Lean Thinking, James P. Womack
Lean Thinking, James P. Womack
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Lean Thinking
Banish Waste and Create Wealth in Your Corporation, 2nd Ed

Author: James P. Womack, Daniel T. Jones

Narrator: James P. Womack, Daniel T. Jones

Abridged: 4 hr 53 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 06/01/2003


Synopsis

Expanded, updated, and more relevant than ever, this bestselling business classic by two internationally renowned management analysts describes a business system for the twenty-first century.

Expanded, updated, and more relevant than ever, this bestselling business classic by two internationally renowned management analysts describes a business system for the twenty-first century that supersedes the mass production system of Ford, the financial control system of Sloan, and the strategic system of Welch and GE. It is based on the Toyota (lean) model, which combines operational excellence with value-based strategies to produce steady growth through a wide range of economic conditions.

In contrast with the crash-and-burn performance of companies trumpeted by business gurus in the 1990s, the firms profiled in Lean Thinking -- from tiny Lantech to midsized Wiremold to niche producer Porsche to gigantic Pratt & Whitney -- have kept on keeping on, largely unnoticed, along a steady upward path through the market turbulence and crushed dreams of the early twenty-first century. Meanwhile, the leader in lean thinking -- Toyota -- has set its sights on leadership of the global motor vehicle industry in this decade.

Instead of constantly reinventing business models, lean thinkers go back to basics by asking what the customer really perceives as value. (It's often not at all what existing organizations and assets would suggest.) The next step is to line up value-creating activities for a specific product along a value stream while eliminating activities (usually the majority) that don't add value. Then the lean thinker creates a flow condition in which the design and the product advance smoothly and rapidly at the pull of the customer (rather than the push of the producer). Finally, as flow and pull are implemented, the lean thinker speeds up the cycle of improvement in pursuit of perfection. The first part of this book describes each of these concepts and makes them come alive with striking examples.

Lean Thinking clearly demonstrates that these simple ideas can breathe new life into any company in any industry in any country. But most managers need guidance on how to make the lean leap in their firm. Part II provides a step-by-step action plan, based on in-depth studies of more than fifty lean companies in a wide range of industries across the world.

Even those readers who believe they have embraced lean thinking will discover in Part III that another dramatic leap is possible by creating an extended lean enterprise for each of their product families that tightly links value-creating activities from raw materials to customer.

In Part IV, an epilogue to the original edition, the story of lean thinking is brought up-to-date with an enhanced action plan based on the experiences of a range of lean firms since the original publication of Lean Thinking.

Lean Thinking does not provide a new management "program" for the one-minute manager. Instead, it offers a new method of thinking, of being, and, above all, of doing for the serious long-term manager -- a method that is changing the world.

About James P. Womack

James P. Womack is the president and founder of the Lean Enterprise Institute (www.lean.org), a nonprofit education and research organization based in Brookline, Massachusetts.

About Daniel T. Jones

Daniel T. Jones is the chairman and founder of the Lean Enterprise Academy (www.leanuk.org), a nonprofit education and research organization based in the UK.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Kate on April 11, 2019

Eh. I agree with the principles of lean thinking, but overall I found this book to be really boring.......more

Goodreads review by Steven on August 09, 2009

Lean is a specific management technique to make an organization more efficient (and a private sector company more profitable). This book is a well written introduction to the subject. The authors, James Womack and Daniel Jones, provide lots of examples to illustrate their basic points. Thus, this is......more

Goodreads review by Gerard on November 11, 2018

Fundamental read for anyone in the Agile or Lean industry. Although it is difficult to read and could have been written in a more user-friendly way, the ideas and experiences in this book are key.......more

Goodreads review by Lukasz on December 25, 2019

Kiedyś na Śląsku był taki kawał o Toyocie: Prezydent Wałęsa mówi do narodu: "toyota Polska uratuja." Jest dużo prawdy w tym kawale. Sposób zarządzania Toyoty, The Toyota Lean way -- Toyota Production System -- wpisał się na stałe w podręczniki o zarządzaniu i dzisiaj każda firma, instytucja chcąca osi......more

Goodreads review by Bob on January 24, 2022

The quintessential text on how to apply the Toyota production system to your facility! Lean Thinking was one of the first texts I read when I started my lean journey in 2004. The five guiding principles to creating a Lean Enterprise where groundbreaking. I remember reading this book initially and bei......more