Mark Graban's Lean Blog

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Welcome to Mark Graban's Lean Blog, a site that was started in January 2005 to host news, commentary, and discussion about “Lean” – the methodology and management system based on the Toyota Production System. The site has evolved in parallel with Mark's career – focusing at first on Lean Management in the manufacturing world, but focusing more on healthcare over time after Mark moved into that industry in late 2005. Lean Blog covers a number of themes about lean that are universal, regardless of industry. This blog led to Mark's Shingo Award-winning books: Lean Hospitals: Improving Quality, Patient Safety, and Employee Engagement (now in a 3rd edition) and Healthcare Kaizen: Engaging Front-Line Staff in Sustainable Continuous Improvements. Source

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Scope National
Language English
Country United States of America
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Ryan McCormack's Operational Excellence Mixtape: February 20, 2026

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By Ryan McCormack
| Mark Graban's Lean Blog
This week's Operational Excellence Mixtape tackles the challenge of sustaining improvement amidst turbulence and change fatigue. We explore why values must act as your “North Star” when markets shift, methods for building quality systems that fight entropy (with examples from Toyota and BMW), and the crucial lesson that strong culture must precede structural flattening.
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Ryan McCormack's Operational Excellence Mixtape: January 23, 2026

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By Ryan McCormack
| Mark Graban's Lean Blog
This Operational Excellence Mixtape underscores a simple but often-missed point: new technologies like AI may change how quickly we generate ideas, but real improvement still depends on leadership, engagement, and culture.
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Ryan McCormack's Operational Excellence Mixtape: December 12, 2025

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By Ryan McCormack
| Mark Graban's Lean Blog
Thanks, as always, to Ryan McCormack for this. He always shares so much good reading, listening, and viewing here! Subscribe to get these directly from Ryan via email. Apple is working on a way to enhance the learning capabilities of its automated test agents – essentially automating the process of improvement for these agents that detect defects.
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Ryan McCormack's Operational Excellence Mixtape: November 28, 2025

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By Ryan McCormack
| Mark Graban's Lean Blog
Thanks, as always, to Ryan McCormack for this. He always shares so much good reading, listening, and viewing here! Subscribe to get these directly from Ryan via email. We've all heard “time is money”. But is time value? Seth Godin reminds us that the amount of effort spent on something doesn't increase its value. Cleveland Clinic has long practiced a culture of continuous improvement, and it appears they have sustained it. Improvement happens where value is created – not in the boardroom.
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Ryan McCormack's Operational Excellence Mixtape: October 31, 2025

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By Ryan McCormack
| Mark Graban's Lean Blog
Thanks, as always, to Ryan McCormack for this. He always shares so much good reading, listening, and viewing here! Subscribe to get these directly from Ryan via email. Is lean dead/dying? Not at GE Aerospace. A common challenge with the widespread adoption of lean is that the pursuit of results can become lost amidst a sea of tools, processes, and principles. Without sustainable, measurable outcomes, all the effort is simply theater.
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Ryan McCormack's Operational Excellence Mixtape: October 3, 2025

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By Ryan McCormack
| Mark Graban's Lean Blog
Thanks, as always, to Ryan McCormack for this. He always shares so much good reading, listening, and viewing here! Subscribe to get these directly from Ryan via email. This book offers a straightforward and accessible overview of the core principles of operational excellence, complemented by illustrative stories.
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Ryan McCormack's Operational Excellence Mixtape: September 19, 2025

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By Ryan McCormack
| Mark Graban's Lean Blog
Thanks, as always, to Ryan McCormack for this. He always shares so much good reading, listening, and viewing here! Subscribe to get these directly from Ryan via email. Canada has historically faced a persistent productivity challenge. We're happy to simply take gains from the cyclical nature of resource and commodity booms rather than invest in systemic efficiency.
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Ryan McCormack's Operational Excellence Mixtape: September 5, 2025

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By Ryan McCormack
| Mark Graban's Lean Blog
Thanks, as always, to Ryan McCormack for this. He always shares so much good reading, listening, and viewing here! Subscribe to get these directly from Ryan via email. I've worked with organizations that face no direct competition, making it challenging to motivate them to “play to win.” In such environments, efforts to emphasize rivalry often feel empty, rendering strategy discussions superficial and the threat of obsolescence ineffective in driving meaningful action.
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Ryan McCormack's Operational Excellence Mixtape: August 22, 2025

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By Ryan McCormack
| Mark Graban's Lean Blog
Thanks, as always, to Ryan McCormack for this. He always shares so much good reading, listening, and viewing here! Subscribe to get these directly from Ryan via email. Data is more accessible than ever, but so is the risk of drawing misleading conclusions. While comparing averages is common, relying solely on these comparisons can lead to incomplete or inaccurate understanding if taken out of context.
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Ryan McCormack's Operational Excellence Mixtape: August 8, 2025

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By Ryan McCormack
| Mark Graban's Lean Blog
Thanks, as always, to Ryan McCormack for this. He always shares so much good reading, listening, and viewing here! Subscribe to get these directly from Ryan via email. Goal-setting is everywhere and essential, but it also sparks common debates. Should goals be ambitious and challenging, or realistic and achievable? If goals are too long-term or idealistic, they may demotivate the team. Conversely, if they are too short-term, the team might become complacent and lose sight of the bigger vision.
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