SKC expanded its existing Lean program by incorporating Sustainability (Lean and Green) into a pilot project to focus on cafeteria waste, which accounted for over half of the company’s non-hazardous waste. Although the team initially assumed the issue was kitchen overproduction, their data collection and analysis revealed the root cause was behavioral: employees were taking […]
Veolia Eau France, which manages public drinking water and sanitation services, implemented Lean methodologies to move beyond rigid transformation plans toward a dynamic of continuous, step-by-step improvement. Central to this shift is the use of an Obeya, a dedicated space where management reviews key indicators (such as safety, quality, and cost control) to ensure they […]
Written by Brion
Lynne Smith, former Director of Business Design at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, discusses the potential and difficulties of applying Lean Thinking to NGOs, and how it can be used to scale impact. She reflects back on the lean transformation at the Gates Foundation with an interview with Steve Bell and Roberto Priolo, and […]
Written by Brion
Lean expert Michael Ballé examines the profound connection between lean thinking and environmental sustainability. He states that we can’t achieve much progress towards climate change until we fundamentally challenge the way we think about resource consumption. But Lean thinking and methods can be an effective tool to help us move in that direction. Our current consumption patterns are […]
Written by Brion
Winpack, a leading packaging and film producer, is pioneering an innovative solution to minimize the generation of plastic waste. They operate a dedicated recycling plant in Chile with an impressive annual capacity of 6,000 tons of polyethylene, showcasing their determination to mitigate environmental impact. Alarmingly, approximately 10 million tons of plastic infiltrate our oceans each […]
Written by Brion
The article is an excerpt from a new book on Lean Government (written in Dutch). It discusses a transformation taking place in the City of Breda. A new law was implemented to make it easier for residents and entrepreneurs to apply for permits by combining 24 regulations into one integrated environmental permit process. They describe […]
Written by Brion
With the recent events happening in the US with racial inequality, but things aren’t much better in Brazil. 55% of the population is non-white (“black” or “mixed-race”). Despite this, an overwhelmingly homogeneous white male majority exists in most organizations. Structural racism is a reality in Brazil and it is everyone’s responsibility to join forces with […]
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Racism, inclusion and discrimination is not a problem many lean thinkers are called to tackle in their daily lives at work, but that doesn’t mean that Lean Thinking has nothing to say about it. Roberto Priolo interviews Michael Balle, co-founder of the Institut Lean France, and is asked numerous questions, including: If we look at […]
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Halte Werk is a Dutch company that awards social benefits to the unemployed. Thanks to lean thinking, they were able to radically transform the service they offer them. They manage the awarding of social benefits to the unemployed and offers support to find work on behalf of three municipalities in the Netherlands. Their goal is […]
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Lean IT experts Steve Bell and Karen Whitley Bell provided some pro-bono work to help the nongovernmental organization (NGO) Grameen Foundation in Uganda scale a successful innovation to other developing countries in Africa. The innovation was called the Community Knowledge Worker Program (CKW), and it involved hiring locals with knowledge of farming and customs, and […]
Written by Brion