Body of Knowledge
The definitive, implementation-oriented curriculum for Lean Six Sigma, DMAIC, and Operational Excellence. Curated articles, templates, checklists, and an interactive learning path.
Interactive Curriculum

Lean Principles & Operational Excellence Foundations
The foundation of Operational Excellence — how the world's best organizations think about value, flow, and continuous improvement. Overview Every improvement method — 5S, Six Sigma, Kaizen, DMAIC — rests on a small set of principles first codified in the Toyota Production System. This course teaches those principles and the mindset behind them, so you understand not just what Lean tools do, but why they work. You'll learn to see any process the way an Operational Excellence practitioner does: as a value stream to be understood, simplified, and continuously improved. This is the conceptual foundation the rest of the OXP curriculum builds on.
3
Sections
9
Topics
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Materials
Published articles
Direct links to free Body of Knowledge articles for browsing and search engines.
- Efficiency vs. Effectiveness in Operations: How to Stop Optimizing the Wrong Work — Lean Principles & Operational Excellence Foundations
- Toyota Production System (TPS): How JIT, Jidoka, and Root Cause Problem Solving Work Together — Lean Principles & Operational Excellence Foundations
- History and Evolution of Lean: From Toyota Production System to a Universal Improvement Philosophy — Lean Principles & Operational Excellence Foundations
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How to use this Body of Knowledge
Whether you are preparing for an ASQ certification or optimizing your company's operational processes, here is how to get the most value:
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