What if you had to let go of most of your beliefs about how organizations prosper to secure future business success? Are you willing to embrace a new philosophy about production and manufacturing that seems counterintuitive, dissonant, and unfamiliar? The lean manufacturing approach is more than a process it is a philosophy that has evolved from the earlier concepts of Total Quality Management, continuous process improvement, Just-in-Time manufacturing, and Toyota's revolutionary production system. Companies undergoing a lean transformation must be prepared for constant change and effects that cascade down the entire value chain. In return, these brave organizations can expect increased labor productivity, decreased production throughput times, more inventory control, fewer product errors, quicker new product time-to-market, and better-trained workers. Porsche, Boeing, the Denver Mint, Wiremold, the Medical Center of Ocean County, and others have begun building lean organizations. The lean trend has emerged across industries as a method for thriving in unstable markets and tough economic times. This four-course series, "Lean Manufacturing", introduces the lean philosophy and associated principles necessary for any organization to get started on a lean journey. The second course explains how discrete manufacturing organizations can use value-stream mapping to create a roadmap for lean initiatives. Then, various lean techniques such as cell manufacturing and 5S are defined and demonstrated while the final course guides organizations through implementing lean strategies in manageable phases.