a new management framework
Augmented Lean debunks overblown industry 4.0 automation efforts, providing evidence of how the best leaders in manufacturing instead pragmatically implement industrial technology to empower their workers, achieve efficiencies, and sustain innovation.
co-authors
Natan Linder, PhD
Natan is a pioneering entrepreneur of industrial tech, co-founder and CEO of frontline operations platform Tulip, and co-founder and Chairman of the Board of Formlabs, the pioneer and industry leader in professional desktop 3D printing.
Trond Arne Undheim, PhD
Trond is a futurist, scholar, podcaster, venture partner, nonresident Fellow at the Atlantic Council, co-founder of Yegii, and Lead Ecosystem evangelist at Tulip.
endorsements
“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 contrarian, as are many great entrepreneurs. The book will change how you see the key challenges of manufacturing. You can sense the immense possibilities for the future of empowered workers through innovative use of technology. 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 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.
“…an important book. Despite a generation of tops 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
“The world is changing towards a platform-based economy. This book gives perfect answers about augmented work and how it multiplies the effects on human ingenuity and automation on each other. The book guidelines the bridge between the digital and physical perspective and will promote future understanding on developments in industry towards platforms. A must read!” —Christian Thoenes, Chairman of the Executive Board, DMG MORI
“Augmented Lean makes a compelling case for a bottoms-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. This approach has the potential to alter the trajectory of manufacturing toward greater efficiency and agility, by uniting process technologies with connected, human-centric operational systems.”
—John Hart, Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Director of the Laboratory for Manufacturing and Productivity, and Director of the Center for Additive and Digital Advanced Production Technologies, MIT
“Essential reading for CEOs, masterfully structured, clarifies the pivotal role of technology in the lean domain without resorting to hyperbole. Cleverly balances visionary insight with great implementation guidance.”
—Pascal Bornet, Author of Intelligent Automation, and LinkedIn Top Voice in Tech
“Tech entrepreneur Linder and futurist Undheim brilliantly argue why augmentation is better than automation. This book provides a clear direction for next-gen operational excellence. If you’re in search of manufacturing excellence, search no more: Augmented lean is the thing to do and this book tells you how.”
—Prof. Dr. Torbjørn Netland, Chair of Production and Operations Management (POM) Department of Management, Technology, and Economics, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, ETH Zürich