Invitation to the Launch of the Danish Version of "This is Lean"

Invitation to the Launch of the Danish Version of "This is Lean"

Speakers: Pär Åhlström and Niklas Modig

About the book:

The book claims that when organizations focus too much on using resources most effectively – the most traditionally and usual form of efficiency – it normally leads to an increase in the amount of work. The more the organizations try to be efficient (being busy) the more inefficient they become (because they are occupied with non-value adding, but necessary work).

“This is Lean” solves this dilemma by presenting a new form of efficiency: Flow efficiency. Instead of focusing on the organization’s many different business functions, flow efficiency focuses on the customers’ needs. The understanding of the entity means that many problems can be avoided or removed. The customer experiences will be improved by shortening backlogs (KØER), release capacity, create more efficient processes and improve quality. There are big profits to be made by looking at efficiency in a new way.

Long waiting times, unhappy customers, inefficiency processes, worked out employees and quality problems are examples of current challenges and problems in also Danish companies and organizations. “This is Lean” argues that the real causes of the problems are sub-optimized companies. Instead of looking at the big picture, the companies focus on making individual parts of the operations more efficient. This leads to the so called tunnel syndrome – in the book this is called the efficiency paradox.

Program:

14.00-14.10: Welcome by Christer Karlsson

14.10-14.40: Presentation by Pär Åhlström

14.40-14.50: Questions for Pär Åhlström

14.50-15.10: Break

15.10-15.40: Presentation by Niklas Modig

15.40-15.50: Questions for Niklas Modig

15.50-16.00: Questions for Christer, Pär & Niklas

16.00-16.30: Wine reception

About the authors:

Niklas Modig has been a researcher at Stockholm School of Economics since 2004 and was a guest researcher at University of Tokyo from 2006 to 2008. Niklas, that speaks Japanese fluently, got the opportunity to spend many hours in Toyota’s service organization in order to understand why its philosophy can be used in a context that has nothing to do with a production company. Niklas is a leading expert within lean service and lean management.

Pär Åhlström is Torsten and Ragnar Söderberg professor in Business Administration at Handelshøjskolen in Stockholm. He has previously been employed at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg and at London Business School. With over 20 years of research within lean, he is one of the pioneers in the area of study. He holds a comprehensive list of publications about lean in the areas of production, product development and lately service.

Testimonies:

"This is Lean explains the essence of this important management philosophy and it is one of the most concise, easy understandable and entertaining books within its field” - Professor Takahiro Fujimoto, University of Tokyo, "world’s leading authority on lean"

“This is Lean” can be used by all managers in all types of companies. It shows that operation optimization is not static, but something that needs to be reinvented and redeveloped all the time. Successful companies can best keep their competitive advantage by coming back to “the customer is in the center”. Lean is a way of thinking that shows the way under these critical repetitions. I have not yet found a book  better than this, which teaches the concept and the use of lean!” - John Lagerling, Senior Director, Android Global Partnerships, Google