SCDigest Editorial Staff

James Womack, who founded the Lean Enterprise Institute 13 years ago after co-authoring (along with Daniel Jones and Daniel Roos)  the seminal book The Machine That Changed the World: The Story of Lean Production, which told the tale of the Toyota Production System (TPS), announced at the end of September that he was stepping down from the leadership role of the organization.

The new CEO will be John Shook, a long-time colleague of Womack's and former director of the University of Michigan's Japan Technological Management Program. A former Toyota employee as well, when Shook was working at Toyota's headquarters, he became the company's first American kacho (manager) in Japan. He later moved on to executive positions within Toyota,  including a position as senior American manager with the Toyota Supplier Support Center in Lexington, KY, assisting North American companies implement the Toyota Production System.

Shook was a co-author of Learning to See,  the LEI workbook that helped introduce the world to value-stream mapping concepts and tools. He has written other books and many articles on lean practice.

Womack for now will take on an advisory role for LEI.

In an email to LEI members, Womack said he actually asked Shook to take on an advisory role with LEI more than a decade ago, but the invitation then was declined, though Shook and Mike Rother went on to soon produce the Learning to See workbook that is a core part of the LEI training materials.

Womack noted that "About a year ago, after beginning to shift LEI beyond lean tools into lean management, I realized that it was time to "repurpose" LEI for the next phase of its life."

(Manufacturing Article - Continued Below)

Initially, he planned to lead that transition himself, but then wondered whether that was the right choice for someone near retirement age, "inspired by the thinking of Taiichi Ohno, the architect of the Toyota Production System, who often talked about baton passing as a critical task in value-creating processes with multiple participants."

So Womack went back to Shook and asked him to join LEI again, this time as CEO. The two have been working together on the transition since February.

In the same email, Shook himself writes that "The lean landscape has changed considerably since Jim established LEI 13 years ago. From an early emphasis on lean tools for simple waste elimination in manufacturing firms, attention has steadily shifted to a focus on the underlying management principles, systems, and practices that generate sustainable success in any type of organization. Management, whatever that is, has been a focus of LEI over the past few years. I expect that focus will continue, though we will not leave our roots which derive from deep concern about how people do things, how individuals do their work, how firms achieve their purpose."

Do you have any thoughts on Jim Womack's work at LEI? Is it right for the organization to focus on lean management, not just lean tools? Let us know your thoughts at the Feedback button below.

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