Jim Womack — Founder, Lean Enterprise Institute; Author, The Machine That Changed the World

**James P. Womack** is the founder of the **Lean Enterprise Institute** and co-author of *The Machine That Changed the World* (1990) and *Lean Thinking* (1996) — the books that introduced lean manufacturing to the Western world and launched a global movement in operational excellence. His research at MIT, where he led the International Motor Vehicle Program, documented how Toyota's production system produced higher quality at lower cost than Western mass production — a finding that transformed manufacturing worldwide.