Lean Summit 2025: 30 years learning and advancing together
Lean Summit 2025 brought together, at Distrito Anhembi in São Paulo, about 2,000 professionals from more than 500 organizations to reflect on almost three decades of lean practice in Brazil. Over two days, 120 executives from more than 100 companies leading their sectors shared results, lessons and challenges, making up the largest lean gathering in the world. The event showed that the progress achieved is significant, in company efficiency, in people development and in the spread of the system to increasingly diverse areas, but it also made clear that the journey is permanently under construction. Productivity, in this context, remains the central axis, an essential condition not only for business competitiveness but for strengthening the country as a whole.
The lean system has ceased to be just a method applied to manufacturing and has become a social force. What was born in the 1990s mainly as a practice aimed at the automotive industry has spread to sectors such as technology, healthcare, agribusiness, education, services, engineering and even law. This expansion reflects a consistent change in mindsets and practices: more productive societies are also more capable of generating wealth, distributing opportunities and creating value sustainably. In Brazil, the lean philosophy has been incorporated into the strategies of organizations that value learning, turn mistakes into opportunities and share their experiences, showing that continuous evolution is not a final goal but a permanent way of thinking and acting.
James Womack, who took part in the first Lean Summit in Brazil, in 1998, recalled how the audience profile has diversified. Once concentrated among professionals from the automotive industry, today it is made up of representatives from multiple sectors. For him, the success of transformation does not come from heroic leaders who impose changes from the top down, but from building organizational cultures that learn at every level. Mark Reich, who launched the book Managing on Purpose, stressed that transformation cannot be sustained by the isolated adoption of tools. It depends on a systemic understanding that gives consistency to practices, guides decisions and inspires changes in leadership. This perspective also resonated in the talks of other executives at the event.
Embraer highlighted how lean sustains extremely complex operations, ensuring precision, quality and flexibility in critical processes of the aeronautics industry. Hydro, in turn, stressed that the greatest lesson of the gathering lies in collective learning, recalling that lean is an indispensable practice for sustaining competitiveness and longevity. Knauf showed how it faced the challenges of growth with greater engagement and efficiency in problem solving. WEG reported returns on invested capital above 30%, an unusual figure in the national industrial landscape. SMC tripled its production in two years without increasing headcount, becoming a global benchmark within its group. Ypê raised efficiency from 68% to 85% on production lines, while Grupo Boticário increased its OEE by 24%.
These results reinforce that the lean system is vital for maintaining and increasing competitiveness in sectors with high technological demands. And that building a culture of permanent evolution, more than one-off gains, is the path to strengthening productivity and engaging teams in different contexts.
This view was complemented by accounts that placed people at the center. Jost presented the “Lean Dojo”, a space created to develop skills and train employees at different levels. At Electrolux, transformation agents act as knowledge multipliers, in a step-by-step “little ant” process in which each person developed also becomes a trainer of others, overcoming resistance and generating tangible results.
Even so, challenges remain. Sabó highlighted the importance of standardizing processes and transferring knowledge to suppliers. ZF emphasized the need to respond with agility to market adversities. Other experiences showed the lean system's ability to adapt to different realities. The supermarket group MonteKali highlighted double-digit-plus growth with lean practice, in a sector where it is still a challenge, for example, to develop a pull flow. The lawyer Melissa Folmann told how she standardized flows in her law firm, increasing revenue and improving the team's quality of life. Cury Construtora reported administrative and operational gains, for example by reducing the time to issue payment slips from one day to just three minutes.
Technology emerged as an inescapable frontier of this journey. WEG showed how the integration of lean with the use of new technologies has generated significant gains. The CEO of CI&T defined the lean system as the great “mediator” in the use of artificial intelligence, to ensure that it takes place in a more strategic and efficient way, with people at the center of the process. Spassu highlighted 700% growth in seven years, driven by lean management practices, and presented the development of a generative AI for the Judiciary of Rio de Janeiro, expected to increase the productivity of the courts by 20%.
In the airline sector, Latam and Gol emphasized that applying the system has been crucial for reducing costs, increasing competitiveness and improving punctuality indicators. In agribusiness, Sítio Barreiras, the largest banana producer in Ceará, showed how to decentralize decisions and empower farmers, with plans to implement about 1,400 improvement suggestions this year alone, reaffirming lean's potential as a “people factory”.
The sociotechnical character of the system was also reinforced. The theme “Exploring the Frontiers of Management” showed how, in the face of economic instability, it is increasingly necessary to align strategy, day-to-day discipline and leadership capable of engaging people. Elements such as hoshin kanri, the responsible use of technology, the promotion of psychologically safe environments and the valuing of human dimensions, such as happiness at work and active participation, were discussed, all central points for sustaining resilient organizations in a world of uncertainty.
This set of experiences reinforced that the contribution of lean management goes beyond immediate business results. Several accounts showed how more agile and consistent practices can generate concrete social benefits, supporting educational initiatives, expanding access to services and promoting more sustainable work environments. The integration of operational efficiency and social impact came up repeatedly, reinforcing that eliminating waste does not just mean improving margins, but freeing up energy to generate benefits that go beyond organizational boundaries.
What also marked this edition was the strong presence of a younger generation, which brought a remarkable degree of energy, curiosity and willingness to learn to the gathering. This vitality renewed the atmosphere of the Summit and reinforced the sense of continuity of the lean journey in Brazil. Seeing so many new attentive and engaged faces, it became evident that the movement is not limited to the achievements of the past, but finds in the new generations the strength needed to sustain and deepen the transformation in the coming decades.
Lean Summit 2025 was an important milestone in the almost 30-year history of lean practice in Brazil. By bringing together leading companies, sharing concrete results and discussing current challenges, the gathering reinforced that there is much to be learned and built. In an environment of technological disruption, social pressures, unstable supply chains and talent shortages, the lean system asserts itself as an indispensable management technology. More than a method, it is a way of thinking and acting that ensures resilience, competitiveness and innovation. The commitment that emerges from this edition is clear: to keep moving forward. Brazil's competitive future will depend on our ability to expand lean management, turning productivity into competitive advantage, innovation into real value and human development into a lasting legacy.
