The Lean Company (TLC) exists to support the people doing the work.

We believe Lean works best when people feel respected, trusted, and supported, and when improvement is something they can act on every day, not something imposed from the outside.

That belief shapes everything we do.

 

TLC grew out of our own experience inside Advanced Technical Concepts (ATC), a family-owned Irish engineering and manufacturing business.

As we focused more deliberately on building a people-first culture, one thing became clear. The improvements that made the biggest difference were rarely complex. They were practical, visible, and often physical. A better trolley. A workstation that adjusted to the person. Clear visual cues that reduced frustration and made work calmer and easier.

We began designing and building these solutions for our own teams, because they needed them.

When Ryan Tierney of Lean Made Simple visited us in May 2023, he made an observation that stayed with us:

“You’ve already built what most teams are looking for. You should make this available to others.”

That comment became the seed for The Lean Company.

 

Lean does not fail because people resist change.

It fails when systems and tools make improvement harder than it needs to be.

The Lean Company exists to remove that friction.

We curate and supply practical Lean tools and simple modular equipment that help teams improve how work feels, how spaces are organised, and how improvement is sustained over time.

Everything we offer is grounded in real use, chosen to support ownership, clarity, and pride in the work.

 

People First, Always

At TLC, people come first.

 

When people are supported properly, they naturally improve their work. When improvement is easy to see and easy to act on, culture strengthens on its own.

That is why we focus on:

We also provide a live design configurator that allows teams to visualise and configure simple Lean equipment before it is purchased or built, helping create clarity early and avoid unnecessary rework.

 

We describe our approach as Lean Forward.

For us, Lean Forward means acting earlier, simplifying sooner, and making good decisions easier at the start. It is about removing friction before it becomes frustration, and giving people tools that support improvement rather than constrain it.

When people can see, shape, and improve their own workspaces, engagement and ownership follow naturally.

The Lean Company supports:

We see ourselves as part of a wider ecosystem, providing reliable tools that help Lean thinking show up in everyday work.

 

The Lean Company is being built deliberately and thoughtfully.

We are continuing to grow our product range, refine our digital tools, and learn from how people improve work in real environments.

Our ambition is simple.

To help organisations build better workplaces by putting people first and making continuous improvement easier to live, not just easier to talk about.

Lean made practical. Every day.