Outside the Walls of a Lean Enterprise

As Dr. Balle said, “Toyota didn’t become number one by having lower manufacturing costs, they became number one by making cars people bought.”

Dr. Michael Ballé is a business researcher and consultant and has studied lean transformation for the past 15 years. He is Associate Researcher at Télécom ParisTech and the co-founder of the French Lean Institute (www.institut-lean-france.fr) and the Projet Lean Enterprise  (www.lean.enst.fr). He coaches CEOs and senior executives in using lean to radically improve their businesses’ performances and establish lean cultures.

Dr. Balle was my guest on the podcast and we discussed the new audio release of his Shingo Prize wining book, The Gold Mine: A Novel of Lean Turnaround. The audio version, like the original book, presents all the key lean principles, ranging from well-known ideas such as pull and flow, to lesser-known yet equally important principles such as jidoka and heijunka. It also reveals lean as a system—using a realistic business story that is both compelling and instructive to show how lean principles are interrelated.

We spent about 10 minutes talking about the book and than dove off into the subject of a Lean Enterprise from boardroom to shop floor.

Listen/Download MP3 of Podcast

Audio Version: Gold Mine: A Novel of Lean Turnaround
The audiobook features performances by multiple readers who bring its realistic business story and characters to life. You’ll hear from:

• Bob Woods, the curmudgeonly lean sensei;
• Mike Woods, Bob’s son who talks his father out of retirement to help Phil;
• Phil Jenkinson, the friend and struggling entrepreneur;
• Amy Cruz, Phil’s HR manager;
• Plus, the managers and employees at Phil’s company

Related Information:
Dr. Michael Balle is the Gemba Coach at the Lean Enterprise Institute
Lean Thinking Perspectives from Dr. Michael Balle
Lean Coaching & Learning with Jeff Liker
Developing a Kaizen Spirit
Developing a Kaizen Conscious with Shingo Prize winner Michael Balle