Quickie: Womack on the Unacceptability of Lean
In a recent article, James P. Womack recounted the struggles that he experienced and admits that Lean has proven to be unacceptable to the leaders of large corporations (Womack, 2017):
“With regards to denial, we need to acknowledge that our efforts to dramatically transform large, mature organizations haven’t worked and aren’t going to work, even when these organizations encounter crises. I spent several years recently with CEOs of large enterprises and got them to sanction model lines for value streams to demonstrate what was possible. The results were strikingly positive, but the organizational immune reaction was immediate and crushing. Little lasting was achieved and I’ve moved on. I no longer expect ‘another Toyota’ to emerge in every mature industry.” (Bold in original)
This recognition is not unique to Womack and Jones.
From: Emiliani, Bob. The Triumph of Classical Management Over Lean Management: How Tradition Prevails and What to Do About It (p. 23). Kindle Edition.
Note: Much the same applies to Agile.
Think Different
Womack acknowledges Lean’s failure and blames the organisation’s immune system. Convenient. And it prevents any reflection on his part. The fact of the matter is Lean promotes tools developed in Toyota as universally applicable. Wrong. Any tool is a solution to a problem. Womack and Co don’t help with understanding the problem. In my world – service organisations – Lean has driven up standardised work. A very dumb thing to do as it drives up cost. To my knowledge the only organisation where Womack had skin in the game was a bicycle manufacturer. Prof Hines does an entertaining presentation of why that company failed.
Hi John,
Thanks for clarifying. Your points are congruent with my understanding (I was using the quote to illustrate the problems with uptake of any “named” or comes-in-a-box approach – Lean, Agile, w.h.y.).
PS. Do you know Bob Emiliani and his work(s)?
Yes. Bob thinks its all about people. ‘Respect for people’ is a distinctly US version of Lean. Toyota talked about respect for humanity, quite different. But Bob plays in the USA and they like the idea of working on the people – it is classic command-and-control conception. What Bob (and Jim W) don’t get is that Toyota was ‘change the system’; but of course that won’t play in the USA.
I wrote these posts some years ago:
I wonder if you’ve read them before?