Most companies that adopt Lean adopt only half of it — the tools — and then wonder why the results are poor and don't last.
REAL LEAN Volume One is a collection of sixteen essays that examines the gap between common Lean practice and the original, Toyota management system. The central argument is straightforward: Lean is a complete management system built on two principles, "Continuous Improvement" and "Respect for People," and deploying only the first is "Fake Lean."
Drawing on more than a decade of experience in consumer products and aerospace industries, the author covers ground other Lean books usually skip: the historical roots of waste-elimination thinking; a striking analogy between learning music and learning Lean; and the application of Lean principles beyond the factory floor to higher education, government, and non-profit organizations.
A practical, concise resource for managers, supervisors, and executives reconsidering their Lean approach. REAL LEAN finally gives the "Respect for People" principle the attention it has always deserved.
M.L. "Bob" Emiliani is a professor at Connecticut State University in New Britain, Conn., where he teaches various courses on Lean management. Prior to that Bob worked in the consumer products and aerospace industries for nearly two decades. He held management positions in engineering, manufacturing, and supply chain management, and had responsibility for implementing Lean in manufacturing operations and supply chains.
He has authored or co-authored a dozen papers related to Lean leadership including: "Lean Behaviors" (1998), "Linking Leaders' Beliefs to their Behaviors and Competencies" (2003), "Using Value Stream Maps to Improve Leadership" (2004), "Origins of Lean Management in America: The Role of Connecticut Businesses" (2006), and "Standardized Work for Executive Leadership" (2008). Five of his papers have won awards for excellence.
Bob is also the author of Better Thinking, Better Results: Case Study and Analysis of an Enterprise-Wide Lean Transformation published in 2007; REAL LEAN: Critical Issues and Opportunities in Lean Management (Volume Two) published in 2007; Practical Lean Leadership: A Strategic Leadership Guide for Executives published in 2008; and REAL LEAN: The Keys to Sustaining Lean Management (Volume Three) published in 2008.
Bob earned engineering degrees from the University of Miami, University of Rhode Island, and Brown University.
