JUST SAY THE WORD - Michael Ballé explains why front-loading engineering means planning product renewal years ahead, and how Toyota's Chief Engineer role balances business, design, and technical expertise through influence, not hierarchy.
FEATURE – Toyota’s Woven City provides a blueprint for radical innovation based on a three-level learning architecture and “kakezan” partnerships, enabling experimentation, real-world validation, and scalable value creation.
FEATURE – Lean engineering keeps products alive by relentlessly reconnecting them to real use—learning across generations, shaping clear purpose, and resolving constraints early so value endures as markets evolve.
INTERVIEW - Festo’s lean journey improved competitiveness by embedding Lean into daily operations, strengthening leadership engagement, accelerating innovation, and turning Bulgaria into an internal hub for innovation.
FEATURE - This month’s Design Brief explores the concept of craftsmanship in design and engineering, how to cultivate it in individuals and organizations, and the benefits of pursuing excellence.
NOTES FROM THE GEMBA – After re-insourcing its bike repair workshop, a distribution center of France's La Poste has begun to recover long-lost knowledge about the work of mailmen and using it to innovate.
