Abstract
Lean production. It is one of the most misunderstood business concepts of our time. Since the 1990s, it has been mystically reduced from an organization-wide concept to a set of principles and best practices for manufacturing in isolation, only to be subsequently re-constructed as an additional set of principles and practices for other specific functions (e.g., product development), often leading to sub-optimization. In this paper, we draw on practical insights from two Norwegian case studies and present an overview of emergent actionable knowledge to rethink lean production as a holistic approach to value creation and long-term profitability, with the product at its core.