partner.

Bringing the African lean community together
Each year we convene a national, lean conference, alternating between the Lean Summit Africa and Lean Healthcare Summit, drawing on renowned international speakers such as Jim Womack, Dan Jones, John Shook, Mike Rother, Michael Ballé and John Toussaint.

Making things better
Founded by Jim Womack and Dan Jones, the Lean Global Network is a community of thought-leaders and practitioners with the goal of making things better.
Our team

Samantha Allen
CEO
Samantha has extensive experience in a variety of industries which include Healthcare, Pathology Services, Oil and Gas and Financial Services. Samantha spent nearly a decade in the UK implementing Lean Methodology and Process Optimisation for the National Health Service.Read More

Norman Faull
Chairman
Norman is the founder of the Lean Institute Africa, a Lean Executive Coach and formerly a Professor of Business Administration at the Graduate School of Business, University of Cape Town. He was among the first researchers in South Africa to introduce innovative manufacturing and supply chain improvement concepts,Read More

Anton Grütter
Research & Development Director
Anton is a Lean Executive Coach and a member of the Management team. He has helped organisations to implement and institutionalise operational performance improvement programmes in industry, commerce and the public sector justice and healthcare systems for many years.Read More

Tshepo Thobejane
Operations Director
Tshepo is a BSC Industrial Engineering graduate with a diverse working experience gained from working in manufacturing, management consulting, logistics, supply chain, banking and public healthcare. His career has focused on achieving operational improvement through the use of process improvement methods, Read More

Melika Chiswell
Lean Coach

Ben Hoseus
Lean Coach
Ben is a Lean Coach at the Lean Institute Africa. Ben partners with individuals, organisations, and enterprises on the journey of continuous improvement. Ben’s prior years of experience as a lean practitioner and advisor have provided him the opportunity to lead projects, facilitate executive training, and improve systems and processes in client engagements across the globe. Read More
Our Associates

Furuhashi
Furuhashi has more than 40 years experience and is regarded as an expert in the implementation of the Toyota Production System, organisational transformation and leadership development. He has supported organisations in South Africa, Great Britain, India, Italy, Romania, Mexico and China. Read More

Jan Erasmus
Jan started his working career as a mechanical design engineer. He has experience as a management consultant where he headed several interventions to improve productivity, improve customer care, reduce cost, and develop the leadership of companies and change cultures. Read More
Our Founders

DR. JIM WOMACK
Founder and Advisor of the Lean Enterprise Institute (LEI) Inc. The LEI is a nonprofit training, publishing, conference, and management research company chartered in August 1997 to advance a set of ideas known as lean production and lean thinking, based initially on Toyota’s business system and now being extended to an entire lean management system. Read More

PROF. DANIEL T. JONES
Founder and Chairman of the Lean Enterprise Academy United Kingdom. Daniel T. Jones is a senior advisor to the Lean Enterprise Institute, management thought leader, and mentor on applying lean process thinking to every type of business. He is the author with James P. Womack of the influential and popular management books that describe the principles and practice of lean thinking in production, Read More

EMERITUS PROF. NORMAN FAULL
Norman is the founder of the Lean Institute Africa, a Lean Executive Coach and formerly a Professor of Business Administration at the Graduate School of Business, University of Cape Town. He was among the first researchers in South Africa to introduce innovative manufacturing and supply chain improvement concepts, such as lean manufacturing, into the country. Read More
Head Office
+27 21 650 3758
Graduate School of Business
UCT Breakwater Lodge
V&A Waterfront
Cape Town
Our Global Network

News
Are your metrics helping your organisation improve its performance?
While working on a client engagement, I proposed to a manager that we setup a dashboard for her and the team to reflect on the department’s performance and systematise improvement...
Resolution Circle Proposal: Placement of Industrial Engineering Diploma students
Resolution Circle (Pty) Ltd Proposal 13 Sep 2021 Re: Placement of Industrial Engineering Diploma students 1. BACKGROUND We are a company (Pty) Ltd fully owned by the University of Johannesburg We serve the Engineering Diploma students from Universities of Technology...
SA Mass Vaccination Preparation: a View through a Small Window
U3A (The University of the Third Age) hosted Prof. Norman Faull talking about the vaccine roll out in South Africa. Do take a look through his small window into the systems that will support this process and learn about his suggestions for simulations to strengthen...
As we learn by doing
One of the things that I appreciate the most about my work is the high amount of learning that goes together with doing my work. Recently I concluded a pilot project where we managed to reduce the average patient journey time (from arrival at the facility’s Admission...
A Call to Arms
The call to bare arms is now widespread. In Argentina. In Germany. In Indonesia. In fact, we see the call to arms in all the countries that have secured supplies of the vaccine to fight the Covid-19 pandemic. It is a call for upper arms to be bared, and injected. Our...
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