The Lean Enterprise Institute Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit based in Boston, MA, with a mission to make things better by advancing lean thinking and practice. It was founded in 1997 by management expert James P. Womack, PhD.
Compared with traditional “think” tanks, we are a “do” tank. In partnership with select organizations, we carefully develop hypotheses about lean thinking and experiment to see which approaches work best in the real world. We then share and teach what we discover, providing new methods for organizational transformation.
We strive to answer every leader’s and manager’s most pressing question: “What can I do next to make a difference in my organization?”
We carry out our mission through value streams: Lean Education, Lean Learning Materials, Co-Learning Partnerships, the Lean Summit conferences, and our website lean.org.
We exchange information across the world through the Lean Global Network, consisting of more than thirty nonprofit organizations similar to LEI, sharing a joint mission in different countries.
By building a robust lean community through our website, and public events, we try to give leaders and managers the courage to become lean change agents. Any company, executive, manager, team leader, or team member wishing to join the transformation to a lean way of creating value is welcome in our Lean Community. We exist to support everyone who is starting or continuing their lean journey.