Comments on: Hyundai has a "Lean CEO"

By: Rick Bohan

Rick Bohan — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 11:55:00 +0000

So Krafcik is the guy who’s to blame for calling it “lean manufacturing”. He couldn’t have come up with a worse name for a corporate initiative if he’d put his mind to it. #2 worst name -self directed work teams. #3 worst name – six sigma.

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By: Mark Graban

Mark Graban — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 20:51:00 +0000

I don’t have the exact reference, but I thought the prologue in TMTCTW gives credit to Krafcik and I think I’ve heard Womack give him credit verbally.

I saw Roos speak at an MIT event in Dallas back in late 2005. He was a good speaker with historical perspective on Lean, but it seemed like he hasn’t done anything since, as Womack and Jones have done.

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By: andrewmc

andrewmc — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 20:48:00 +0000

I thought the term Lean was attributed to Roos……the third author that has slipped in to post TMTCTW obscurity?

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By: Andy Wagner

Andy Wagner — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 22:46:00 +0000

I would argue that Alan Mulally is something of a “lean CEO.” His focus at Ford has been on improving quality and developing products people want to buy. First quarter was profitable for Ford, before the financial collapse. Mulally is also the only of the little three CEOs to say before Congress that he’s accelerating product development instead of cutting it, and that he only needs the loan as a hedge against things getting worse.
Of course, he’s shown little ‘respect for people’ in layoffs at Boeing or Ford, or in his own salary.

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