Innovative Development with Lean

Tim Schipper and Mark Swets were my guests on the Business901 Podcast. They are the co-authors of Innovative Lean Development: How to Create, Implement and Maintain a Learning Culture Using Fast Learning Cycles. I have been quite intrigued by their book and if you listen to the podcast I would encourage you first to download the Single Point Lesson that was initially published by Association of Manufacturing Excellence’s (AME) Target Magazine.

The authors have helped development teams cut development time in half and increase speed to market, while delivering award-winning, quality solutions. In this book and podcast, they share those examples while providing a road map that all companies can follow to reach a lean development culture, one where creative thinking and practice converge in ways that lead to innovation, improvement, and success.

Tim Schipper is a graduate of Calvin College (Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering) and the University of Michigan (Masters of Science). He has been a tool designer, engineering educator, CAD specialist and trainer, senior product engineer, IT manager, and most recently a lean expert and internal consultant for Steelcase, Inc., in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Mark Swets has facilitated more than 30 lean workshops at Steelcase, Inc., in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He has led teams who have applied lean development techniques in product development, information technology application development, sales strategy development, and business model development.