The Center for Lean

Tom Barrett Anoka-Ramsey Faculty

"Most people think of lean as a set of tools, a destination, or even a “program of the month.” Lean is really more about how individuals think and behave, which collectively defines and shapes the culture of an organization. When the members of an organization continually think about and act to relentlessly eliminate waste in all processes, a culture of continuous improvement is created which delivers game-changing improvements year after year that delight their Customers and creates a competitive advantage that competitors cannot beat" -Tom Barrett Tom Barrett has over 15 years experience leading organizations through extraordinary business improvements by utilizing Lean, Six Sigma, organizational learning and leadership development. Tom’s success with implementing Lean and Six Sigma has been in both small and large companies ranging from five to 50,000 employees in industries such as manufacturing, health care, government, hospitality, service, distribution and horticulture. Tom holds a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering & Management, and a master’s degree in Manufacturing Systems Engineering.

Lean-it’s not just for manufacturers!
Every business and organization can benefit from Lean principles.

The Center for Lean is a new training program and consultation service of Anoka-Ramsey Community College specifically designed to strengthen businesses and organizations by developing management practices, improving efficiencies and increasing productivity. 

The Center for Lean has discovered that companies that thrive in the face of challenges, understand the possibilities of high-performance and continuous improvement and purposefully change the way they work in order to achieve it.

The Center for Lean helps business and organizations learn new ways to streamline processes, eliminate waste and GROW.

We offer Lean in the following area: 

  Lean for the Medical Device and Pharmaceutical Industries
  Lean Green
  Lean Government
  Lean Manufacturing
  Lean for Businesses in Transition
  Lean Office 
  High Performance Leadership

Browse our course schedule.

What is Lean?

Lean has been described as a method for identifying and reducing waste in an organization or business. Typical types of waste include:

Can you think of any processes from your business or organization that need improvements? How many times have you waited a turn at the copy machine or printer? How many trips have you taken to talk to a colleague and found they were not there or available? How many copies, either electronic or paper, do you manage for documents in which you are responsible? When you start to analyze these processes you are beginning to think in terms of Lean.

Lean is also about having respect for people. Respect is about accountability to the system following it and improving it. Lean leadership is a way of empowering people and helping people grow professionally and personally by creating pride in the workplace. Lean leaders spend time coaching people.