Leading and Managing the Lean Management Process, Second Edition

This book develops a new model for lean management. The intent is to demonstrate a model framework consisting of four critical components: leadership, culture, team and tools. The development of the model and these four components will be built from empirical theories reported in the research literature and in successful applications. This framework will offer a path to develop lean leaders with practical, actionable guidelines. The model framework is suited to broad applications offering practical guidelines for manufacturing and service environments alike. The lean model will develop each of these four components, explaining their relevance and importance for guiding internal lean initiatives. In developing the model, the text will chronicle the historical development of lean noting the significant lean contributions, contributors, and dates of these contributions. This development will trace contributions to the practice of lean back hundreds of years, prior to the contributions of Henry Ford and the contributors from the Toyota system in the 1950s. The future of Lean will also be examined with the current topic of sustainability and how it has extended lean concepts with an external focus towards product life cycle concerns and social issues. This offering is different from competing offerings in three fundamental ways. First, it offers and develops of a comprehensive lean model based on a sound framework. Second, it examines a comprehensive timeline of significant lean contributions and their contributors. Third, it extends lean by looking at the future applications in the area of sustainability.

Dr. Gene Fliedner is an associate professor at Oakland University where he has been a member of the Decision and Information Sciences Department within the School of Business Administration since 1995. He received his DBA and MBA in operations management from Indiana University and his BBA from Texas Christian University. Dr. Fliedner has published in numerous premier business journals and is a member of several professional societies. In 2010, he received the distinguished Fellows lifetime service award from the Midwest Decision Sciences Institute. In 2011 and again in 2014, he received a three-year Research Fellowship from the Pawley Lean Institute at Oakland University. In 2011, in collaboration with Business Expert Press, he published his book titled Leading and Managing the Lean Management Process which received the prestigious Shingo Research and Professional Publication Award.