“So what? This produces a onetime cash windfall from inventory reduction and speeds return on investment, but is it really a revolutionary achievement? In fact, it is because the ability to design, schedule, and make exactly what the customer wants… — James P. Womack Copy Share Image
“Taiichi Ohno blamed this batch-and-queue mode of thinking on civilization’s first farmers, who he claimed lost the one-thing-at-a-time wisdom of the hunter as they… — James P. Womack Copy Share Image
“In the lean enterprise, Sales and Production Scheduling are core members of the product team, in a position to plan the sales campaign as… — James P. Womack Copy Share Image
“So, how do you make value flow? The first step, once value is defined and the entire value stream is identified, is to focus… — James P. Womack Copy Share Image
“Steve Maynard’s solution was to form a team for each product to stick with that product during its entire production life. This team—consisting of… — James P. Womack Copy Share Image
“The first visible effect of converting from departments and batches to product teams and flow is that the time required to go from concept… — James P. Womack Copy Share Image
“By contrast, work in an organization where value is made to flow continuously also creates the conditions for psychological flow. Every employee has immediate… — James P. Womack Copy Share Image
“The most important task in specifying value, once the product is defined, is to determine a target cost based on the amount of resources… — James P. Womack Copy Share Image
“How can performance be improved? Sweat and longer hours are not the answer but will be employed if no one knows how to work… — James P. Womack Copy Share Image
“This approach seems completely backward to traditional managers who have been told all their lives that competitive advantage in manufacture is obtained from automating,… — James P. Womack Copy Share Image
“What is the muda-free cost of this product, once unnecessary steps are removed and value is made to flow? This becomes the target cost… — James P. Womack Copy Share Image
“started with marketing, which commissioned surveys comparing Wiremold’s products with the offerings of competitors. When an “opportunity” was identified, usually a gap in the… — James P. Womack Copy Share Image
“Our initial objective in creating a value stream “map” identifying every action required to design, order, and make a specific product is to sort… — James P. Womack Copy Share Image
“it’s hard for most managers to even see the flow of value and, therefore, to grasp the value of flow.” — James P. Womack Copy Share Image
“all of these activities—the creation, ordering, and provision of any good or any service—can be made to flow. And when we start thinking about… — James P. Womack Copy Share Image
“The problem here is not that there were too many firms involved. Each was appropriately specialized for its current task. The problem instead is… — James P. Womack Copy Share Image
