Augmented Lean

Explore the real future of work in this expert tech implementation guide that goes beyond automation

In Augmented Lean: A Human-Centric Framework for Managing Frontline Operations, serial startup founder Dr. Natan Linder and futurist podcaster Dr. Trond Arne Undheim deliver an urgent and incisive exploration of how to facilitate agile processes amongst a millennial workforce that already lives by many of its tenets. The book demonstrates how to abandon legacy industrial technology that is failing modern operations and hindering operational excellence and digital progress. As an executive and leader, you cannot fall prey to hyped-up notions of industry 4.0's factory of the future automation, artificial intelligence, internet of things, sensors, digital twins, and augmented reality fixing every problem. Instead, to truly reduce cognitive load, complexity, and frustrations in the workplace, we must build cyber-physical technologies so that humans remain at the center. Leaders must ensure that the technology they deploy at an industrial scale has fluid interfaces that demonstrably simplifies work and makes operations more flexible without introducing fear, uncertainty, or doubt.

The authors provide:

• A step-by-step walkthrough of the Augmented Lean framework that shows readers when, how, and why to augment your workforce through cyber-physical principles that go beyond both Lean and Agile management practices
• Concrete strategies on how to scale these operational augmentation methods throughout your organization based on real-world case studies of operators in the trenches of manufacturing whose impact far outweighs their seniority in the corporate hierarchy
• Insightful advice for how to use the augmentation framework in small- and medium-sized enterprises where license and training costs are prohibitive when only using off-the-shelf industry 4.0 approaches

A thoroughly practical playbook for augmenting your workforce with the latest cyber-physical adaptations to digital technologies, Augmented Lean provides you with the organizational-, process-, and management-level techniques you need to get the most out of your employees. In turn, as an operator, engineer, or industrial worker reading this book, you will become empowered to be a change agent through no-code interfaces instead of remaining a recipient of endless training demands and ever-increasing technological complexity. Augmented Lean will orient you towards the future with the most effective tools to cut through hype so you can instantly apply your learnings and be productive wherever you currently operate.

NATAN LINDER, PHD, is Co-founder and CEO of the frontline operations platform Tulip, and the Co-founder and Chairman of the Board of Formlabs, a pioneer in professional desktop 3D printing. He received his doctorate from MIT Media Lab’s Fluid Interfaces Group.

TROND ARNE UNDHEIM, PHD, is a futurist, podcaster, venture partner, Co-founder of Yegii, and formerly with MIT, WPP, Oracle, and the EU. He received his doctorate in the Future of Work and Artificial Intelligence from the NTNU’s Faculty of Social and Educational Sciences.

PRAISE FOR Augmented Lean "It is not just that the authors have a powerful thesis. It is that they implemented it in real life--skin in the game. This makes the book an imperative read for anyone in industrial technology." --NASSIM NICHOLAS TALEB, Author of The Black Swan and Antifragile " Augmented Lean is an important puzzle piece in the fourth industrial revolution. The proposed management framework provides a new way to help stakeholders achieve the full benefits of industrial technology." --KLAUS SCHWAB, Founder and Executive Chairman, the World Economic Forum " Augmented Lean is contrarian, as are many great entrepreneurs. The book will change how you see the key challenges of manufacturing. An excellent read for anyone from CEOs to investors considering making enterprise technology investments." --BRAD FELD, Venture Capitalist, bestselling author of Venture Deals , Co-founder of Foundry Group and Techstars " Augmented Lean makes a compelling case for a bottom-up, people-first approach to factory-floor innovation. Digitally enabled workflow tools can empower workers to innovate, and can make workforce training better, more accessible, and more fun." --JOHN HART, Professor of Mechanical Engineering, MIT "An important book. Despite a generation of top down tech investment, productivity is in decline, supply chains have failed, and our workforce is disenchanted. The next generation of tools must liberate the workforce to be faster and more flexible." --JEFF IMMELT, Venture Partner at NEA, former CEO of GE, and author of Hot Seat: What I Learned Leading a Great American Company

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