Lean Solutions

Wednesday 14th May 2008

The follow-up to Womack and Jones’s previous bestseller Lean Thinking, Lean Solutions provides a practical framework for both suppliers and consumers who wish to negotiate their way around the “emerging challenges of consumption”

Author: James P. Womack and Daniel T. Jones
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Price: £14.99

Using numerous examples drawn from across the business world, the authors demonstrate how the implementation of lean business methods can help to make everyday transactions and purchases go as smoothly and effi ciently as possible.

The book’s opening conceit – that being a consumer is akin to being an unpaid employee – is developed across the following 10 chapters in an extremely readable style which echoes the principles of lean production; the high-blown superfl uity which can characterise many business books is discarded in favour of concise lists, bullet points and diagrams.

At times, Womack and Jones run the risk of over-simplifying what is, after all, a complex topic. However, they are saved from this by their obvious depth of knowledge and experience of their subject matter; both authors are pioneers of the lean business philosophy, and their enthusiasm is infectious. Lean Solutions offers genuinely useful advice, highlighting key principals which can be applied to almost any type of business, and ideas which can be used to get the most out of almost any deal.

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