Lean Thinking

In 1990, Womack and Jones published The Machine That Changed the World, with the objective of sending a wake-up call to organizations still struggling in the antiquated world of mass production. Thus, they showed that the lean manufacturing approach pioneered by Toyota was a better way to organize and manage customer relations, the supply chain, product development, and production operations. The overwhelming response from managers, employees, investors, suppliers, and customers worldwide was "How do we do it? What are the key guiding principles for taking our outmoded mass-production organizations and making them lean?"