An abridged version on CD of Lean Solutions, read by author James P. Womack.
A massive disconnect exists between consumers and providers today. Consumers have a greater selection of higher quality goods to choose from and can obtain these items from a growing number of sources. Computers, cars, and even big-box retail sites promise to solve our every need. So why aren’t consumers any happier? Because everything surrounding the process of obtaining and using all these products causes us frustration and disappointment. Why is it that, when our computers or our cell phones fail to satisfy our needs, virtually every interaction with help lines, support centers, or any organization providing service is marked with wasted time and extra hassle? And who among us hasn’t spent countless hours in the waiting room at the doctor’s office, or driven away from the mechanic only to have the “fix engine” light go on?
In their bestselling business classic Lean Thinking, James Womack and Daniel Jones introduced the world to the principles of lean production—principles for eliminating waste during production. Now, in Lean Solutions, the authors establish the groundbreaking principles of lean consumption, showing companies how to eliminate inefficiency during consumption.
The problem is neither that companies don’t care nor that the people trying to fix our broken products are inept. Rather, it’s that few companies today see consumption as a process—a series of linked goods and services, all of which must occur seamlessly for the consumer to be satisfied. Buying a home computer, for example, involves researching, purchasing, integrating, maintaining, upgrading, and, ultimately, replacing it.
In this landmark new book, James Womack and Daniel Jones deconstruct this broken producer-consumer model and show businesses how to repair it. Across all industries, companies that apply the principles of lean consumption will learn how to provide the full value consumers desire from products without wasting time or effort—theirs or the consumers’—and as a result these companies will be more profitable and competitive.
Lean Solutions provides compelling examples ranging from a variety of companies. Fujitsu, a leading service company for technology, has transformed the way call centers solve problems— learning how to eliminate the underlying cause of current problems rather than fixing them again and again. Tesco's lean provision systems have enabled the company to emerge as the leanest, highest-quality, and best-managed retailer in Europe. An extremely successful car dealership has adopted lean principles to streamline its business, making for dramatically reduced wait time, fewer return trips, and greater satisfaction for customers— and a far more lucrative enterprise. Managers at every stage of their journey will benefit from Lean Solutions by learning to see new ways to improve their processes in the service of providing value to customer.
James P. Womack
Management expert James P. Womack, Ph.D., is the founder and senior advisor to the Lean Enterprise Institute, Inc., a nonprofit training, publishing, conference, and management research company chartered in August 1997 to advance a set of ideas known as lean production and lean thinking, based initially on Toyota’s business system and now being extended to an entire lean management system.
Womack is also the author of widely known books such as: The Machine That Changed the World, Lean Thinking, and Seeing the Whole Value Stream. His newest book is a collection of letters and essays, called Gemba Walks.
Womack received a B.A. in political science from the University of Chicago in 1970, a master's degree in transportation systems from Harvard in 1975, and a Ph.D. in political science from MIT in 1982 (for a dissertation on comparative industrial policy in the U.S., Germany, and Japan). During the period 1975-1991, he was a full-time research scientist at MIT directing a series of comparative studies of world manufacturing practices. As research director of MIT’s International Motor Vehicle Program, Womack led the research team that coined the term “lean production” to describe the Toyota Production System.
Womack served as the Institute's chairman and CEO from 1997 until 2010 when he was succeeded by John Shook.
Daniel T. Jones
Founder and Chairman of the Lean Enterprise Academy in the U.K., Daniel T. Jones is a senior advisor to the Lean Enterprise Institute, management thought leader, and mentor on applying lean process thinking to every type of business.
He is the author with James P. Womack of the influential and popular management books that describe the principles and practice of lean thinking in production, The Machine that Changed the World, and Lean Thinking: Banish Waste and Create Wealth in Your Organization, and the workbook Seeing the Whole Value Stream. He is also the publisher of Breaking Through to Flow, Creating Lean Dealers, and Making Hospitals Work.
Jones is an advisor to organizations making lean transformations, including Unipart, where he helped establish the first company university in the U.K., Tesco, and Portsmouth Hospital. Jones was the European Director of MIT's Future of the Automobile and International Motor Vehicle Programs. After a research career at the National Institute for Economic and Social Research in London, the Sussex European Research Centre, and Science Policy Research Unit at Sussex University, he was appointed Professor of Manufacturing Management and founded the Lean Enterprise Research Centre at Cardiff University Business School. He was a member of the U.K. government's task forces on Rethinking Construction, Manufacturing Futures, Automotive Innovation, and Growth and Skills for Sustainable Communities. He is advisor to the European Efficient Consumer Response movement and editor of the International Commerce Review. Jones holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Sussex.
