James Womack self-effacingly claims to be a megaphone for the smart people who figured out a better way to manufacture cars and run a company. But some say he has the power to change the world. And they point to his influence on them personally, their companies, and the manufacturing industry.
"I am positive, but for James Womack, that I would have gone out of business six years ago," states Matthew Lovejoy, president of aluminum castings manufacturer Lovejoy Industries. "He taught me to see."
Indeed, Womack has educated most of the manufacturing workforce on lean.
"You can trace every consulting company and practitioner back to him," says David Alschuler, principal at Industry Directions. "Now lean is widely accepted as a philosophy of how you manage your business processes."