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Lean Thinking: Banish Waste and Create Wealth in Your Corporation, Revised and Updated | 
 enlarge | Author: Jones, James, Daniel P., T. Womack
Publisher: audible.com
Category: Book
List Price: $26.00
Buy New: $13.65
You Save: $12.35 (48%)
Avg. Customer Rating:  50 reviews
Sales Rank: 5849416
Media: Audio Download
ASIN: B0000C8Q34
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Amazon.com Review
In the revised and updated edition of Lean Thinking: Banish Waste and Create Wealth in Your Corporation, authors James P. Womack and Daniel T. Jones provide a thoughtful expansion upon their value-based business system based on the Toyota model. Along the way they update their action plan in light of new research and the increasing globalization of manufacturing, and they revisit some of their key case studies (most of which still derive, however, from the automotive, aerospace, and other manufacturing industries). The core of the lean model remains the same in the new edition. All businesses must define the "value" that they produce as the product that best suits customer needs. The leaders must then identify and clarify the "value stream," the nexus of actions to bring the product through problems solving, information management, and physical transformation tasks. Next, "lean enterprise" lines up suppliers with this value stream. "Flow" traces the product across departments. "Pull" then activates the flow as the business re-orients towards the pull of the customer's needs. Finally, with the company reengineered towards its core value in a flow process, the business re-orients towards "perfection," rooting out all the remaining muda (Japanese for "waste") in the system. Despite the authors' claims to "actionable principles for creating lasting value in any business during any business conditions," the lean model is not demonstrated with broad applications in the service or retail industries. But those manager's whose needs resonate with those described in the Lean Thinking case studies will find a host of practical guidelines for streamlining their processes and achieving manufacturing efficiencies. --Patrick O'Kelley
Product Description
An insightful look at the hottest new business trend from the authour of "The Machine that Changed the World." In their landmark book "The Machine That Changed the World," James Womack and Daniel Jones, two of the top industrial analysts is the world, explained how companies can dramatically improve their performance through the "lean production" approach pioneered by Toyota. "Lean Thinking" extends these ideas to provide a rallying cry for today's corporate leaders. After a decade of downsizing and reengineering, most companies in North America, Europe, and Japan are still stuck, searching for a formula for sustainable growth and success. The problem, as Womack and Jones explain in "Lean Thinking," is that managers have lost sight of value for the customer and how to create it. What's needed is "lean thinking" -- a groundbreaking new mindset that is revolutionizing the way of the modern business world. Using case studies of "lean" companies around the world who have energetically embraced leanness in pursuit of their own perfect enterprises, Womack and Jones explain this exciting new concept in fascinating detail. Clearly demonstrating the simple ideas behind lean thinking that can breathe new life into any company in any industry. "Lean Thinking" offers a new way of thinking, being, and doing for the serious manager -- one that will change the world.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 45 more reviews...
Lean principles & theory... this is not a guide or handbook August 10, 2008
This book is a very good introduction to "lean manufacturing". I would say it is aimed at managers or other interested people in implementing lean manufacturing in their organizations. It is a perfect book to gain adepts for the lean cause, so if you are finding resistance in your organization to implement it, you could give out some copies of this book.
This book is more a general reading book (basics & benefits, resistance you might encounter, etc.) than a deep study or detailed guide. If you need deeper knowledge of the different tools, more specific applications or more detail on how to apply them, you will require other literature.
Another introduction to the subject is a novel called The Gold Mine: A Novel of Lean Turnaround, both books address the topic highlighting different key aspects of lean, so reading both gives you probably a broader perspective. The gold mine goes a little deeper into the subjects and its emphasis on key concepts is very appealing.
Becoming Lean and Mean! June 27, 2008
The only way to be competitive in the world marketplace is to be much more efficient. In other words "lean and mean." Efficient at engineering, efficient at manufacturing and efficient at meeting/exceeding customer expectations are all keys to becoming more competitive.
This book and their Machine that Changed the World are good resources for manufacturing facilities more lean. And...lean thinking leads to more lean thinking.
Using the Toyota system as a guide, Womack and Jones address how companies can eliminate waste and increase profits. They write:
"Our earnest advice to lean firms today is simple: To hell with your competitors; compete against perfection by identifying all activities that are muda and eliminating them. This is absolute rather than a relative standard which can provide the essential North Star for any organization."
Well written with many telling examples. Recommended!
The Re-Discovery of Common Sense: A Guide to: The Lost Art of Critical Thinking
 A classic, must read May 29, 2008
I was fortunate enough to participate in the Pratt & Whitney lean transformation described in Lean Thinking.
While it is not a "how to" book, it does a good job of describing the lean initiatives undertaken.
This book is a classic "lean must read."
Very readable look at "Lean Thinking" May 25, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
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 a very useful introduction to the subject, for those of us who are not experts on this matter.
To start at the beginning. . . . The enemy is "Muda," a Japanese word that means "waste," in all of its manifestations. Lean is an approach to reducing Muda. Pie in the sky? Toyota is one of the pioneers in this movement, and it is now the # 1 automaker in the world--so, maybe, we ought to pay some attention to the concept. As the authors note (Page 15): ". . .Muda is everywhere." And the antidote to muda is lean.
The Introduction itself does a nice job of laying out the key concepts of Lean. Then, each part of the book builds on that foundation. Key points: (1) Value. Value is defined by the ultimate customer. The problem? Corporations and other organizations often think that they know best and do not really understand what the end user wishes as value. As the authors note (Page 19): "Lean thinking therefore must start with a conscious attempt to precisely define value in terms of specific products with specific capabilities offered at specific prices through as dialogue with specific customers." (2) The Value Stream. This is the actions needed to bring (Page 19) ". . .a specific product (whether a good or a service. . .) through the three critical management tasks of any business." (3) Flow. Outline the step-by-step process by which goods and services are delivered and identify muda, so that waste can be reduced/eliminated. (4) Pull. Develop a process such that customers pull the product from the source/supplier. (5) Perfection. Keep working on improving the product/output, by incremental changes leading to further reduction of muda.
Examples abound. Think of the miserable experience these days of flying from place to another. Muda is everywhere (see the discussion on pages 32-35).
Part I lays out the lean principles in much more detail (Value through Perfection, steps 1 through 5 already summarized). Part II explores lean in more detail (including comparing lean versus the German approach). And so on.
Want to know about lean? This is a pretty good introduction, as far as I can tell, for a lay audience. I'm not an expert, but I think that I have learned quite a bit of value from reading this work.
Eye-opening! April 14, 2008
The book was truly eye-opening for me! Having spent more than enough time with management consultants and the "programs of the week," misguided Six Sigma projects, etc., I am very cautious about "new" programs. The simple, clear, transformational philosophy of the book was amazing to me. While the book does not outline the steps to take for making a Lean transformation, it should be required reading, before any venture into Lean management. Without an understanding of the philosophy behind Lean, many people mistakenly try to use it as a "tool" to cut costs, which will fail miserably. Lean - the new paradigm.
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