Lean 911

Problem Solving X: Toyota Doesn’t Expect Frontline Workers to Solve Every Problem

One of the most widely accepted beliefs about the Toyota Production System is that frontline employees should be empowered to solve their own problems. But have we taken

Genba Ikigai – The 16 Habits of Lean Leadership with Mark Forkun

Why do Lean transformations fail—and what separates genuine transformation from “Lean theatre”? In this episode of Lean 911, Mark DeLuzio is joined by Mark Forkun, autho

Stop Copying Toyota’s Tools – Start Copying How Toyota Thinks

Why have so many organizations copied Toyota's tools, yet so few have replicated Toyota's success? In this episode of Lean911, we revisit Steven Spear and H. Kent Bowen'

Lean at 8 Seconds – What NASCAR Pit Crews Can Teach Us About Lean

What can Lean leaders learn from a NASCAR pit crew, where three-tenths of a second can mean five car lengths and elite performance depends on five people executing as one

From Toyota to Danaher to Your Enterprise: Introducing Lean Horizons Academy

What if the Lean lessons that helped shape one of the world’s most respected business systems could be made available to everyone in your organization—anytime, anywhere,

The Danaher Business System – 12 Things I’d Do Differently

When you build something that stands the test of time, it's tempting to believe you'd do it the same way all over again. But experience has a way of changing your perspec

Be The Magic: 4 Phases to Transform Your Life with Manish Chauhan

What if the biggest transformation in your life begins with a simple shift in perspective—not from believing life is happening to you, but realizing it is happening throu

25th Anniversary Episode: Lean Horizons’ Reflections – The Rise of Lean Theater

As Lean Horizons celebrates its 25th anniversary, founder Mark DeLuzio reflects on a quarter century of transformation work across six continents and dozens of industries

How Hansei Builds Better Leaders

A CNC machine crashed on the shop floor. Nathan Corliss walked out as a young supervisor, angry and ready to blame the operator. What happened next became one of the mos

Replay: Standard Work

This is an unedited replay of a previous Lean 911 episode, originally published on January 13, 2023. We're bringing it back because the issue still causes Lean transforma

The Six Sigma Hysteria

In this episode, we dive into the rise, dominance, and controversy surrounding Six Sigma — the corporate improvement system that promised near-perfect quality and became

Your Machines Are Lying to You, and So Are Your Equipment Vendors – The Hidden Waste Most Manufacturing Engineers Ignore

Manufacturing Engineers pride themselves on precision, but what if the biggest waste is hiding in plain sight—inside the equipment itself? In this episode, we challenge

What a Fighter Pilot Can Teach You About Selling Lean Value – with Randy Fitzhugh

In this powerful episode of Lean 911, Mark DeLuzio sits down with former Air Force fighter pilot and Danaher sales leader Randy Fitzhugh to unpack the real science behind

Standards Written in Blood –  There May Be No Second Chance

Lean management teaches that standards are the foundation of safety, quality, and improvement. In aviation, those standards take the form of checklists, redundancies, pro

The CFO vs. Lean: The Fight That Gets Lean Leaders Fired

Mark DeLuzio, the Father of Lean Accounting, tells his experience and observations on how traditional cost accounting will derail a Lean Transformation. In many organiza

The Illusion of Business “Logic” – Brilliant at Home, Illogical at Work

In this episode, you'll be able to take away why many "logical" workplace measures and incentives can drive behavior that conflicts with Lean principles, and why comparin

Book Review – Accidentally Aligned with Jason Neal

A shop floor comment stops everyone in their tracks: the work finally matches what the customer actually needs. That is the spark behind Accidentally Aligned, and it open

Are You Set Up to Win? – Find Out Here!

Most Lean efforts do not stall because people hate improvement. They stall because the system was never built to support it. This episode gives you a fast, practical len

Stop Misusing the 2-Bin Kanban System

Mark DeLuzio discusses how the 2-Bin Kanban is meant to ensure the operator does not run out of parts.  Find out why it should not be used to structure your primary Kanba

Let’s Make 2026 a Year of “Return to the Basics”

Mark DeLuzio discusses the confusion that exists in the Lean Community, and the Lean Consulting industry and academia are primarily to blame. Returning to Lean Basics and