The Lean Turnaround

How Business Leaders Use Lean Principles to Create Value and Transform Their Company

By: Art Byrne, James P. Womack

Narrated by: Todd Belcher

The C-level guide to succeeding with Lean

"With 30 years of accumulated experience, Art Byrne is one of the rare few people who can speak with authority about the pitfalls of financial measurement systems, the importance of respect for people, the power of Lean in the marketplace, and the leverage from organizing people around value streams. When he writes 'Go to the Gemba and Run Your Kaizen', we must take heed." (Masaaki Imai, best-selling author of Kaizen and Gemba Kaizen)

"In this wonderful and important book, Byrne shows us that Lean management, understood and practiced correctly, consistently delivers spectacular results." (Bob Emiliani, author, Better Thinking, Better Results, and professor, Connecticut State University)

"A compelling picture of how Lean techniques and attitudes enable CEOs and senior executives to create a culture for transforming a company and putting it on a high performance path." (Jerry J. Jasinowski, former president of the National Association of Manufacturers)

"Art Byrne provides real-world examples of how he exhibited the wisdom and courage to do the right thing, improving work practices at all levels of the organization to deliver the right results for all stakeholders. Which comes first, the wisdom or the courage? Read The Lean Turnaround to find out." (John Shook, chairman and CEO, Lean Enterprise Institute)

"Lean is the closest thing to magic I have experienced in my 40 years in business. I recommend Lean and this book to everyone responsible for the performance of a business, particularly those in private equity like me, where leverage magnifies the importance of cash." (John Childs, founder and CEO of J. W. Childs Associates L.P.)

"A must-read for any leader interested in understanding the strategic advantages from focusing on activities that add value to the customer experience." (Gary S. Kaplan, MD, chairman and CEO of the Virginia Mason Health System)

Lean isn't just for manufacturing anymore....

Few business leaders in the world have applied Lean strategy as successfully as Art Byrne has - and none has the ability to explain how to do it with such succinctness and clarity.

Famous for turning around the wire management company Wiremold, where he rethought every aspect of operations from the customer's standpoint - and got everyone else in the company to do likewise - Byrne has successfully implemented Lean strategies in more than 30 companies in 14 different countries.

In The Lean Turnaround, this legendary business leader shares everything he has learned during his remarkable career and shows how anyone can achieve similar results. His primary message is this: Lean strategy isn't just for manufacturing. In fact, Byrne is using this very approach in his present position at a private equity firm.

Whatever type of company you run, Lean can be used to improve virtually every aspect of operations, from training and leading employees to accounting and payroll issues. The Lean Turnaround explains all the ins and outs of applying Lean strategy to:

• Eliminate waste in every value-added operation
• Deliver consistent value to customers
• Stimulate growth and add jobs
• Increase wealth for all your stakeholders
• Build a company culture of continuous improvement (kaizen)

Instead of attempting to get customers to conform to your way of doing things - which is, sadly, what most managers are taught to do - you need to configure your company to be responsive to the customers. This is at the core of Byrne's method - and it always works.

©2019 McGraw-Hill Education (P)2012 McGraw Hill-Ascent Audio

Continuous improvement is timeless

Absolutely a fantastic read. The information provided in this book is more relevant today as our cost structures and resources are constrained leaving us little choice but to become highly organized.

He's The MAN....needs more examples

Art Byrne's story written by Bob Emaliani called "Better Thinking, Better Results" is recommended by me as a Prequel to reading / listening to "Lean Turnaround"....

Drop Inventory and Maximize Turns is what Art says he would state if he had to distill LEAN down to 2 goals.... It's a bit to vague for a 5 hour listen for me.

He does transfer his enthusiasm and certainty in this method for ANY type of business; ESPECIALLY SERVICE-Related....which is counter-intuitive as "Lean Manufacturing" are 2 words often joined at the hip... Service processes tend to be more difficult to map and more difficult to change as all people THINK that they are adding value to it.

Lean basics for leaders

Art gives needed and helpful basics to make a lean transition starting with the top. This book is a great start point.