Audiobooks by James P. Womack

The Machine That Changed the World: The Story of Lean Production-- Toyota's Secret Weapon in the Glo

Today, the industrial world is experiencing the most revolutionary change since Henry Ford's assembly line -- which forever changed the way things are made. Japanese companies are sweeping the world, as Western companies and governments struggle to find ways to emulate them. The Machine That Changed the World points for the first time to a positive way out of this dilemma. It shows that being defeatist about the Japanese threat, and tougher protectionism, are not the answers. This book outlines the enormous tasks facing Western companies in the 1990s and has cogent messages for Japanese firms as well, as they move abroad. The Machine That Changed the World is based on the largest and most thorough study ever undertaken in any industry: the Massachusetts Institute of Technology five-million-dollar, five-year, fourteen-country International Motor Vehicle Program's study of the worldwide auto industry. Twice in this century the auto industry has changed our most fundamental ideas about how to make things. Now it is doing it again. Just as mass production swept away craft production, so a new way of making things, called lean production, is now rapidly making mass production obsolete. Lean production is the Japanese secret weapon in the industrial wars and is spreading throughout the world. If Western companies and their managers and workers are to survive in the 1990s, they must learn and adapt to lean production. Some of the smartest already have begun to do so. Lean production welds the activities of everyone from top management to line workers, to suppliers, into a tightly integrated whole that can respond almost instantly to marketing demands from consumers. It can also double production and quality, while keeping costs down. Its adoption, as it inevitably spreads beyond the auto industry, will change almost every industry and consequently how we work, how we live, and the fate of companies and nations as they respond to its impact. In clear and compelling terms, this book explains what lean production is, and its global implications for all of us.

Daniel Roos, Daniel T. Jones, James P. Womack (Author), Fred Sanders (Narrator)

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The Lean Turnaround: How Business Leaders Use Lean Principles to Create Value and Transform Their C

THE C-LEVEL GUIDE TO SUCCEEDING WITH LEAN 'With 30 years of accumulated experience, Art Byrne is one of the rare few people who can speak with authority about the pitfalls of fi nancial measurement systems, the importance of respect for people, the power of Lean in the marketplace, and the leverage from organizing people around value streams. When he writes 'Go to the Gemba and Run Your Kaizen,' we must take heed.' -- MASAAKI IMAI, bestselling author of Kaizen and Gemba Kaizen 'In this wonderful and important book, Byrne shows us that Lean management, understood and practiced correctly, consistently delivers spectacular results.' -- BOB EMILIANI, author, Better Thinking, Better Results, and Professor, Connecticut State University 'A compelling picture of how Lean techniques and attitudes enable CEOs and senior executives to create a culture for transforming a company and putting it on a highperformance path.' -- JERRY J. JASINOWSKI, former President of the National Association of Manufacturers 'Art Byrne provides real-world examples of how he exhibited the wisdom and courage to do the right thing, improving work practices at all levels of the organization to deliver the right results for all stakeholders. Which comes first, the wisdom or the courage? Read The Lean Turnaround to find out.' -- JOHN SHOOK, Chairman and CEO, Lean Enterprise Institute 'Lean is the closest thing to magic I have experienced in my 40 years in business. I recommend Lean and this book to everyone responsible for the performance of a business, particularly those in private equity like me, where leverage magnifies the importance of cash.' -- JOHN CHILDS, founder and CEO, of J. W. Childs Associates L.P. 'A must-read for any leader interested in understanding the strategic advantages from focusing on activities that add value to the customer experience.' -- GARY S. KAPLAN, MD, Chairman and CEO of the Virginia Mason Health System Lean isn't just for manufacturing anymore . . . Few business leaders in the world have applied Lean strategy as successfully as Art Byrne has--and none has the ability to explain how to do it with such succinctness and clarity. Famous for turning around the wire management company Wiremold, where he rethought every aspect of operations from the customer's standpoint--and got everyone else in the company to do likewise--Byrne has successfully implemented Lean strategies in more than 30 companies in 14 different countries. In The Lean Turnaround, this legendary business leader shares everything he has learned during his remarkable career and shows how anyone can achieve similar results. His primary message is this: Lean strategy isn't just for manufacturing. In fact, Byrne is using this very approach in his present position at a private equity firm. Whatever type of company you run, Lean can be used to improve virtually every aspect of operations, from training and leading employees to accounting and payroll issues. The Lean Turnaround explains all the ins and outs of applying Lean strategy to: Eliminate waste in every value-added operation Deliver consistent value to customers Stimulate growth and add jobs Increase wealth for all your stakeholders Build a company culture of continuous improvement (kaizen) Instead of attempting to get customers to conform to your way of doing things--which is, sadly, what most managers are taught to do--you need to configure your company to be responsive to the customers. This is at the core of Byrne's method--and it always works.

Art Byrne, James P. Womack (Author), Todd Belcher (Narrator)

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