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 enlarge | Authors: James P. Womack, Daniel T. Jones
Publisher: Touchstone
Category: Book
Buy Used: $2.49
Used (12) from $2.49
Rating:  51 reviews
Sales Rank: 2835688
Media: Paperback
Pages: 352
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5.1 x 1.1
ISBN: 0684819767
EAN: 9780684819761
ASIN: 0684819767
Publication Date: June 1, 1998
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 6-10 of 51
 Very readable look at "Lean Thinking" May 25, 2008
Steven A. Peterson (Hershey, PA (Born in Kewanee, IL))
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
Robert B. Carpenter, Jr. (The Woodlands, TX)
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.
Timeless Principles April 1, 2008
Julie Gandy (salt lake city, ut United States)
Lean Thinking illustrates principles from Eliyhu Goldratt's "The Goal", using specific examples of organizations that have used a common sense approach to eliminating waste in obtaining a market advantage. The book advocates using internal talent to re-examine processes and discourages benchmarking. This is a bit ironic as the book is full of benchmark examples. The company I work for is currently implementing lean principles with a good degree of success. The book has been a great resource for our continuous improvement champions as it has shifted the ways in which they think.
Interesting book but very dull. August 27, 2007
Snail
I found this book to be interesting, but I hard trouble finishing it because the writing was so boring. Despite the dullness the book did get me thinking of product in a different way.
Womack and Jones, very engaging. August 26, 2007
K. J. Christopoulos (Redondo Beach, CA United States)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Lean Thinking- A very well written account of a long study of the theory of customer driven value thinking. The elimination of waste in accomplishing customer driven trade is the main goal of this theory. The book has been tuned over a series of revisions, so it is well polished. While I am no expert on the topic, I can at least attest to the fact that the volume is well written and referenced. Their views are spread over a period of many years, giving them the benefit of tracking case study performance over the long term. Companies both large and small have been studied and tracked to determine the benefits of these theories.
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