Knowledge Centre
Links
See links to various online resources to learn more about Lean Thinking and Practice both locally and globally.
We are constantly learning so please let us know if you find any other sites you think should be added.
Research
Most research conducted by the Lean Institute Africa is done in association with MBA students of the UCT Graduate School of Business. To access free copies of MBA research reports, please contact GSB.
Books
The Lean Institute Africa is the local, authorised distributor of the Lean Enterprise Institute (LEI) in the USA and as such, distributes books, DVDs and training materials on their behalf.
Newsletters, Articles and Webinars
Rose Heathcote: Setting Managers up to Succeed in Healthcare
Newly appointed CEO of the Lean Institute Africa (LIA), Rose Heathcote talks about the significance of applying ‘Lean Thinking’ to improve outcomes aligned with the purpose and strategy of healthcare organisations. Read the full article here.
Natural Born Problem-Solvers or Are We?
Could it be that we are Natural Born Problem-Solvers? Asks Tshepo Thobejane in the June Newsletter. 'We could debate that not all of us have the same ability to problem-solve or we may disagree on the problems that deserve our attention. Empowering employees to become...
Piece of Mind
Would you do me a favour? Would you pause for a moment and consider this question?: What preoccupies you; what thoughts, concerns, hopes and fears drift about and ‘occupy’ your mind? Read more of our April 2018 newsletter
Day Zero and the Waste of Water
Cape Town, the city where the Lean Institute Africa is based, faces the very real probability that it will run out of water due to an unprecedented drought. “Day Zero”, the day when the taps will be turned off - because there will not be enough water supply in the...
Lean Institute Africa gets its first woman CEO
Rose Heathcote has been appointed CEO of the Lean Institute Africa (LIA) as of 1st March 2018. Read the full article, published on Engineering News here.
Does Lean Make Cents?
Lean Management offers a truly exceptional approach to leading the organisation to places it’s never been before. With Purpose clarified, you: focus to the needs of the customer with earnest, bring them more value with less effort, grow seasoned problem-solvers who...
Lessons from my Lean Lifestyle Challenge
In the newsletter I wrote for Lean Institute Africa in 2015 I reflected on the growth in my understanding of lean as a result of attending the Lean Global Network meeting that year. I interviewed some of the delegates at this meeting and asked what they understood...
Constancy of Purpose in Turbulent Times
Executing your 2018 Plan with Confidence, Consistency and Cadence We are so close to the end of the year and many of us are already dreaming up all the ways in which we will spend our much-awaited holiday time. Whether for work or personal reasons, this is a great...
What did you learn in Japan?
What did you learn in Japan?’ you may ask me, following my week there with the Lean Global Network (LGN) tenth anniversary ‘return-to-the-source (Toyota)’ trip in September. “How much time have you got? I might reply. There was a lot! Here are just some snippets. TNGA...
The “Hard-Core Toyota Guys”
The lean transformation journey is the road less travelled. This is partly because it is not the easiest journey to undertake, but also because so many organisations lose their way, some even at the outset of their journey. There are however some organisations that...
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News
Industry 4.0 or Lean 4.0?
Atlantis Foundries was able to achieve zero defects for three months in a row thanks to machine learning. Here's why the human component can't be discounted. Cape Town is sometimes called the “Silicon Valley of South Africa”. Yet, it was a pleasant surprise to learn...
Is Lean an outcome…or what you do?
For a while I have been thinking about the possible impact of using the name Lean to describe the activities or programme to transform an organisation into the new way of working and thinking. It felt serendipitous then, that shortly after pondering this I came across...
Magical Thinking
Try telling a friend you have come across some ‘magical thinking’? What reaction might you get? Will they ask, ‘You mean like in mushrooms?’ or ‘As in Elon Musk or Richard Branson?’ I first heard the term in a very different context, used by someone who was once...
Whimsical Reflections Lean Summit Africa 2018
Some say that insight comes when we remember something valuable after forgetting what we were taught. What value has come back to you after forgetting the ‘gems’ of the Summit of four months ago? Not trusting my memory, I have rummaged through my notes, and the slides...
The Story that Graphs (don’t) Tell
A recurring bone of contention between different schools of thought about performance measurement in the improvement world is the debate about quantitative versus qualitative analysis. Mark Graban’s recent book Measures of Success is an example...
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