Combining the questions of green and sustainability with the application of lean thinking to supply chain and logistics I offer these current publications for your consideration.

Hot, Flat, and Crowded, by Thomas Friedman, author of The World is Flat, presents two cases 1) the impact of global warming, population growth, rise of a global middle class through globalization, and 2) America’s loss of focus and national purpose since 9/11, combine to ever greater instability.  The rise of new powerful economic nations is completely changing the way the world works.  Whether you buy in to the doom and gloom you might give some thought to how solving these problems present the greatest economic opportunity of our time.

Streamlined: 14 Principles of building & Managing the Lean Supply Chain by Mandyam M. Srinivasan stresses systems thinking. It integrates two management philosophies: the theory of constraints and lean thinking, and illustrating how they complement and reinforce each other to create the smooth flow of goods and services through the supply chain. Thought provoking.

End-to-End Lean Management by Robert Trent describes a broad array of waste that affects all supply chains and shows how to make lean performance improvement a reality across your entire supply chain.  Trent he explains and details key lean objectives, including standardization, flow, optimization, and waste elimination.  An easy read.