Lean Consumption: the Customer's Perspective

Lean Consumption: Defining Value from the Customer's Perspective, AutoAsia magazine.

The recently released, Lean Solutions, as well as, The Toyota Way Fieldbook, are required reading for anyone serious about applying lean concepts. And truly both should be read by anyone interested in management improvement (even those who are not lean experts or even that familiar with lean ideas).

A short portion of the full article (exploring the ideas James Womack and Daniel Jones write about in their new book) is available online (without subscription). The short abstract packs in all sorts of good info. The new book, Lean Solutions: How Companies and Customers Can Create Value and Wealth Together by James P. Womack, Daniel T. Jones is no doubt the catalyst behind this article. From the article:

The concepts underlying lean consumption boil down to six simple principles that correspond closely with those of lean production.

1. Solve the customer's problem completely by making sure that all the goods and services work together to do so.
   
2. Don't waste the customer's (or the provider's) time.
   
3. Provide exactly what the customer wants.
   
4. Provide value where it's wanted.
   
5. Provide value when it's wanted.
6. Continually aggregate solutions to reduce the customer's time and hassle.

For those interested in reading up on lean thinking concepts we have gathered links to lean articles available online.