Lean Enterprise Institute Inc. James Womack is author of The Machine That Changed The World and Lean Thinking and is the country's leading proponent of lean manufacturing. He is now a principal of the Lean Enterprise Institute in Brookline, Mass. He discusses the importance of value stream mapping and the common challenges companies face when adopting lean systems. Here are some of the questions he answered: What are the major obstacles companies must avoid in trying to adopt a lean manufacturing system? Do you see many successful lean implementations? Do you have any examples of such Kamikaze kaizen? I've seen many flip charts from companies highlighting their 70 percent reductions in inventory due to kaizen projects, but the company isn't performing any better. Is lean having an overall impact on U.S. industry? Why have you not seen much of an impact in inventories given that there has been such a surge toward contract manufacturing, just-in-time and building-to-order? Are there any good examples of lean implementations other than Toyota in the U.S. automotive sector, given your own expertise in that area? What do you think about the Dell Computer approach of building to order? Will the whole thrust toward e-commerce lead to a much broader embrace of lean thinking? Does the recent interest in supply chain management linked to the Internet fit well with lean thinking? Many companies are solving their production problems either by contracting out manufacturing to companies like Solectron or shifting it to low-labor cost areas like Mexico. Is this a good way to fix a problem? What are some common problems associated with implementing a lean system? Why is value-stream mapping becoming a new lean trend? What specifically is the role of a value-stream managers? If lean is so great why is Japan's economy so bad? Is Toyota still the world's shining example of lean? Is the ISO 9000 quality standard improving manufacturing processes? What do you think of Six Sigma? What do you think of GE's Six Sigma effort? In speaking with people in industry about the difficulties of lean systems they ask basic questions such as what do you do with the production engineer in a lean enterprise? Another question raised in the auto sector about lean is how can a company deal with the problems associated with producing replacement parts for the after market in a way other than traditional make-to-stock? Why have you been so critical of the aerospace industry? Are there other good examples of lean outside of automobiles? The electronics sector always considers itself so superior to other manufacturing sectors. Are they leaders in lean production given their cycle times? To view questions from other interviews in Lean Machines, Click Here. Click Here to order a copy of Lean Machines.