Lean Transformations for Small and Medium Enterprises

"This book summarises the lessons that can be learnt from big and small companies in Italy that used lean to help them survive and grow in difficult economic times. Read it to follow their example."

-Daniel T Jones, Chairman, Lean Enterprise Academy, UK and Author The Machine that Changed the World and Lean Thinking: Banish Waste and Create Wealth in Your Corporation

"What does the experience of Italian SMEs have to say about your enterprise transformation? Everything! In Lean Transformations for Small and Medium Enterprises: Lessons Learned from Italian Businesses, author Arnaldo Camuffo provides analysis with usefulness that transcends national borders. In a detailed and comprehensive examination of the success and failure modes of companies going through a lean transformation, Camuffo extrapolates lessons that managers, investors, academicians, and policy makers in any country will find interesting and useful. "

-John Shook, Chairman and CEO, Lean Enterprise Institute Chairman, Lean Global Network

"Lean Transformations in Small and Medium Enterprises addresses the relatively neglected world of lean in smaller companies—representing an enormous swath of the economy in the industrialized world. Using a wealth of data and case studies Camuffo’s book tells a compelling story of what works and doesn’t work in transforming SMEs and brilliantly translates it into practical terms."

-Peter T. Ward, Professor, Ross Chair in Management, and Director, Center for Operational Excellence, Max M. Fisher College of Business, Ohio State University.

"A fantastic read. You'll find vivid, real-life illustrations of the Lean Transformation Framework in dynamic businesses and garner new insights into lean thinking in this remarkable book about lean - with Italian style."

-Michael Ballé, co-author of The Gold Mine trilogy and co-founder of the Institut Lean France

"In Lean Transformations for SMEs, Arnaldo Camuffo vividly depicts how lean is transforming the heart of the Italian and of the global economy. Over 95% of OECD firms are SMEs, contributing to over 60% of employment. Many of them –in Italy and elsewhere- are Genba-people-oriented and community-embedded. With evidence coming from a wealth of cases and data, Camuffo provides a roadmap to successful lean transformations, particularly when economic conditions are unstable."

-Takahiro Fujimoto, Professor, Faculty of Economics, and Executive Director, Manufacturing Management Research Center, The University of Tokyo

"This book is full of wisdom and insight into Lean ideas, principles, and practices seen through the lens of the Italian experience. It distills years of scholarship and practical involvement with Lean implementations into a valuable guide for managers and entrepreneurs beginning their own "lean journey" and scholars interested in strategic renewal, organizational learning, and intertwined change in technical and human systems. The rich case studies, covering success stories, incomplete "journeys", and implementation failures, are unusually probing and make the Italian story of Lean both utterly distinctive and universal. Enjoy!"

-John Paul MacDuffie, The Wharton School of Management, University of Pennsylvania