The Simplicity of Lean: Defeating Complexity, Delivering Excellence

by Philip Holt

Lean organisations seem to work in a simple manner and operate with an innate calmness. They have removed much of the complexity that inhibits the performance of other companies, but achieving this level of simplicity is not easy. In The Simplicity of Lean, Philip Holt provides a comprehensive handbook of the Lean principles, presented in an accessible and easy to apply manner.

The Simplicity of Lean is a step-by-step guide to the Lean Thinking that makes your organisation more efficient and effective. The book offers the necessary context of how to apply Lean Thinking to make your Lean Transformation successful. Alongside the theory and the practical application of Lean, Philip also shares his personal insights and experiences, as well as individual success stories (and failures) from various Lean leaders from across the world.

The Simplicity of Lean is the perfect guide to make your Lean journey a resounding success.

Philip Holt is Senior Vice President, Global Transformation, at GKN Aerospace and a Board Member of the Operational Excellence Society. He studied Engineering at Manchester Metropolitan University and Management at the Wharton School of Pennsylvania and the University of Warwick, was an engineer at Gillette and led the Lean Deployment worldwide at Philips for over twelve years. He achieved Lean Master status and has summarised his 30+ years of experience and insights into Lean Leadership in his previous book Leading with Lean and his most recent book, The Simplicity of Lean.

268 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 1, 2019

Reviews

[Luke Gruber · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read numerous lean books. There's a great quote in regards to lean manufacturing that says, "don't apply someone else's solution to your problem". It is essential to FIRST understand your problem. With this, sometimes "Lean Tools" get a bad reputation and things are often talked about in vague high level terms. This is good. However, this book takes a step and shows some practical tools, forms, and metrics that help connect the dots with lean initiatives.

[Dale · Rating 3 out of 5]

A more technical lean book than most. I initially didn’t like the book but as I went through it there were some helpful sections. Ultimately, if you are very familiar with Lean, this may be helpful for you. If you are new to Lean, do not start here for a while.