Dr. James Womack, founder and president of the Lean Enterprise Institute (LEI), will be the keynote presenter at the 2nd annual Lean Accounting Summit. Womack has authored several cornerstone books about the lean enterprise and is the subject’s internationally recognized authority. Three of his works include, Lean Solutions (Simon & Schuster, 2005), (The Machine That Changed the World (Macmillan/Rawson Associates, 1990) and Lean Thinking (Simon & Schuster, 1996). The Lean Accounting Summit will be held at Walt Disney World’s Coronado Springs Resort in Orlando, Florida, September 21-22, 2006.
Dr. James Womack, founder and president of the Lean Enterprise Institute (LEI), will be the keynote presenter at the 2nd annual Lean Accounting Summit. Womack has authored several cornerstone books about the lean enterprise and is the subject’s internationally recognized authority. Three of his works include, Lean Solutions (Simon & Schuster, 2005), (The Machine That Changed the World (Macmillan/Rawson Associates, 1990) and Lean Thinking (Simon & Schuster, 1996). The Lean Accounting Summit will be held at Walt Disney World’s Coronado Springs Resort in Orlando, Florida, September 21-22, 2006.
Jim Huntzinger, founder and president of the Lean Accounting Summit, comments on Womack’s involvement, “To have a man of Jim’s stature as our keynote presenter gives great legitimacy to this emerging movement known as lean accounting. Add to that an additional 20 operations and accounting thought-leaders and it’s no wonder why so many people are excited about the summit.”
Richard Schonberger, president of Schonberger & Associates, will be the closing session keynote presenter. Schonberger is known as the originator of the term and concepts of world-class manufacturing and has authored many books, most recently, Let’s Fix It! Overcoming the Crisis in Manufacturing: How the World’s Leading Manufacturers Were Seduced by Prosperity and Lost Their Way, a 2001 release.
The final keynote presenter is Norman Bodek, president of PCS, Inc., a publishing and consulting company. Bodek has published hundreds of books on productivity, quality, and Lean manufacturing. Many of those works were published under Productivity, Inc., a publishing company founded by Bodek.
Session presenters returning for a second year include, among others, Orry Fiume, Brian Maskell, Jean Cunningham, Jerry Solomon, and Mark Deluzio.
The Lean Accounting Summit is presented by the Association of Manufacturing Excellence (AME), the Society for Manufacturing Engineers (SME), and Flexware Innovation, Inc., which employed Huntzinger during the inaugural event.
The success of the first summit, which drew more than 300 attendees, led Flexware executives to spin-off the summit as a separate entity. The summit is now operated by Huntzinger’s Lean Accounting Summit, LLC.
Huntzinger explains the growing interest in lean accounting, “Anyone involved in the lean transformation quickly realizes the fundamental inability of traditional cost accounting to recognize positive gains. So when accounting and operations professionals, knowing there is a problem, quickly take notice.”
Dwayne Butcher, Communications Manager for the summit, discusses the 2006 event, “This movement is in its infancy, so it’s difficult to project just how many people will attend. Right now, we’re estimating more than 500, but wouldn’t be surprised to see it swell to over 700.” Butcher explains that last year’s event sold out at 320 participants with only 5 months of promotion.
The theme of the 2006 summit is “Bridging the Gap between Lean and Accounting.” Summit organizers chose this theme to illustrate how operations and accounting often see operational improvements differently.
Huntzinger illustrates this gap, “Traditional accounting practices were designed to support mass production. Today, however, manufacturers need to rapidly and flexibly meet changing consumer demands. To accomplish this, lean seeks to remove waste and leave only processes that add value. Inventory is a glaring example of waste without value.”
Huntzinger notes that traditional accounting considers inventory to be an asset, and when removed, reflects poorly on the balance sheet. “Therein lies the gap,” he concludes. Huntzinger says that there is much more to the lean accounting than his inventory example, but acknowledges that it does represent the types of issues lean enterprises face.
In the midst of planning the 2006 summit, Huntzinger, along with a group of former presenters, is writing a book. The book will summarize many of the presentations and concepts from the inaugural summit. The book is being compiled by Joe and Katherine Stenzel, editors of Cost Management magazine and is being published by John Wiley and Sons. The book is schedule for a fall 2006 release.
In addition to AME, SME, and Flexware, Summit sponsors include Oracle, Superfactory, BMA, Inc., Lean Enterprise Institute, and the Institute for Management Accountants (IMA). Butcher notes that they are actively seeking sponsors to get a wide range of support and perspectives on the subject.
The 2005 summit was held at the Dearborn Inn, located in a Detroit suburb. Attendees heard from Dr. Tom Johnson, known as one of today’s leading thinkers on economic history, management accounting, and quality management.
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