Customer Reviews
Certain to become a business "classic" - By: Robert Morris, 14 Nov 2006 
It is desirable but not necessary to have already read Lean Thinking before reading this volume. In both, the focus is on "five simple principles" which can guide & inform any organization's efforts to achieve "process brilliance" in its product development, supplier management, customer support, & production processes. The principles are:
1. Provide the value actuallly desired by customers.
2. Identify the value stream for each product or service.
3. Get & keep each step of the value stream in proper alignment.
4. Enable the customer to "pull" rather than "push" maximum value from what you offer.
5. Once the value, value stream, flow, & pull are established, "start over from the beginning in an endless search for perfection, the happy situation of perfect value provided with zero waste."
In this context, I am reminded of Albert Einstein's emphasis on making everything as simple as possible...but no simpler. Lean initiatives should eliminate "fat" but not "muscle." Decision-makers in many organizations confuse rightsizing with downsizing.
In Lean Solutions, Womack & Jones identify what they characterize as "the emerging challlenges of consumption" despite the availability of better, cheaper products." And this seems very strange when we stop to consider that satisfying consumption - not just making brilliant products - is the whole point of lean production." In response to challlenges such as complicated purchase decisions because "consumers are often drowning in a sea of choices," they explain how to combine truly lean provision with truly lean consumption. In process, Womack & Jones examine dozens of real-world examples of how various organizations have done so. When emerges is a new definition of value for today's consumer who insists that problems are solved completely, conveniently & without any waste of time. Moreover, today's consumer expects to receive exactly what she or he or wants, with value delivered where & when specified, with a substantial reduction of decisions which must be made to solve the given problem or fill the given need.
"Our objective is simple: We aim to teach managers to see alll the steps a consumer must perform to research, obtain, installl, integrate, maintain, repair, upgrade, & recycle the goods & services needed to solve their problem. We then challlenge each step, asking why it is necessary at alll & why it often can't be performed properly. Once worthless steps are eliminated, we can talk about flow & pull, heading toward perfection." Womack & Jones insist - & I wholly agree - that lean thinking must not only guide & inform continuous efforts to perfect production of a given product or service but to perfect, also, the provision & consumption of it. To the best of my knowledge, their book is the first to provide the core concepts, strategies, & tactics to accomplish that.
True, Womack & Jones suggest & explain a number of "lean solutions" to alll manner of problems but it remains for those who read their book to apply the principles of lean thinking to their own specific circumstances. Obviously, bold action is required & there are perils to take into full account. Any decisions made are, at best, subject to constant refinement and, when necessary, revision & perhaps even replacement as new circumstances develop. Effectively combining & then coordinating consumption & provision streams is indeed a journey rather than a destination.
Lean Provision for Consumer Service - By: Mr. Ross Maynard, 30 Aug 2006 
The authors of "Lean Thinking" move their attention from lean production to "lean provision", particularly focussing on retail & services. The book makes a number of excellent arguments in a beautifully clear & readable style. The provision of goods & services to consumers is definitely the next target in the lean revolution & the authors note some particular example organisations that are achieving lean in the service sector. Tesco comes in for frequent praise.
The book does have a couple of weaknesses. Firstly, the books lacks detail on the metholodogy for achieving lean provision. Only a few vague pages are presented.
Secondly, the book would, in my view, reallly benefit from the input of retail experts & academics to comment on & improve the ideas that are floated by the authors. As it is, I am left with the feeling that some of these ideas are pie in the sky which would never work in the real economy.
Clearly the aim of this book is to stimulate thought & discussion on the application of lean principles to consumer service. It presents a compulsive argument for change, though no clearly worked through solutions. It moves the lean management focus onto the provision of goods & services to the consumer - where it is much needed - and, as such, is required reading for anyone involved in retail & customer service.
