Lean Product And Process Development Exchange
The Lean Product and Process Development Exchange, Inc. is a nonprofit organization created to foster opportunities to grow and share the knowledge, expertise and experiences that help organizations use lean product development to dramatically improve product development performance.
The LPPDE conferences are organized roughly yearly in both Europe and North America. These conferences are the motor for the flow of knowledge about lean in the product development context. We explicitly call our conferences "Exchange" - because that is what we think is the best moderator for learning: listen, experts, see peers, discuss, learn from best practices from others and participate in workshops, that are offered at introductory as well as advanced level.
Many participants of LPPDE conferences return because they know: whenever I visit an LPPDE conference, I am sure I will return with a high number of great ideas, excellent examples, and practical tips to continue my journey on the lean path in product development.
Value Statement
LPPDE grows and spreads the lean product and process development knowledge base, by providing opportunities for knowledge exchange between lean product development leaders and learning experiences for product developers at all stages of their lean journeys.

Strategy Statement

The primary purpose of the LPPDE is to promote more effective conceptualization, development and delivery of products and services to the marketplace. We are primarily a knowledge-driven enterprise, focused on:
1. Creating a deeper understanding of tools and concepts associated with lean product and process development, including issues of implementation;
2. Disseminating this knowledge into the marketplace of ideas; and
3. Supporting early adopters.
We accomplish this through knowledge dissemination and exchange events, such as the annual conference, webinars, workshops and publications. We design the events to address the real (whether implicit or explicit) needs of the market. We take maximum advantage of external resources to produce events with sufficient quality that the venue does not detract from message, and ideally promotes the primary aims above.
Our target audience consists of leaders in small, medium and large organizations where product/process and service development are strategically important to the sustainability of the organization. We want to influence the thinking and behavior of organizations, and help them with wide-spread and sustained implementation.
Our secondary targets are the front-line practitioner who needs tools and practical guidance in order to apply the concepts in their daily work, and influence their leadership in the right directions; and the academic institutions who develop front-line practitioners.
Critical to our success is developing partnerships with individuals and organizations with synergistic aims and with widely acknowledged credibility in areas relevant to lean product & process development.
Terms of service & privacy statement
Data Protection Policy
Our Cancellation Policy
Board Members
LPPDE Board Members are selected from the group of corporate, acadamic and consultancy experts on the area of Lean in Product Development and Innovation.
All board members have a proven track record in the are of lean product development and had significant contributions to the LPPDE already.
Board members are selected for a period of 3 years.

Christer Lundh
Chair
Founder and President of AUFERO. Help Leaders Succeed with Agile & Lean Product Development

Bob Stavig
Board Secretary
Adjunct Faculty, Washington State University Vancouver. R&D Project Manager

Norbert Majerus
Treasurer, Co-Chair of LPPDE Europe 2020
Goodyear, Lean Champion and Book Author

Geoff Neiley
Board Member & Wed Administrator
Sr. Manager Mechanical Engineering at Rapiscan American Science & Engineering, Inc

Dantar Oosterwal
Vice Treasure & Chair of LPPDE North America 2023
Vice President of Engineering, Lean Product Development Champion & Co-Funder at Develop Lean

Durward Sobek
Board Member
Professor of Industrial and Management Systems Engineering at Montana State University

Carolyn Hutchinson Carter
Board Member & Co-Chair of LPPDE North America 2023
Principal Consultant at Carolyn Carter Consulting

Peter Palmér
Board Member
Transformation Office at Scania Group

Ingela Hofverberg
Board Member
Chief Transformation and Quality Officer
Thank you to our retiring board members
We thank the following three outstanding volunteers for their service to our Board of Directors. Each recently completed their term.
A tremendous thank you for the gift of your time, talents, insights, and unique expertise within the lean community. You have all played instrumental roles in guiding our mission and leaves a great legacy for us to continue.

Bob Melvin
Vice President of Engineering at Teledyne Marine Systems.
2016-2020

Suzanne van Egmond
Managing front-end projects at Philips
2014-2020

Göran Gustafsson
Senior Lecturer at Chalmers University of Technology.
2014-2020

Sannah Vinding
Founder, Mind The Innovation
2014-2021
Lifetime Achievement Award
The LPPDE Achievement Award is a special LPPDE Award that is awarded by Lean Product and Process Development Exchange to "lean practitioners who, during their lifetimes, have made creative contributions of outstanding artistic significance to the lean community.


Michael Kennedy
Co Founder & CEO, Targeted Convergence Corporation
Michael Kennedy was awarded the LPPDE Achievement Award in 2018
Peter Palmér
Senior Manager R&D Way Office, Scania
Pater Palmér was awarded the LPPDE Achievement Award in 2019

Durward Sobek II
Professor and Interim Vice Provostat Montana State University
Durward Sobek was awarded the LPPDE Achievement Award in 2021
Past Board Members
Board Members, Thank You for Your Service

Bob Melvin
2016-2020

Suzanne van Egmond
2014-2020

Göran Gustafsson
2014-2020

Peter Palmer
2012-2019

Terry Barnhart
2016-2019

Tony Wilcox
2016-2018

Flemming Moss
2014-2016

Bella Englebach
2012-2018

Ron Marsiglio
2012-2018

Jim Morgan
2013-2016

Jorrit Degroot
2012-2016

Tim Schipper
2012-2015

Rich Gildersleeve
2008-2014

Katherine Radeka
2008-2014
Co-founder of LPPDE

Durward K Sobek
2008-2014
Co-founder of LPPDE

Michael Kennedy
2008-2013

Jim Huntzinger
2008-2012

Tricia Sutton
Co-founder of LPPDE
Register Now!
The North America Lean Exchange is right around the corner and you won’t want to miss the only product development event to bring together the entire lean system.