New release
Business Some Assembly Required
BUSINESS SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED
Every business is a factory—software teams, consultancies, retail crews. In Business Some Assembly Required, Conrad Gagner draws on three decades of mining, rail, manufacturing, and digital transformation experience to show how Lean and systems thinking can be used far beyond the shop floor.
Through clear frameworks, practical tools, and case studies, you’ll learn how to:
- Eliminate hidden waste that drains time, money, and energy.
- Design flow through value stream mapping, visual boards, and disciplined daily management.
- Use kaizen routines, standardized work, and structured problem-solving to fix issues fast.
- Leverage data, automation, and AI as force multipliers while keeping teams accountable.
From boardroom to front line, the book proves that thinking like a manufacturer is the ultimate business advantage and gives leaders the tools to streamline operations, empower people, and unlock growth.
Now available as a digital edition on Amazon.
Contents
Table of Contents
Foreword
The Hunt for Hidden Profit
In nearly every industry I've encountered—from mining to retail, finance to healthcare—there's a hidden drain on profitability that is often overlooked: waste. Not waste in the traditional sense of trash or scrap, but the kind that sneaks into our daily processes, our decision-making, our customer experiences, and even our leadership styles.
This book is built on a simple idea: what if we applied proven manufacturing principles—used for decades to streamline operations, increase quality, and eliminate waste—to every part of a business, no matter the industry? What if HR, finance, marketing, sales, IT, and customer service all adopted the thinking behind Lean manufacturing, continuous improvement, and operational excellence?
You don't have to run a factory to benefit from manufacturing wisdom. With a few shifts in mindset and a commitment to visibility, consistency, and continuous improvement, you can unlock value that’s already sitting inside your operation—waiting to be freed.
— Conrad Gagner
Inside the book
Chapter Previews
Chapter 1: The DNA of Manufacturing Excellence
Flow, standardisation, feedback loops, waste elimination, and continuous improvement aren’t factory buzzwords—they’re the universal DNA of reliable performance. The opening chapter reframes manufacturing excellence as a mindset any business can adopt, regardless of industry, to design systems that deliver consistency without sacrificing creativity.
Chapter 2: Lean Thinking – More Than Just Efficiency
Lean isn’t austerity. It’s a discipline centred on customer value, ruthless waste elimination, and faster learning cycles. This chapter shows how Lean thinking migrated from Toyota’s production lines into services, software, and government teams, and how to avoid shallow ‘tool-first’ deployments.
Chapter 3: The Power of Standard Work
Standard work doesn’t replace human judgment—it frees it. By documenting the current best-known method, teams reduce rework, onboard faster, and unlock space for continuous improvement. Real-world examples show how consulting, IT, and customer experience teams used standard work to turn chaos into flow.