Lean Thinking: 2003 Revised Edition

Author: James Womack (USA)
Publisher:
Publish Date: August 1, 2005
Features: Many readers may be familiar with the book The Machine That Changed the World, and thus the term "lean production" may not be entirely unfamiliar to them, especially for those in management who are well-versed in the two pillars of the Toyota Production System—just-in-time (JIT) and jidoka. The machinery industry organized a full-industry conference in 1995 to promote lean production. People's Daily and many other newspapers and magazines have also reported on it. In a sense, Lean Thinking can be seen as a sequel to The Machine That Changed the World. Authors Womack and Jones were also two of the authors of The Machine That Changed the World. They served as the project leaders for the second phase of the "International Motor Vehicle Program," a worldwide research project organized by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The Machine That Changed the World was the outcome of the second phase of the "International Motor Vehicle Program." After the publication of The Machine That Changed the World, Womack and Jones expanded their research scope and, after four years of meticulous investigation, wrote this book. The translator participated in the "International Motor Vehicle Program" and knew the authors personally. In November 1996, after the publication of Lean Thinking, Daniel Jones, one of the authors, gifted a copy to the translator, hoping that this idea would be helpful to China as it underwent reform. In February 1997, Jones visited China to speak about lean thinking and once again expressed his desire for this book to be translated into Chinese and published. Now, after more than a year of effort by everyone, the Chinese translation of this book has finally been presented to readers.
If The Machine That Changed the World helped readers understand the inevitability of the emergence of lean production and its global trend, this book encourages all managers to rethink how their companies can truly produce products that meet customer needs, eliminate waste, create value, and genuinely improve economic efficiency. At the same time, it expands lean methods beyond the manufacturing sector to all other fields, particularly the service industry. Through lean thinking, consumers can also clarify their needs and improve the quality of their consumption. Lean Thinking uses numerous examples to illustrate what constitutes waste and introduces how to truly implement lean production. Lean thinking holds that reform has no end; it strives for perfection. As a guiding philosophy for people's lives, lean thinking far transcends the boundaries of industrial production. In the current wave of reform, all enterprises are striving to improve their economic efficiency, and consumers are continuously refining their consumption behavior standards. We have translated this book Lean Thinking and dedicated it to those committed to reform and enthusiastic about improving the overall quality of social life. We hope that lean thinking will provide readers with helpful inspiration.
By refining the lean production system introduced in The Machine That Changed the World into Lean Thinking, it proposes specific methods for enterprises to continuously improve productivity and increase sales without increasing capital investment or compromising stable employment. The five steps required to transform mass production into lean production are: redefining value based on customer needs, reorganizing all production activities according to the value stream, making the value stream flow, having customer demand pull the value stream, and continuously improving to achieve perfection.