The story of innovation isn’t always told in novels. Sometimes it evolves from ingenuity, curiosity, and sheer will. That is the story of Lean–before we called it Lean. The Progressive Machine is Stephen Weller’s definitive primer on how a very important concept in production and service excellence came into being. Like the philosophy itself, the ideas neither start nor end here, helping to develop a leadership mindset that not only continuously improves, but also continues to grow. That is the heart of Lean. By always looking for better ways to think and do things, we are always changing the world, one step at a time.

This book is less about the concepts and more about the people who brought them to life. These innovators saw opportunities to increase the value of the work around them. In doing so, they each laid the foundation for what is now considered an integral part of how to operate.