James P. Womack

James P. Womack (c. 1948) is an American economist. He was research director of the International Motor Vehicle Program ( IMVP ) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Massachusetts and is the founder and director of the Lean Enterprise Institute, a nonprofit established to disseminate and exploration of the Lean concept with the aim of him " Lean Enterprise " to evolve.

Life and work

Womack became known as the first author of the 1991 book The Machine That Changed the World ( German: The second revolution in the automotive industry), which made the world public the term Lean Production. The book has been translated into eleven languages ​​and sold over 600,000 times. The most recent to enriched current experience and knowledge, edition appeared in 2007.

Womack earned his Bachelor in 1970 in Political Science at the University of Chicago. His master's degree in transportation systems, he made in 1975 at the Harvard University. The doctoral degree in Political Science, he received from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT ) in 1982 for a thesis on the comparison of industrial policy between the U.S., Germany and Japan.

From 1975 to 1991 Womack served as scientists a number of comparative studies on production practices worldwide, with the sponsored by the automotive industry with more than five million U.S. dollars International Motor Vehicle Program ( IMVP ) was the most important.

Womack left shortly after publication of his book, the MIT and founded the " Lean Enterprise Institute ," which he directed from 1997 to 2010.

He is married and has two daughters.

Writings

• Lean solutions: how companies and customers work together to solve problems ISBN 978-3-593-38112-1
• Lean thinking: throw off ballast, increase corporate profits ISBN 3-593-37561-3
• On the way to the perfect company ISBN 3-453-14182-2
• The second revolution in the auto industry: lessons from the global study from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology ISBN 3- 593-34548 -X