In 1997, james-p-womack founded the lean-enterprise-institute (LEI), institutionalizing the Lean dissemination work that had begun with machine-that-changed-the-world and lean-thinking. The founding of LEI marks the transition from the codification phase of the Womack-Jones project (writing books) to the institution-building phase (creating an ongoing organizational vehicle for Lean education, publishing, and practitioner development).
Significance in the Transmission Chain
The founding of LEI is the key event in the lei-institution-building-era. By creating a nonprofit with a permanent staff, publishing program, and workshop calendar, Womack moved Lean from a framework you could read about to one you could be trained in, certified in, and supported on. LEI's publications — including learning-to-see (the value-stream-mapping workbook) and other practitioner tools — extended Lean's reach far beyond what books alone could accomplish.
LEI also became the US anchor of the lean-global-network when that consortium was chartered at lgn-charter in 2007.
Leadership Transition
Womack served as Chairman and CEO of LEI from its founding until approximately 2010, when he transitioned to Senior Advisor. john-shook subsequently became Chairman/CEO. This transition indicates that LEI successfully institutionalized beyond its founder — a significant organizational achievement.
Connection to lea-founding
The LEI founding preceded daniel-t-jones's establishment of the lean-enterprise-academy in the UK in 2003. The two institutions are sibling organizations that together anchored the lean-global-network.