In 1996, Womack and Jones summarized the theory and the practice of lean production in an all-round way among their work, proposed the lean thinking, and forged lean enterprises. 1996年,沃麦克在其著作LeanThinking中,全面总结精益生产的理论与实践,提出了精益思想,打造精益企业。
In 1990, the United States of America professor Womack called Toyota mode of production as the "lean production". 1990年,美国的沃麦克教授等称丰田汽车生产方式为精益生产方式。