Links:

The Lean Enterprise Institute - www.lean.org
Excellent case studies on lean deployment across a variety of industries. Very good lean blog where practitioners ask and answer common questions. Sign up to receive periodic emails on a variety of lean topics. The bookstore includes several award-winning lean titles.

The Avraham Goldratt Institute - www.goldratt.com
Eliyahu Goldratt is the father of The Theory of Constraints, which is more than just a theory. TOC is a widely-practiced methodology for improving process performance by managing bottlenecks.

The Society of Manufacturing Engineers - www.sme.org
The SME website contains a wealth of information on process improvement, especially manufacturing processes. Their videos and DVDs are an excellent addition to any training library. The site also includes technical information on a variety of manufacturing processes and systems, helpful for companies trying to identify and adopt best practices. See their periodic emails and workshops.

The Shingo Prize for Manufacturing Excellence - www.shingoprize.org
The Shingo Prize website is a rich resource for anyone seeking to understand and pursue process excellence. The Shingo Prize guidelines and criteria are helpful for developing a ‘get-to-excellence’ plan for any business type.

The Association for Manufacturing Excellence - www.ame.org
AME’s site is an outstanding tool for manufacturing and general process excellence.
Workshops and videotapes are excellent quality.

FastCompany Magazine - www.fastcompany.com
FastCompany is a forward-thinking magazine with thought-provoking articles spanning a range of topics relevant to business today: leadership, innovation, culture, and trends.
Harvard Business School Publishing - www.hbsp.harvard.edu
Besides the venerable and well-respected Harvard Business Review, HBSP provides reprints of articles going back decades. The works are well-researched, insightful, and many are watersheds of business management thinking. Use the search tool to find articles on topics of interest.

The Association for Operations Management (APICS) - www.apics.org
This group, formerly known as the American Production and Inventory Control Society, has kept the “APICS” acronym, but their new name does better reflect their broadened focus. The organization provides many resources for the operations professional.

iSixSigma - www.isixsigma.com
There are many Six Sigma websites out there, but this one has some very good resources, an active Six Sigma blog, and stays very current on news and goings-on in the Six Sigma community.

American Society for Quality - www.asq.org
The American Society for Quality has tools and resources that extend beyond the world of the quality management profession. Many of the topics reach into management, human resources, and any process improvement or innovation practitioner.

Supply Chain Council - www.supply-chain.org
The Supply Chain Council is mostly focused on vendor management and logistics. It has many items of interest for procurement or supply chain management professionals.
InnovateAmerica - www.innovateamerica.org
The website of the Council on Competitiveness is a call to arms for preserving and strengthening American innovation, which is the key to U.S. business strength and sustainable competitiveness in the global marketplace.

National Association of Manufacturers – www.nam.org
The National Association of Manufacturers is devoted to protecting American manufacturing jobs, which, despite erosion, still provide the country’s highest paying jobs, and create more secondary jobs than any other sector of the economy, such as service industries. The site includes tools to help make the case for manufacturing in America.