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Can Lean Manufacturing Put an End to Sweatshops?

Harvard Business Review

It involves replacing traditional mass manufacturing with “lean manufacturing” principles. Over the last thirty years, the lean approach — developed by Japanese automakers — has permeated the manufacturing sector in developed countries, but is much less commonly used in the developing world.

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We Need a Better Language for Organizational Relationships

Harvard Business Review

But just as we need to know whether the evening we are about to spend is with our mother-in-law or a university buddy, managers inside organizations need to know whether the meeting they are about to have with a manufacturing expert is with an internal supplier, a team member, or a lobbyist for lean manufacturing.

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Diet and Exercise Tips from Process Fitness Fanatics

Harvard Business Review

The stories of how they have kept their processes fit are less well known than those of famous process fitness fanatics such as Toyota, with its Toyota Production System (also known as Lean), and GE, with its Six Sigma program. DuPont started with Six Sigma's classic focus on reducing product defects. What are their secrets?