AME International Conference
The annual AME International Conference is the largest lean and continuous improvement conference in the world. The conference regularly hosts 1,100 - 1,500 lean and continuous improvement professionals often representing more than 20 countries.
Since 1985, the AME International Conference has set the standard for practitioner-to-practitioner sharing. The world's largest lean conference features keynotes, workshops, site tours, practitioner presentations and networking opportunities. The conference caters to continuous improvement practitioners of every level — from beginners to experts in every role from the frontlines to the C-suite, in manufacturing, government, health care, and other industries.
AME Summits
AME regularly hosts summits throughout the year. Summits are typically shorter than the International Conference and focus on a specific topic like health care, defense and government, and lean. Summits often include keynote speakers, practitioner sessions, panel discussions, workshops, tours and networking.
Discover AME's infamous conferences and summits in recent years below. Please contact conference@ame.org to request on-demand access to past conferences and summits. Please note that on-demand content for a specific event is available to registered attendees for that event. Some on demand content may be available to AME members.
Past Conferences
Past Summits
Why attend an event?
Since 1985, our members have learned that thriving in a highly competitive environment requires two key ingredients: people engaged in excellence in their daily work and the sharing of enlightened knowledge throughout the enterprise. To help you succeed, AME hosts events across North America, where our membership presents its greatest and most enlightened best practices. By bringing people together to share, learn, and grow, we inspire each other's journey to enterprise excellence.
Why are we so passionate about growing member knowledge and "leaning out" processes?
We have learned that the leaner your processes are and the more engaged people are, the more productive you are and the more bottom-line success you will have. We've learned that by leaning on the insights of members who have been there and done that, you are provided with a trusted network of like-minded people you can rely on to confidently make the changes needed to accelerate your growth. AME offers a variety of different learning events to help you on your journey toward excellence.
Regional Events
In addition to the annual conference and summits, AME hosts a variety of year-round learning events in each of its nine North American regions.
- Benchmarking plant tours. Go and see how other organizations are implementing lean and continuous improvement initiatives, and take away new ideas to bring back to your organization.
- Dine & Learns. Dine & Learn events are a great opportunity for members and non-members alike to share, learn and grow. There’s no conflict with normal business hours and dinner is included. Each event will highlight an important industry topic to help advance your organization’s lean journey and will include networking opportunities.
- Workshops. Deep dive into a hot issue with an AME lean expert, and discover new tools to help you fix the problem.
- Lean certification training. AME has teamed up with SME and Shingo Institute to offer lean certification training. Attending any AME event will count toward hours needed for lean certification or re-certification.
- People-centric leadership training. Developing a passionate, engaged workforce is the recipe for a thriving, successful business. This course was designed by AME to provide organizations with a comprehensive overview of people-centric leadership and the behaviors required to build a culture where every day, everyone is fulfilled by pursuing excellence and everybody flourishes. Click to learn more about people-centric leadership, or find an upcoming PCL 101 training event.
- Webinars. AME webinars are a low-cost option for continuous improvement throughout the year and a great opportunity to learn from and engage with industry experts. Participate live or on-demand. Find an upcoming webinar.
Need more? Join a local lean learning network
An AME consortium is a group of local companies (20 +/-) that collaborate for broad, deep, accelerated lean-CI progress better, faster, and easier than they can do it alone. Membership in an AME Consortium provides you with access to exclusive learning events that are tailored specifically to the needs of your organization. These dynamic practitioner-to-practitioner networks are designed to support you in accelerating your company’s journey toward excellence through:
- Plant tours rotating through the member companies
- Round-table discussions on a host company’s hot issue
- Special interest groups on a common hot issue (e.g. 5S, VSM, pull, SCM, etc.)
- Auditor exchanges for deeper application of lean-CI practices
- Consortium strategic plan for support of companies’ lean-CI priorities
- Shared-cost learning events
AME Consortia currently exist in Buffalo, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Lake Ontario (Toronto), Miami, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Nashville, Salt Lake City, St. Louis, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco Bay Area, and Virginia. Click here to join your local lean learning network today!
