In a world where continuous improvement drives business performance, companies are increasingly seeking practical, engaging, and scalable ways to teach Lean principles. One of the most potent strategies? To lean on game—an approach that uses structured simulations to bring lean manufacturing concepts to life, to improve organizational efficiency through practical, hands-on learning.
Unlike lectures or static presentations, Lean games provide participants with the opportunity to learn by doing, enabling them to internalize the core tenets of Lean through real-time decision-making, teamwork, and iteration.
What Does It Mean to Lean on Game?
When companies lean on game, they embrace interactive learning as a method to train employees in Lean thinking. Rather than relying solely on theoretical models, organizations adopt simulation games that replicate real manufacturing or service environments, allowing employees to experiment, improve, and learn in a low-risk setting.
This method connects people directly with Lean concepts such as:
- One piece flow
- Pull systems
- Takt time
- Waste elimination
- Standard work
- Customer satisfaction
It also encourages collaboration, accountability, and the ability to understand the whole process, not just isolated tasks.
Introducing the GET LEAN Simulation Game
One of the most effective examples of the “lean on game” concept is the GET LEAN simulation game, developed by Sabat Consulting. Designed for manufacturing companies, business workshops, and training sessions, this game empowers teams to discover Lean by running a simulated production line across six iterative rounds.
Participants assume specific roles—operator, supervisor, planner, quality inspector, and customer—playing various roles to simulate real-world processes. They are guided through realistic scenarios that expose them to common production challenges and introduce them to Lean solutions.
What’s Included in the GET LEAN License?
When you purchase the GET LEAN simulation game, you receive:
- A complete training kit for in-person workshops, ready for immediate use
- Reusable visual materials: process sheets, quality specs, order forms, defect sheets
- Instructions for each role and process
- Tools to measure performance (cycle time, lead time, number of defects, etc.)
- Scenario-based learning materials
- Access to the GET LEAN simulation guide
- A license to train unlimited employees at your site
- Bonus: An email with a free code to enroll in Sabat Consulting’s Lean Manufacturing online training courses
👉 Explore the GET LEAN Simulation Game here
Types of Lean Games
Lean games are an excellent way to bring lean principles to life, making learning both interactive and memorable. These games are designed to demonstrate core lean concepts—such as one-piece flow, batch sizes, and waste reduction—through hands-on activities that engage every team member. Whether you’re using Lego bricks, paper, or simple props, lean games transform abstract ideas into real-world practice.
One of the most popular formats is the lean Lego game, where participants build products using Lego bricks to simulate a production line. This game teaches the importance of flow, the impact of batch sizes, and how standard work can drive efficiency. By playing, teams quickly see how small process changes can lead to significant improvements in customer satisfaction and overall performance.
Six Rounds That Transform Understanding
The GET LEAN simulation consists of six structured rounds, each building on the previous, guiding participants through a Lean transformation journey. While some lean games use four rounds to illustrate key concepts like flow and efficiency, GET LEAN extends this to six rounds for a deeper experience. During each round, participants can expect to encounter new challenges and observe how process changes impact outcomes.
Round 1: The Beginning – Traditional Chaos
Participants are seated around a table and experience a chaotic system with large batch sizes, limited communication, and excessive waste. The process is push-based, resulting in long lead times and dissatisfied customers.
Round 2: Recognizing the Problem
The team starts by identifying process issues related to each task performed in the simulation, measuring variation, and experimenting with standard work.
Round 3: Implementing Lean Basics
Teams introduce one-piece flow, pull systems, and fundamental improvements in communication and scheduling, often by introducing the concept of a work cell to illustrate efficient team collaboration. The results become measurable and tangible.
Round 4: Flow Improvement
Improvements to takt time, line balancing, and layout are introduced, enabling the process to match customer demand better. Customer satisfaction begins to rise.
Round 5: Quality & Stability
Advanced techniques are applied to reduce defects, streamline quality checks, and standardize successful patterns, ensuring the process now aligns more closely with customer requirements.
Round 6: Continuous Improvement
Participants apply continuous improvement tools to identify and eliminate the eight wastes inherent in lean processes, refine lean processes to achieve greater efficiency, and reduce waste while boosting customer satisfaction and team alignment.
🎯 Want to teach Lean in a way that people remember? Use GET LEAN to simulate real improvement scenarios that match your company’s reality.
Benefits of Using Lean Games in Training
When companies lean on game-based training, they achieve more than knowledge transfer. Lean games can help reduce training and operational costs by providing efficient, hands-on learning experiences. They change behaviors, align teams, and build a shared language for improvement, making them highly applicable to Lean Six Sigma and Six Sigma training for process improvement.
Key Benefits:
- Engagement: People enjoy learning when they’re active. Simulations are fun, dynamic, and immersive.
- Retention: Practical experience leads to deeper memory formation than passive reading or listening.
- Collaboration: Team members must communicate effectively, solve problems, and make informed, real-time decisions.
- Visualization: Participants can draw their process, spot inefficiencies, and test changes.
- Feedback loops: Immediate data from each round (e.g., the number of defects, cycle time) enables quick learning.
🧠 Did you know? Every license of GET LEAN includes a free enrollment code for professional Lean courses—ideal for reinforcing concepts covered in the simulation.
Who Should Use the GET LEAN Game?
This game is suitable for a wide range of learners and organizational needs:
- Manufacturing employees and shop floor workers
- Team leaders and shift supervisors
- Lean consultants delivering workshops
- University students in industrial engineering or business operations
- Software development teams applying Lean principles in Agile settings
- Cross-functional groups responsible for operations, sales, or production planning
The simulation’s design is flexible and can be adapted to suit company size, training goals, and available space. One session accommodates up to 22 participants, with each group using one set of materials to ensure consistency. Different teams or departments can play the game to reinforce learning, and the responsibility for improvement is shared across teams.
Practical Applications in Lean Manufacturing
The GET LEAN game reinforces core concepts of Lean manufacturing, including:
- Reducing batch sizes
- Achieving takt time
- Understanding the flow of value
- Implementing standard work
- Identifying and eliminating waste
- Developing pull systems
- Encouraging crossing responsibilities among team members
- Tracking metrics and KPIs
Because it’s hands-on, it helps teams not only understand what Lean is, but also what It feels like in a live environment.
💼 Build Lean capability from day one. Start with GET LEAN and shape your company’s Lean culture for the long term.
Continuous Learning Beyond the Game
The simulation is just the start. To build real capability, GET LEAN buyers receive exclusive access to Sabat Consulting’s online Lean training library.
📚 Recommended courses:
- 🎓 Lean Management – Practical Guide for Implementation
- 🎯 Problem Solving – Root Cause to Solution
- 🔄 Continuous Improvement – Agility Across the Organization
- 👥 Effective Teamwork and Leadership
- 🧽 The Fundamentals of 5S for Workplace Organization
By combining game-based training with structured e-learning, your team can master Lean from the shop floor to the strategy room.
About the Creator: Jan Sabat
The GET LEAN simulation game was created by Jan Sabat, a Lean Management consultant with over 25 years of experience implementing Lean principles in international companies like General Motors, ABB, Timken, and Gillette.
Jan has trained thousands of employees across Europe, combining real-world expertise with educational design to make Lean training practical and effective.
Today, he supports organizations through Sabat Consulting, helping them implement Lean principles, improve processes, and train teams using interactive tools and proven techniques.
Final Thoughts: Why Lean on Game?
In today’s business environment, it’s not enough to know Lean. Teams must experience it, practice it, and be empowered to apply it. Many successful organizations have adopted lean games as a core component of their training strategy, recognizing the impact of deliberate choices on process improvement.
Choosing to lean on game is about making learning real. It’s about creating a shared experience that teaches, unites, and transforms.
✅ Begin your company’s Lean journey with tools that deliver results. 👉 Order the GET LEAN simulation game today and train your entire team—any time, as often as you need.
