Lean Thinking, Banish Waste and Create Wealth in Your Corporation, Revised and Updated

By: Daniel T. Jones, James P. Womack

Free Press

This is a new and expanded second edition of a book first published in 1996. How do Womack and Jones define lean thinking? It is the opposite of muda, a Japanese word for anything that consumes resources without creating value. In a word, waste. Lean thinking is lean because “it provides a way to do more and more with less and less–less human effort, less equipment, less time, and less space–while coming closer and closer to providing customers with exactly what they want.” Lean thinking is thus a process of thought, not an expedient response, or a stopgap solution. The challenge, according to Womack and Jones, is to convert muda into real, quantifiable value, and the process to achieve that worthy objective requires everyone within an organization (regardless of size or nature) to be actively involved in that process. They address questions such as these:
  • How can certain “simple, actionable principles” enable any business to create lasting value during any business conditions?
  • How can these principles be applied most effectively in real businesses, regardless of size or nature?
  • How can a relentless focus on the value stream for every product create “a true lean enterprise that optimizes the value created for the customer while minimizing time, cost, and errors”?
The process of lean thinking never ends. Inevitably, success creates abundance; abundance often permits waste. Priorities must first be set so that the implementation of the lean thinking process does not inadvertently create or neglect waste in areas that influence the creation of value for customers. Although highly readable, this is not an “easy read” because it requires thinking about what is most important to a given organization, thinking about the root causes (rather than the symptoms) of that organization’s problems, and thinking about the most prudent use of resources to eliminate those problems.

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