The Lean Anthology: A Practical Primer in Continual Improvement presents operations management case studies that illustrate a Lean process improvement journey. Ideal for non-engineers, adult learners, and corporate or business education settings, this book can help you and your organization understand and apply Lean practices as part of a plan for saving money, generating revenues, or freeing up resources-particularly in settings not traditionally associated with Lean.

The stories are easy to understand, simple accounts of everyday people negotiating life. The characters observe and integrate the principles of Lean into their personal and professional lives. Each Lean case study will help you understand and apply a different approach to the relentless pursuit of the strategic elimination of waste.

The stories are organized into a framework for implementing a Lean transformation called The Five Cs: Customer, Capability, Control, Coordination, and Context/Culture. These are the five stages of strategic operations design and improvement. The Five Cs framework is a new approach to understanding a Lean journey that you can apply in many settings. The Five Cs framework can help you become more effective in both your personal and professional lives.

The book includes explanations with each case study, as well as brain teasers suitable for team discussion. These tools supply readers-even those without an operations management background-with an intuitive understanding of how to create value by eliminating waste.