The Lean Toolbox

A new Sixth edition is available from January 2023. (Search for The Lean Toolbox Sixth edition). An e book of this (Fifth) edition is available.

This is the 5th edition of a book that has become a standard reference on Lean principles, systems, and tools in the UK, Ireland, Scandinavia, South Africa, and Australia. Like earlier editions, the book is written in plain language, with minimal padding, especially for busy Lean practitioners and managers at all levels. Although written for practitioners the book is also prescribed on several MBA and MSc programs in UK, USA, Ireland, South Africa

This and previous editions have sold a total of over 110,000 copies. The book has been translated into Danish, Swedish, Italian, and Chinese. Multiple copies have been purchased by numerous companies and by organisations such as The Manufacturing Institute, Welsh Development Agency, Institute of Operations Management, The Manufacturing Advisory Service, and the Danish Effektivitet.

The 4th edition was a standard reference for the APICS (American Production and Inventory Control Society) international professional CPIM examination for the Detailed Scheduling and Planning module. The 4th edition was consistently in amazon.co.uk top 10 in manufacturing for 5 years.

Of particular note is a chapter on The Science of Lean. This chapter gives unique insights into the math and statistics that underly Lean, and how 'muda', 'muri', and 'mura' inter-relate. Although the chapter can be skipped by non-quantitative practitioners, it gives in-depth understanding of the requirements for flow. Discussion of Kingman's equation ('the equation of Lean'), Little's Law, Coefficient of variation, the portfolio of buffers, and critical WIP are to be found in very few other texts.

The book will be an indispensable 'first-port-of-call' reference to Lean practitioners who will return to it for guidance many times as their Lean, Agile, Continuous improvement initiatives develop.