How do you take talented engineers and surround them with the elements needed to create brilliant designs that lead to market-changing products? Lean 3P is how.Winner of a 2013 Shingo Research and Professional Publication Award !Written from an operations perspective, The Lean 3P Advantage: A Practitioner's Guide to the Production Preparation Process explains how to build collaborative thinking and innovation into the front end of the design process. Describing how to develop successful new products concurrently with new operations, the book illustrates real-world scenarios with numerous examples and case studies to help newcomers succeed the first time around. For those familiar with 3P, the book supplies the basis to explore Evergreen 3P-a process for applying 3P to small-scale design projects for similar benefits.Details the 3P Lean Design process, explaining how and why it works so effectivelyIncludes case studies and examples of real-world applications Presents time-tested methods based on the combined experience of numerous practicing companiesCoverage includes product planning and evaluation criteria, selection of alternatives, timing considerations, construction of prototypes, and measuring effectiveness. This book will help you and your team develop holistic designs that foster innovation and deliver products and production operations that effectively utilize people and exceed the expectations of all stakeholders.