The Lean Toolbox Revised Sixth Edition

This is a revision of the 6th edition of a book that has become a standard reference to Lean principles, systems, and tools. It is used by Lean practitioners and Industrial Engineers in the UK, USA, Ireland, Scandinavia, South Africa, and Australia. Like earlier editions, the book is written in plain language, with minimal padding, especially for busy practitioners and managers at all levels. Revisions and updating occur throughout the book but in particular substantial revisions are in Chapters dealing with Digital, in Scheduling, in Quality management, in Psychological Safety, and in Agile and Scrum. Scheduling draws on the best from Lean, TOC, Factory Physics, DDMRP, and Demand management. Previous editions have sold over 130,000 copies, and adapted versions have been translated into Danish, Chinese and German. Across its editions, the Lean Toolbox has been prescribed reading at several UK, US, Irish and South African universities, and has featured as a standard reference for the APICS / ASCM professional CPIM examination. This edition marks once again a significant update. New sections now cover digital tools and how these can support lean transformations, how to respond to complexity and uncertainty in the world firms operate in, and the importance of psychological safety in making sustainable improvements. Significant further revisions reflect advances in scheduling, demand management, problem solving, layout, and in many fundamental topics. Apart from updates in many sections, this new (Sixth) edition has new (or substantially revised) sections on Digital Lean, Process mining, Bottlenecks and floating bottlenecks, Demand management and demand categories, A Scheduling framework, Psychological safety, Environmental sustainability, The Job Characteristics Model, A TPM Maintenance framework, Scrum and Agile, Seru Cells, OODA vs PDSA, and Engagement

About the Author :
John Bicheno is a professional engineer who has been learning about Lean since 1982 when he had links with Toyota South Africa. For 12 years he was Director of the first dedicated Master's degree in Lean in the world at Lean Enterprise Research Centre, Cardiff University, and is now Emeritus Professor of Lean Enterprise at Buckingham University. Matthias Holweg is the American Standard Companies Professor of Operations Management at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford. Originally trained as an industrial engineer, he has done extensive research into the adoption of Lean in the automotive industry. His recent work investigates the use of digital tools such as artificial intelligence and additive manufacturing in support of process improvements in manufacturing and service settings.

Review :
The new ( Sixth)edition is a truly extended version which links so many lean methods, principles and values together and in a way others do not. The reason? Simple - The authors are lean experts, they draw upon decades of research and have a great way of making this knowledge accessible and relevant to the modern professional manager. Access to this quality of knowledge is rare and such this book should never be out of arms reach of anyone improving systems and delivering value to customers (internal or external). Nick Rich (Professor of Socio-Tech Systems, University of Swansea)