Lean management has crossed many frontiers, including business sectors, functions, countries, and a region, since Machine That Changed the World was published 25 years ago, kicking off the effort to move lean thinking out of the auto industry, out of Japan, and across the world.
But besides a few “poster children” like Toyota and Lantech, sustaining and spreading lean thinking and practice has been very difficult, according to co-author Jim Womack, founding CEO of the nonprofit Lean Enterprise Institute (www.lean.org)
In this presentation from the March 2016 Lean Transformation Summit, Womack reflects on what worked and what didn’t in spreading lean management. And he explores what needs to be done in the next 25 years to sustain and spread lean management. (Lean more and follow Jim’s thinking by subscribing to his free monthly e-letter, Yokoten: http://planet-lean.com/womack-s-yokoten/#start-0)