A field manual series for manufacturing leaders
Operations methods you have heard of, built step by step by someone who has installed them on real floors. With the templates to run one yourself.
Most operations books explain what lean is, what a tiered meeting is, what standard work should look like. Then they leave. This series stays for the hard part: short staffing, high turnover, mixed skill levels, union and non-union floors, and a schedule that never asks permission before it falls apart.
Every book is a field manual. It walks through the mechanics of one management system as it actually gets installed: the boards, the meetings, the leader standard work, and the coaching that keeps it alive after the launch energy fades.
Book one in the series
Stop firefighting: a practical guide for running the shift, not surviving it
A field manual for manufacturing leaders. MDI is the daily management system that ends firefighting: pace boards that drive decisions, tiered meetings that solve problems, and leader standard work that holds up on a bad Tuesday.
Hands-on writing about lean methods, continuous improvement, and the leadership work that makes both stick.
Where AI genuinely helps continuous improvement, where it cannot, and a sane adoption path: start with existing data, pilot on one chronic…
Why most Lean Six Sigma implementations stall after training, and the step-by-step sequence that makes them stick: one value stream, real problems,…
A practical playbook for value stream mapping that ends in changed processes instead of laminated wallpaper: scope one family, walk the real…
Short videos that walk through the same systems the books teach: daily management, leader standard work, problem solving, and the culture that carries them.
Browse the VideosIvan Heyboer has spent 30+ years turning around manufacturing and distribution operations, from single-plant crisis fixes to continuous improvement across 100+ locations.
About the Author