Hoshin Kanri for the Lean Enterprise

by Jamie Flinchbaugh, co-author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to Lean

I just got my copy of Hoshin Kanri for the Lean Enterprise. Of course, I did have the chance to read a review copy, and offered up my endorsement for the back cover. There I said simply:

Tom Jackson's practical and valuable insights are rivaled only by the importance and benefits of applying Hoshin Kanri.

I thought I would expand a bit on that, however. I will try to do a more thorough review in the future. Hoshin Kanri as a practice has been applied as part of lean transformation efforts for quite a long time. But there were still very limited resources for people to learn more about it. Tom's work in this arena is extensive, and throughout all of his books (others are Implementing a Lean Management System and Corporate Diagnosis), he has focused on tools and systems for management to use in a lean company. This is the only book you'll need – I highly recommend picking it up.

One of the things I most appreciate about this book is how it integrates hoshin kanri with the Plan-Do-Check-Act process. This of course is the intent of hoshin kanri, but the linkage was never presented so clearly.

If you want the standard text on hoshin kanri, although it is one much more difficult to read and apply, it is this:

If you want to read more from Tom Jackson, he and I did write and article together. It was titled The Extraordinary Vision of Henry Ford.

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