Top 10 Lean Methodology Quotes (2024 Update)

1. “All we are doing is looking at the time line, from the moment the customer gives us an order to the point when we collect the cash. And we are reducing the time line by reducing the non-value adding wastes.”

— Taiichi Ohno

Also featured in: Efficiency Quotes

2. “No business plan survives first contact with customers.”

— Steve Blank

Also featured in: Startup Quotes, Adaptability Quotes

3. “Without standards, there can be no improvement.”

— Taiichi Ohno

Also featured in: Performance Quotes

4. “You can’t do kaizen just once or twice and expect immediate results. You have to be in it for the long haul.”

— Masaaki Imai

Also featured in: Quality Quotes

5. “The message of the Kaizen strategy is that not a day should go by without some kind of improvement being made somewhere in the company.”

— Masaaki Imai

Also featured in: Strategy Quotes, Efficiency Quotes

6. “Kaizen means ongoing improvement involving everybody, without spending much money.”

— Masaaki Imai

Also featured in: Efficiency Quotes

7. “When you are out observing on the gemba, do something to help them. If you do, people will come to expect that you can help them and will look forward to seeing you again on the gemba.”

— Taiichi Ohno

8. “There are four purposes of improvement: easier, better, faster, and cheaper. These four goals appear in the order of priority.”

— Shigeo Shingo

Also featured in: Efficiency Quotes

9. “Inspection with the aim of finding the bad ones and throwing them out is too late, ineffective, and costly. Quality comes not from inspection but from improvement of the process.”

— W. Edwards Deming

10. “Costs do not exist to be calculated. Costs exist to be reduced.”

— Taiichi Ohno

Also featured in: Efficiency Quotes

11. “Done is better than perfect.”

— Sheryl Sandberg

Also featured in: Startup Quotes, Action Quotes, Taking Action Quotes, Efficiency Quotes, Decision-Making Quotes