Why Copying TPS Tools Didn’t Work for Your Organization
Toyota is widely recognized for developing one of the most efficient and influential production systems in modern business history. In fact, TPS, or the Toyota Production System, and its methods have been studied, copied, and adapted by organizations across virtually...
5 Core Criticisms of Six Sigma
Six Sigma is a process-improvement methodology that first reached the mainstream in the late 1980s. While Lean was developed decades before — starting in the 1940s and 1950s — the two separate, distinct frameworks would later become entwined. Now, many proponents of...
4 Lean Leadership Pitfalls to Rectify in Q4
“We are doomed to failure without a daily destruction of our various preconceptions.” At first blush, this quote may seem to originate from a Zen master or self-help professional, but it comes directly from Taiichi Ohno, the industrial engineer known as the...
5 Common Misunderstandings About Standard Work
In the spring of 2026, Lean Horizons Consulting officially turned 25. For a quarter of a century now, our team of internationally experienced Lean experts have been pursuing a single purpose: To be the embodiment of Lean ideology in leading business change...
25 Years of Lean: Lessons Learned From a Quarter Century of Implementing Transformations
A quarter of a century has passed since Lean Horizons Consulting first opened its doors, but our timeline goes back even further than that, if you can believe it. 40 years ago, Mark DeLuzio, founder and CEO of Lean Horizons Consulting, first entered...
The Danaher Business System vs. the Toyota Production System How Are They Alike? How Are They Different?
Click here to download this white paper as a PDF Introduction Having had the fortunate opportunity to be the principal architect of the Danaher Business System (DBS), I am often asked what it is and how it compares to the Toyota Production System (TPS). Much has been...
The Hidden Equipment Waste Most Manufacturers Never Challenge
When Americans were plunged into the sobering reality of life during Prohibition in the 1920s, something interesting started to happen — something that, decades later, would end up influencing the evolution of Lean manufacturing. As well as the development of...
Discipline in Lean: It’s Not Optional, It’s Life-Or-Death
Every organization has standards — that’s not the issue. The issue is that, for many organizations, standards don’t go much further than the poster in the break room. There may be checklists and processes that give the appearance of a strict adherence to...
When Finance Fights Lean: Why Good Transformations Fail Anyway
There’s a pattern playing out across organizations that should be raising more concern than it is: Lean leaders with strong track records are being let go in the middle of transformations. And this isn’t just happening with early-stage initiatives or...
Bringing Common Sense Back to Work: How Business “Logic” Contradicts Lean Principles
There’s a fundamental misconception shaping the way businesses are run in the modern age: The illusion of business logic. As humans, we seem to instinctively know how to run our personal lives. We intuitively avoid overbuying groceries, we prepare meals for the...
