Jim Womack

Lean thinking for the family business

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Womack's YokotenAug 28, 2018
Jim Womack
WOMACK’S YOKOTEN – The author discusses the benefits that the many family businesses making up our economies can harness from embracing lean management.

A lean take on trade

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Womack's YokotenJul 31, 2018
Jim Womack
WOMACK’S YOKOTEN – As tariffs spread, the author explains where forcing production to move overnight is wasteful, particularly for lean producers.

What influences our ability to sustain change?

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Lean ManagementJun 25, 2018
Jim Womack
WOMACK’S YOKOTEN – The author visits a company that has sustained lean for a decade. In trying to understand how they did it, he finds how fundamentally the management system has changed.
the lean employer jim womack

Jim Womack on what makes for a good lean employer

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Lean ManagementMar 26, 2018
Jim Womack
WOMACK’S YOKOTEN – What does a lean employer look like? In this month’s column, the author reflects on the long-term commitment to employees a company engaged in lean thinking should make.
Womack production line

Lean has changed the production line forever

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With more and more organizations (not just manufacturing firms) turning to automation to try and solve every-day problems, lean production offers an approach that gives the operators and their work the dignity they deserve. This idea is best expressed by the concept of the andon, a cord hanging above lean production lines that operators can pull whenever they encounter a problem they can’t solve right way (this is the base of the fundamental lean principles of jidoka, “automation with a human touch”). Lean is clearly an alternative to reckless management that considers people as mere capital.

The main characteristics of a lean production system are the fact the different stages of production happen in a sequence without interruptions (known as flow) and that the pace of production is set by the customers (pull)."
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Lean ProductionFeb 28, 2018
Jim Womack
WOMACK’S YOKOTEN – This month, the author looks at the production line, a century-old idea that still fascinates us, reflecting on how lean thinking has changed it.
Tesla Womack lean management

Jim Womack shares his lean take on Tesla

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Womack's YokotenJan 29, 2018
Jim Womack
WOMACK’S YOKOTEN – In his first column of 2018, the author looks at one of the most talked about companies in the world, Tesla, from a lean point of view.

Jim Womack on the importance of spreading the lean word

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Lean ManagementDec 21, 2017
Jim Womack
WOMACK’S YOKOTEN – Ahead of the holidays, for his last column of the year, the author reminds us of the power of sharing. Go out and spread the lean word!
womack on sustaining 5s

Jim Womack provides us with a few tips on how to sustain 5S

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Womack's YokotenNov 29, 2017
Jim Womack
WOMACK’S YOKOTEN – 5S seems to mean different things to different people. What’s common, however, is the difficulty to sustain it. The author offers a few tips.
womack social heijunka good jobs

Create stable, fulfilling jobs to fully benefit from lean

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Lean ManagementOct 30, 2017
Jim Womack
WOMACK’S YOKOTEN – Toyota’s commitment to employees reminds us that it is impossible to tap into the full potential of lean without providing people with stable, gratifying employment.
lean global network at Shokki plant

Reflections on a week in Toyota City

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Womack's YokotenSep 26, 2017
Jim Womack
WOMACK’S YOKOTEN – Last week, during a study mission in Japan, the Lean Global Network visited Toyota. Here, Jim shares his thoughts on what we saw and learned.
Jim Womack on the lean promise

Jim Womack on where lean has failed and why not to give up

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Womack's YokotenAug 29, 2017
Jim Womack
YOKOTEN – Lean has changed the world in many ways, even though the original vision of its founding fathers has failed to materialize. Jim discusses why, as a movement, we shouldn’t give up and review our strategy instead.
social basis for lean management

Jim Womack on creating the social basis for lean management

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Womack's YokotenJul 26, 2017
Jim Womack
WOMACK’S YOKOTEN – The author looks at hoshin planning, A3 thinking and daily management as the three key elements of a lean management system, and highlights the related behaviors that will allow lean to thrive.
Jim Womack drives the Toyota Mirai lean and green

Jim Womack drives the Toyota Mirai and talks lean and green

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Womack's YokotenJun 28, 2017
Jim Womack
WOMACK’S YOKOTEN – After a road trip from Boston to Philadelphia driving Toyota’s hydrogen fuel-cell Mirai, Jim reflects on lean and green and why the two are not necessarily the same.
Toyota Australia lean thinking

Jim Womack on the lean shut-down of Toyota Australia

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Womack's YokotenMay 30, 2017
Jim Womack
WOMACK'S YOKOTEN – On October 3, Toyota will cease its manufacturing operations in Australia, but the way it is managing the transition - in the leanest way possible - holds great lessons for us all.
LEI turns 20 hansei

Where the Lean Community is and where it should go

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Womack's YokotenApr 28, 2017
Jim Womack
WOMACK'S YOKOTEN – As the Lean Enterprise Institute turns 20, its founder provides us with a bit of hansei on where we are and where we are going next as a community, and on what challenges we might tackle.

Business school education should be gemba-based

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Womack's YokotenMar 27, 2017
Jim Womack
WOMACK’S YOKOTEN – Somehow surprisingly, management schools teach very little about management, and when they do all learning is classroom-based. Instead, they should go to the gemba.
Jim Womack daily management

What foils our ability to apply effective daily management

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Womack's YokotenFeb 28, 2017
Jim Womack
WOMACK'S YOKOTEN – Effective daily management is still hard to achieve for most organizations. But until line managers start tackling problems first hand as they emerge, rather than deferring and delegating them, basic stability will remain a mirage.
Jim Womack on lean trade

Picturing trade in a world of lean enterprises

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Womack's YokotenJan 31, 2017
Jim Womack
WOMACK'S YOKOTEN – Between the upcoming Brexit negotiations and the protectionist stance of the new US Administration, trade is making the headlines once again. But what would trade look like in a world of lean organizations?