A landmark investigation of the chemical industry's decades-long campaign to hide the dangers of forever chemicals, told through the story of a small town on the frontlines of an epic public health crisisIn 2014, after losing several friends and relatives to cancer, an unassuming insurance underwriter in Hoosick Falls, New York, began to suspect that the local water supply was polluted. When he tested his tap water, he discovered dangerous levels of forever chemicals. This set off a chain of events that led to 100 million Americans learning their drinking water was tainted. Although the discovery came as a shock to most, the U.S. government and the manufacturers of these toxic chemicals—used in everything from lipstick and cookware to children’s clothing—had known about their hazards for decades.In They Poisoned the World, investigative journalist Mariah Blake tells the astonishing story of this cover-up, tracing its roots back to the Manhattan Project and through the postwar years, as industry scientists discovered that these chemicals refused to break down and were saturating the blood of virtually every human being. By the 1980s, manufacturers were secretly testing their workers and finding links to birth defects, cancer, and other serious diseases. At every step, the industry’s deceptions were aided by our government’s appallingly lax regulatory system—a system that has made us all guinea pigs in a vast, uncontrolled chemistry experiment.Drawing on years of on-the-ground reporting and tens of thousands of documents, Blake interweaves the secret history of forever chemicals with the moving story of how a lone village took on the chemical giants—and won. From the beloved local doctor to the young mother who took her fight all the way to the nation’s capital, citizen activists in Hoosick Falls and beyond have ignited the most powerful grassroots environmental movement since Silent Spring.Humane and revelatory, this book will provoke outrage—and hopefully inspire the change we need to protect the health of every American for generations to come. Read more

Every lean practitioner occasionally wishes for a simple, fun, and quick-read introduction to lean thinking to give acquaintances, associates, and family members – even to our kids. If lean thinking often entails unlearning a plethora of bad habits, wouldn’t it better if we learned better thinking – and habits – from the beginning? Everything I Know About Lean I Learned in First Grade is just that sort of book. It brings lean back to its original simplicity by showing how lean is alive in a first grade classroom. The book connects common lean tools to the broader lean journey, shows how to identify and eliminate waste, and aids the reader in seeing lean for what it truly is: a way to create a learning and problem-solving culture. Written to educate the entire organization on the fundamentals of lean thinking, this is the perfect source to engage all team members at all levels of an organization. Originally self-published in 2008, LEI is proud to re-issue this book and make it available to the broader lean community. Read more

Every factory eventually runs into choppy waters and turbulence. Systems and processes that used to work suddenly struggle, and customer complaints pile up out of nowhere. It’s not for a lack of effort or desire, but something goes wrong with the old formula for running the plant. What can you do to navigate the trouble and help your manufacturing business get back on the right track?In How to Fix a Factory, Rob Tracy shows there’s always a way to fix the problem, once you know what the problem is. He draws on over 30 years of industry experience to guide you through a practical approach to create a fundamentally sound and healthy factory. Senior leaders, plant managers, production managers, and supervisors will learn how to sort through the noise and lead their teams on a journey of improvement that ensures that the factory is on solid footing. With his simple five-step system to improving your business from the ground up, Rob Tracy shows how to uncover the underlying challenges and provides actionable solutions to fix them.This audiobook will help you identify and fix issues including:Missed customer delivery expectationsA disengaged and frustrated workforceShrinking profitabilityInability to increase capacityWeak results from a lean implementationDaily firefighting and chaosWhen you listen to How to Fix a Factory, you’ll be taking your first step toward factory improvement. By building a strong foundation with an engaged workforce, you’ll have the underpinnings needed to take the next steps towards breakthrough levels of performance and operational excellence. Read more

Tap into solutions for the top 10 challenges every business encounters and learn the keys to transform your business today.Learn the key solutions to solve the 10 proven, repeatable, and beatable challenges that every business encounters. Whether you are a startup, restructuring, or escalating to a higher level, you can grow your business, improve performance, and improve efficiency starting right now with the help of The Profit Pattern.This is an insider's look at the strategies behind authority business coach and serial entrepreneur John Mautner's formula. The Profit Pattern will help you protect, restore, and grow your business, just as Mautner has personally done to help thousands of other businesses. Discover the challenges that every business faces and learn how to make a difference, transform your business, improve efficiency, and impact your company's bottom line.Whether you are facing financial challenges or are seeking greater heights, The Profit Pattern will guide you to improve performance, increase productivity, and manage your time through simple steps so you can accomplish all your goals. Read more

A landmark investigation of the chemical industry's decades-long campaign to hide the dangers of forever chemicals, told through the story of a small town on the frontlines of an epic public health crisisIn 2014, after losing several friends and relatives to cancer, an unassuming insurance underwriter in Hoosick Falls, New York, began to suspect that the local water supply was polluted. When he tested his tap water, he discovered dangerous levels of forever chemicals. This set off a chain of events that led to 100 million Americans learning their drinking water was tainted. Although the discovery came as a shock to most, the U.S. government and the manufacturers of these toxic chemicals—used in everything from lipstick and cookware to children’s clothing—had known about their hazards for decades.In They Poisoned the World, investigative journalist Mariah Blake tells the astonishing story of this cover-up, tracing its roots back to the Manhattan Project and through the postwar years, as industry scientists discovered that these chemicals refused to break down and were saturating the blood of virtually every human being. By the 1980s, manufacturers were secretly testing their workers and finding links to birth defects, cancer, and other serious diseases. At every step, the industry’s deceptions were aided by our government’s appallingly lax regulatory system—a system that has made us all guinea pigs in a vast, uncontrolled chemistry experiment.Drawing on years of on-the-ground reporting and tens of thousands of documents, Blake interweaves the secret history of forever chemicals with the moving story of how a lone village took on the chemical giants—and won. From the beloved local doctor to the young mother who took her fight all the way to the nation’s capital, citizen activists in Hoosick Falls and beyond have ignited the most powerful grassroots environmental movement since Silent Spring.Humane and revelatory, this book will provoke outrage—and hopefully inspire the change we need to protect the health of every American for generations to come. Read more

Steve Bannon calls Reshore, “One of the most important books of the year, a tour de force of economic history and economic philosophy.”President Trump recently reposted author’s article, “Trump’s Tariffs Will Create Millions of Jobs.”One of the must-read books of 2025.Drive through rural America and you’ll see small town after small town empty and decaying. As you drive past the abandoned manufacturing plants and shuttered Victorian homes once inhabited by its workers and executives, you can picture what the town was like forty years ago. A thriving community where the company president and assembly line worker went to the same church and whose children went to the same school.But what if we could reclaim this America?In Spencer Morrison’s provocative new book, Reshore: How Tariffs Will Bring Our Jobs Home and Revive the American Dream, Morrison argues that the strong manufacturing base that was long the cornerstone of a strong middle class, healthy economy and thriving country can be revived. Its disappearance was a choice – one made by elites who only cared about their bottom dollar - to export our jobs and our wealth abroad.The all-too-predictable result is that Americans are poorer than they have ever been. And the cultural consequences could hardly be more profound. At an alarming rate, Americans are swapping healthy foods for highly processed foods, replacing high quality appliances and household items with imported cheap, low-quality goods and are becoming renters instead of homeowners. Because we are poorer, fewer of us are getting married and having children. In the hopelessness that abounds in rural America, more are turning to drugs.How can this horrific reality be reversed, argues Morrison? Tariffs!Reshore dispels the common misconceptions that free traders, libertarians and too many “conservatives” use to scare the American people about tariffs. It is vital reading for Americans ready to once again put America first and rebuild the America our founders left us. Read more

An overview of the state of manufacturing in America—both past and present—and how this sector and the jobs it creates are essential to the American economy “There's no author whose books I look forward to more than Vaclav Smil.” —Bill Gates   In Made in the USA, Vaclav Smil powerfully rebuts the notion that manufacturing is a relic of predigital history and that the loss of American manufacturing is a desirable evolutionary step toward a pure service economy. Smil argues that no advanced economy can prosper without a strong, innovative manufacturing sector and the jobs it creates.   Smil explains how manufacturing became a fundamental force behind America’s economic, strategic, and social dominance. He describes American manufacturing’s rapid rise at the end of the nineteenth century, its consolidation and modernization between the two world wars, its role as an enabler of mass consumption after 1945, and its recent decline. Some economists argue that shipping low-value jobs overseas matters little because the high-value work remains in the United States. But, asks Smil, do we want a society that consists of a small population of workers doing high-value-added work and masses of unemployed?   Smil assesses various suggestions for solving America’s manufacturing crisis, including lowering corporate tax rates, promoting research and development, and improving public education. Will America act to preserve and reinvigorate its manufacturing? It is crucial to our social and economic well-being; but, Smil warns, the odds are no better than even. Read more

A Wall Street Journal bestseller The future of the American economy is hiding in an unlikely place: the manufacturing sector While Silicon Valley titans dominate headlines, many of the fastest-growing, most profitable companies in the United States are firms you’ve likely never heard of, such as HEICO, Trex, and Casella. These booming companies belong to a burgeoning sector—industrial tech—that offers surprising hope to workers, consumers, and investors alike.  Their role: to make a range of products—aerospace parts, for example, or recycled plastic lumber—that quietly form the backbone of America’s biggest industries. In an age of instability, industrial tech is a cornerstone of our economic future. In this book, McKinsey veterans Asutosh Padhi, Gaurav Batra, and Nick Santhanam reveal the “titanium economy,” a modern, reinvented industrial sector complete with high-paying, domestic jobs;, soaring stock prices;, and critical infrastructure. They dispel the myth that the best of American manufacturing is behind us and illuminate an opportunity for a brighter future—if we can seize it. Read more

SYSTEMology is trusted by leaders worldwide as the #1 “System For Systemising Your Business.”Transform your owner-dependent business into a profitable, well-oiled machine that runs itself.Most business owners think that they must be the ones to document their processes when systemising their operations. But systems devotee David Jenyns has found that they’re typically the worst people to be doing it - there is a better way!SYSTEMology offers a structured framework designed to systemize your business efficiently, even for the busiest owners. Drawing on over 20 years of experience and real-life case studies, David Jenyns outlines a path to Complete Business Reliability.In this book, you'll uncover:Why most business owners struggle to systemize their operationsWhere to start and which systems to prioritizeThe secret to modeling your best team members for rapid system creationStrategies to get even the most stubborn team members to follow your systemsHow to integrate system improvement into your team's routineThe best way to unlock innovation and strategies to skyrocket your creativityHow to make improving systems a regular part of your team's routineAnd much more!It’s time to say hello to a more organized, repeatable and scalable business. Start reading or listening now.“A must for any business owner and their leadership team."Gıno Wickman, Traction. Read more

Why AS6500? Where did it come from? Why does it exist? Those are easy questions to answer. It came from the inspiration of angels and it exists to make your life, and your factory, more perfect. That's why, when you open the standard, you can still hear the faint echoes of the singing of angels. Actually, experts were gathered from across the country, both from the Defense Department and from industry to create the new document. They toiled away until the perfect product emerged from the fruit of their labors: Aerospace Standard AS6500, "Manufacturing Management Program," published in November 2014.How to Manage the Perfect Factory combines education and instruction with fun, laughter and motivation. The book gently pokes fun at the people and organizational barriers that the Manufacturing function must overcome to make those obstacles seem more surmountable while providing key information on implementing AS6500. Read more

When a new technology makes people ill, how high does the body count have to be before protectives steps are taken? This disturbing book tells a dark story of hazardous manufacturing, poisonous materials, environmental abuses, political machinations, and economics trumping safety concerns. It explores the century-long history of “fake silk,” or cellulose viscose, used to produce such products as rayon textiles and tires, cellophane, and everyday kitchen sponges. Paul Blanc uncovers the grim history of a product that crippled and even served a death sentence to many industry workers while also releasing toxic carbon disulfide into the environment.   Viscose, an innovative and lucrative product first introduced in the early twentieth century, quickly became a multinational corporate enterprise. Blanc investigates industry practices from the beginning through two highly profitable world wars, the midcentury export of hazardous manufacturing to developing countries, and the current “greenwashing” of viscose as an eco-friendly product. Deeply researched and boldly presented, this book brings to light an industrial hazard whose egregious history ranks with those of asbestos, lead, and mercury. Read more

A landmark investigation of the chemical industry's decades-long campaign to hide the dangers of forever chemicals, told through the story of a small town on the frontlines of an epic public health crisisIn 2014, after losing several friends and relatives to cancer, an unassuming insurance underwriter in Hoosick Falls, New York, began to suspect that the local water supply was polluted. When he tested his tap water, he discovered dangerous levels of forever chemicals. This set off a chain of events that led to 100 million Americans learning their drinking water was tainted. Although the discovery came as a shock to most, the U.S. government and the manufacturers of these toxic chemicals—used in everything from lipstick and cookware to children’s clothing—had known about their hazards for decades.In They Poisoned the World, investigative journalist Mariah Blake tells the astonishing story of this cover-up, tracing its roots back to the Manhattan Project and through the postwar years, as industry scientists discovered that these chemicals refused to break down and were saturating the blood of virtually every human being. By the 1980s, manufacturers were secretly testing their workers and finding links to birth defects, cancer, and other serious diseases. At every step, the industry’s deceptions were aided by our government’s appallingly lax regulatory system—a system that has made us all guinea pigs in a vast, uncontrolled chemistry experiment.Drawing on years of on-the-ground reporting and tens of thousands of documents, Blake interweaves the secret history of forever chemicals with the moving story of how a lone village took on the chemical giants—and won. From the beloved local doctor to the young mother who took her fight all the way to the nation’s capital, citizen activists in Hoosick Falls and beyond have ignited the most powerful grassroots environmental movement since Silent Spring.Humane and revelatory, this book will provoke outrage—and hopefully inspire the change we need to protect the health of every American for generations to come. Read more

Vital tools for implementing Lean Six Sigma--what they are, how they work, and which to useThe Lean Six Sigma Pocket Toolbook is today's most complete and results-based reference to the tools and concepts needed to understand, implement, and leverage Lean Six Sigma. The only guide that groups tools by purpose and use, this hands-on reference provides:Analyses of nearly 100 tools and methodologies--from DMAIC and Pull Systems to Control Charts and Pareto ChartsDetailed explanations of each tool to help you know how, when, and why to use it for maximum efficacySections for each tool explaining how to create it, how to interpret what you find, and expert tipsLean Six Sigma is today's leading technique to maximize production efficiency and maintain control over each step in the managerial process. With The Lean Six Sigma Pocket Toolbook, you'll discover how to propel your organization to new levels of competitive success--one tool at a time. Read more

Winner of a Shingo Research and Professional Publication Award!At the heart of Lean and Six Sigma is the same, unique business operating system: hoshin kanri. It is a method of strategic planning and a tool for managing complex projects, a quality operating system geared to ensuring that organizations faithfully translate the voice of the customer into new products, and a business operating system that ensures reliable profit growth.The true power of hoshin kanri, however, is two-fold -- it is a superior organizational learning method as well as a competitive resource development system.Hoshin Kanri for the Lean Enterprise, by Tom Jackson, explains how you can implement, identify and manage the critical relationships among your markets, design characteristics, production systems, and personnel to satisfy your customers and beat your competition. This practical workbook provides―A new understanding of hoshin kanri as a grand experimental design implemented through a system of team agreements.Clear explanations of the steps of hoshin kanri.A measure of overall business effectiveness used to determine the focus of corporate strategy.A new, improved X-matrix that incorporates a lean "balanced scorecard" for identifying improvement opportunities and converting them readily into bottom line results as a value stream P&L in terms that financial managers and accountants can understand and support.Downloadable resources containing forms, meeting agendas, and examples of X-matrices that serve marketing and design engineering as well as manufacturing.This workbook will show you the mechanics of implementing hoshin kanri, so that you can systematically improve your brand equity, implement Lean manufacturing and Six Sigma, and integrate your suppliers into a Lean and Six Sigma organization. Read more

Transformative insights and advice to reduce downtime, navigate disruptions, and improve efficiencyThe Gen AI Manufacturing Revolution highlights how generative and agentic artificial intelligence are transforming manufacturing processes, driving innovation, and reshaping the way we work. Implementing AI in manufacturing comes with unique challenges, such as integrating AI with physical machinery, managing intricate supply chains, and ensuring regulatory compliance. This book addresses these challenges, helping you harness AI's potential while navigating its complexities. With tailored strategies and use cases, the book demonstrates how to unlock the power of Gen AI, from automating routine tasks to enabling better decision-making. You'll learn to build an AI-ready workforce, overcome common challenges in adoption, drive value across the organization, and maintain accountability. Leverage generative AI to streamline product design, boost creativity, and accelerate innovationDeploy agentic AI systems to autonomously manage workflows, monitor performance, and support complex decision-makingBuild an AI-ready workforce capable of collaborating with intelligent systemsAddress ethical, operational, and cultural challenges in AI adoptionDrive enterprise-wide value while maintaining transparency and accountabilityWhether you're looking to reduce downtime, enhance efficiency, or stay ahead of disruptive change, this book is your essential guide to leading the next wave of industrial transformation through AI. Read more

Winner of a 2009 Shingo Research and Professional Publication Prize. Notably flexible and brief, the A3 report has proven to be a key tool In Toyota‘s successful move toward organizational efficiency, effectiveness, and improvement, especially within its engineering and R&D organizations. The power of the A3 report, however, derives not from th Read more

How companies are using lean development to revolutionize their product and service offerings―vital lessons any business leader can use as an engine of innovationHow did Ford Motors use Lean Development to pull off one of the most impressive corporate turnarounds in history? Largely by avoiding the mistakes that so many companies make when in a death spiral. They looked beyond manufacturing efficiency to change the very fundamentals of how they developed vehicles.In Designing the Future, Lean product development expert James Morgan and world-renowned Lean guru Jeffrey K. Liker reveal why so many companies have achieved only moderate success with Lean in operations, with a limited impact on their overall business. They take you through the process of bringing the best of Lean management to your enterprise―in order to link your business strategy to superior value designed for customers. The authors provide an actionable approach to building a better future for your business fueled by an iterative, integrated process that relies on simultaneous engineering, linking strategy and vision.They illustrate how to empower skilled and talented people to make collaboration and innovation a habit―hour to hour and day to day. It’s the secret of full implementation of Lean―and this groundbreaking guide takes you through every step of the process. The best way to predict the future is to create it. With Designing the Future, you have everything you need to create a flexible, iterative business-transformation process that takes you from strategic vision to value stream creation for maximum customer value delivery. Read more

Lean-Lean Six Sigma, Lean Startup, Lean Enterprise, Lean Analytics, Agile Project Management, Kanban, Scrum, Kaizen8 Books in 1 Boxset CollectionMaster Lean Methodology & become an expert!Get your Lean Mastery book collection Now!Included in this collection are the top books to help you improve, grow and master your skills on Lean Methodology. Change the way that you do business. This book collection will help you reach near perfection in the products that you sell, the customer service that you provide, and the lack of waste that you achieve.Included books:Lean Six Sigma: A Beginner’s Step-By-Step Guide To Implementing Six Sigma Methodology to an Enterprise and Manufacturing ProcessLean Startup: The Complete Step-by-Step Lean Six Sigma Startup GuideLean Enterprise: The Complete Step-by-Step Startup Guide to Building a Lean Business Using Six Sigma, Kanban & 5s MethodologiesLean Analytics: The Complete Guide To Using Data To Track, Optimize And Build A Better And Faster Startup BusinessKanban: The Complete Step-by-Step Guide to Agile Project Management with KanbanScrum: The Complete Step-By-Step Guide to Managing Product Development Using Agile FrameworkKaizen for Small Business Startup: How to Gain and Maintain a Competitive Edge by Applying the Kaizen Mindset to Your Startup Business and Management-Improve Performance, Communication & Productivity Read more

In the 1950’s, the design and implementation of the Toyota Production System (TPS) within Toyota had begun. In the 1960’s, Group Technology (GT) and Cellular Manufacturing (CM) were used by Serck Audco Valves, a high-mix low-volume (HMLV) manufacturer in the United Kingdom, to guide enterprise-wide transformation. In 1996, the publication of the book Lean Thinking introduced the entire world to Lean. Job Shop Lean integrates Lean with GT and CM by using the five Principles of Lean to guide its implementation: (1) identify value, (2) map the value stream, (3) create flow, (4) establish pull, and (5) seek perfection. Unfortunately, the tools typically used to implement the Principles of Lean are incapable of solving the three Industrial Engineering problems that HMLV manufacturers face when implementing Lean: (1) finding the product families in a product mix with hundreds of different products, (2) designing a flexible factory layout that "fits" hundreds of different product routings, and (3) scheduling a multi-product multi-machine production system subject to finite capacity constraints.Based on the Author’s 20+ years of learning, teaching, researching, and implementing Job Shop Lean since 1999, this bookDescribes the concepts, tools, software, implementation methodology, and barriers to successful implementation of Lean in HMLV production systemsUtilizes Production Flow Analysis instead of Value Stream Mapping to eliminate waste in different levels of any HMLV manufacturing enterpriseSolves the three Industrial Engineering problems that were mentioned earlier using software like PFAST (Production Flow Analysis and Simplification Toolkit), Sgetti and SchedlyzerExplains how the one-at-a-time implementation of manufacturing cells constitutes a long-term strategy for Continuous ImprovementExplains how product families and manufacturing cells are the basis for implementing flexible automation, machine monitoring, virtual cells, Manufacturing Execution Systems, and other elements of Industry 4.0Teaches a new method, Value Network Mapping, to visualize large multi-product multi-machine production systems whose Value Streams share many processesIncludes real success stories of Job Shop Lean implementation in a variety of production systems such as a forge shop, a machine shop, a fabrication facility and a shipping departmentEncourages any HMLV manufacturer planning to implement Job Shop Lean to leverage the co-curricular and extracurricular programs of an Industrial Engineering department Read more

An “exhaustive” account of the pivotal incident between “native-born Protestant Chicagoans who founded the city and newer German and Irish immigrants” (Bloomberg). In 1855, when Chicago’s recently elected mayor Levi Boone pushed through a law forbidding the sale of alcohol on Sunday, the city pushed back. To the German community, the move seemed a deliberate provocation from Boone’s stridently anti-immigrant Know-Nothing Party. Beer formed the centerpiece of German Sunday gatherings, and robbing them of it on their only day off was a slap in the face. On April 21, 1855, an armed mob poured across the Clark Street Bridge and advanced on city hall. The Chicago Lager Riot resulted in at least one death, nineteen injuries and sixty arrests. It also led to the creation of a modern police department and the political alliances that helped put Abraham Lincoln in the White House. Authors Judy E. Brady and John F. Hogan explore the riot and its aftermath, from pint glass to bully pulpit. Read more