New Book Leads Readers Through the Pitfalls That Inhibit a Profitable Lean Enterprise Transformation.

The Elusive Lean Enterprise is an indictment of executives, managers, and concrete heads everywhere whose organizations aspire to mediocrity.

Canton, Ohio (PRWEB) July 6, 2004 - In todays fast-paced and volatile business environment, customers are demanding increased flexibility and lower cost, and companies must operate in a waste-free environment to maintain a competitive edge and grow margins. Lean Enterprise is the process that many companies are adopting to provide superior customer service, and improve bottom-line performance.

Some companies are still contemplating Lean Enterprise for their manufacturing or office facilities. Others are already implementing Lean, but are either dissatisfied with the speed of change, or they are not achieving the anticipated results. A relatively small number of companies have the right formula, and are reaping extraordinary benefits. In many cases, employees think that Lean is just the latest management flavor-of-the-month, because it is implemented just like every other failed program.

Increasingly, businesses are being forced to go Lean by their customers, or worse, by their competitors. A growing number are reacting to the pressure by going offshore to cut costs.

The Elusive Lean Enterprise book is designed to guide readers through the Lean transformation and avoid the pitfalls. This book demonstrates why many companies are failing to live up to the promise of Lean, and why there may be alternatives to outsourcing or going offshore.

...this book is excellent; it gets to the heart of why Lean (and this can be applied to many other systems) cannot succeed without the right attitude and the right strategy. Corporations that use only a fraction of their available resource cannot compete with those who can harness, inspire and engage all of their intellectual talent." P. Paparone -- V.P Human Resources (ret.) Emerson.

In The Elusive Lean Enterprise, lean experts Keith Gilpatrick and Brian Furlong show readers what to do, what they must not do, and how to make Lean the way business is done in the 21st century.

By learning from the mistakes of others, readers can avoid the trial and error implementation process that often kills the initiative. The book also addresses why companies must change, how to change, and how to institutionalize the process. The Lean Math section of this book shows why businesses also need to understand the true costs of outsourcing, or going offshore, and why they should compare these to the Lean alternative.

...finally someone cuts through all the hype and tells it like it is...this is a wake-up call for management, and a must-read for those who truly want to rise to the top." K. Airulla-President-K.E.E. Strategies

For companies that have an effective strategy, Lean Enterprise can produce outstanding results. For those companies that fail to commit to the process and truly change the culture, a Lean Enterprise, and all of its inherent benefits, will remain elusive.

in writing this book", says author Keith Gilpatrick-President of Lean Enterprise Inc, Brian Furlong and I wanted to illustrate why Lean is the best business strategy in decades. We also wanted to provide a no-nonsense guide to successful implementation, and clearly point out the potential pitfalls. There are some who will not like what we have to say, but they are likely to be the very people who are struggling with the concept."

The Elusive Lean Enterprise is available for $29.95 at http://www.leanvalue.com or from major bookstores nationwide. Lean Enterprise Inc. principals, Keith Gilpatrick and Brian Furlong are also the authors of Lean Mastery- a comprehensive and innovative Lean training solution that is in use at major corporations, and available at over 250 Universities in the United States. They have also just released Establishing Offshore Operations"-- a comprehensive guide and toolbox for setting up operations outside of the United States. The authors can be contacted at info@leanvalue.com

About Lean Enterprise Inc.

Lean Enterprise Inc. is a consulting company that provides strategic and tactical solutions for companies that wish to radically improve profitability and business performance. They have developed a number of innovative low-cost solutions to assist with the Lean transformation and the establishment of outsourced or offshore operations.

Editors: Review Copy available upon request at info@leanvalue.com. A copy of your review will be appreciated.

CONTACT INFORMATION:

Keith Gilpatrick or Brian Furlong

Lean Enterprise Inc.

330-833-1457

http://www.leanvalue.com