Product Description
How to speed up business processes, improve quality, and cut costs in any industry
In factories around the world, Toyota consistently makes the highest-quality cars with the fewest defects of any competing manufacturer, while using fewer man-hours, less on-hand inventory, and half the floor space of its competitors. The Toyota Way is the first book for a general audience that explains the management principles and business philosophy behind Toyotas worldwide reputation for quality and reliability.
Complete with profiles of organizations that have successfully adopted Toyotas principles, this book shows managers in every industry how to improve business processes by:
- Eliminating wasted time and resources
- Building quality into workplace systems
- Finding low-cost but reliable alternatives to expensive new technology
- Producing in small quantities
- Turning every employee into a qualitycontrol inspector
Rate Points :4.5
Binding :Hardcover
Label :McGraw-Hill
Manufacturer :McGraw-Hill
ProductGroup :Book
Studio :McGraw-Hill
Publisher :McGraw-Hill
UPC :639785384403
EAN :9780071392310
Price :$27.95USD
Lowest Price :$13.95USD
Customer ReviewsToyota Production System Requires Stamina at the Top
Rating Point :5 Helpful Point :0
This is an excellent book to uncover the beautiful simplicity of the Toyota Production System. Although simple is always best, with complicated cars, machines and huge sums of parts, it sometimes is lost in the jungle of the manufacturing floor. This is where a companys leadership is key to the success of the lean manufacturing endeavor. Obviously, the Toyoda family had a long line of brilliant individuals that have not only kept the principles alive, but continued to drive the company to record growth and profits. This book is very good for showing the way, but there is a lot more detail requred to actually implement the system. As an introduction to the system and the philosophies, this book is excellent. If you are looking to implement lean manufacturing, you will need more than one book to accomplish the task, and you will need leadership within your organization that is willing to change and embrace a new way. Most company efforts will collapse due to managment not having the stamina it takes to fully change their plant floor, their material flow and their processes. With the Toyota Production System, you are never "done" but you continue to look for improvement forever.
Great book!!!
Rating Point :4 Helpful Point :0
This is a great book. I have read "Lean Thinking" and "The Machine that Changed the World" and those are very good books, but "The Toyota Way" definitely does a great job explaining the Toyota Way principles and their applications. This book is very easy to read and you will not want to stop reading. Chapters are short giving you the sense that you are moving forward faster. If you want to really understand the history, the thinking, and the principles of the TPS then you should consider reading this book as your first option. I didnt give it 5 out of 5 because then there is no room for continuous improvement.
To understand this companys success, first understand its DNA
Rating Point :5 Helpful Point :3
I read this book when it was first published in 2004 and recently re-read it, curious to know how well Jeffrey Likers explanation of Toyotas management principles and lean production values have held up. My conclusion? Very well.
No good purpose would be served by merely listing the 14 management principles, out of context. Liker devotes a separate chapter to each, carefully explaining not only what it is but also how it guides and informs everyone at all levels and in all areas of the Toyota organization. What Liker also accomplishes, and what cannot be adequately summarized in a review such as this, is to explain how all 12 principles are interdependent. Together, they serve as the companys DNA. In the Preface, he recalls asking Fujio Cho (President of Toyota Motor Company) what was unique about his companys remarkable success. His answer was quite simple: "The key to the Toyota Way and what makes Toyota stand out is not any of the individual elements...But what is important is having all the elements together as a system. It must be practiced every day in a very consistent manner." To understand Toyotas success, therefore, it is important to understand that lean production is not a methodology, it is literally a way of life.
The 14 principles are divided into four sections:
Having a long-term philosophy that drives a long-term approach to building a learning organization
Absolute faith that the right process will produce the right results
Adding value to the organization by developing its people and partners
Continuously solving root problems to drive organizational learning
As Liker points out, it is important to understand that the Toyota Production System is not the Toyota Way. TPS is the most systematic and highly developed example of what the principles of the Toyota Way can accomplish. The Toyota Way consists of the foundational principles of the Toyota culture, which allows the TPS to function so effectively.
How does lean improvement differ from traditional process improvement? "Briefly, wheras the traditional approach to process improvement focuses on local efficiencies, in a lean improvement initiatuve, most of the progress comes from a large number of non-value steps being squeezed out. For example, overproduction, delays, and wasted motion. In fact, the ultimate goal of lean manufacturing is to apply the ideal of one-piece flow to all business operations, from product design to launch, order taking, physical production, and shipment."Some of the differences are subtle but no less significant.
To repeat, anyone can read this book and then uncerstand what the Toyota Way is. Possessing a gourmet chefs recipe, however, does not ensure that a gourmet meal will be prepared. Toyota has its own way. Other companies must develop theirs based on their own "roots." In other words, lead from their traditional strengths but not be limited by them. In fact, companies may need to re-invent themselves, not once but several times. That is what Toyota did...and continues to do. Use operational excellence as a strategic weapon and the rewards and results will far outweigh the great effort required.
That said, Liker does provide 13 "general tips." The first is to begin with action in the technical system and then follow quickly with cultural change. Other suggestions include learning by doing first and training second, using value stream mapping to develop future state visions to help "learn to see," and being opportunistic in identifying opportunities for big financial impacts. They are provided with brief but precise explanations on Pages 302-307.
It remains for each person who reads this book to determine which of the 14 management principles are most relevant to her or his own enterprise, and then to determine how to translate each into effective action. Presumably Liker agrees with me that most companies have 3-5 areas in which "lean" initiatives are urgently needed. Developing an execution plan can be tricky, however, because all business transaction involve a process of some kind and improvement of one process inevitably has a direct impact on several others. Heres one possibility, suggested to me by a COO to whom I gave a copy of this book: Read the final chapter, Chapter 22, first. Its title is "Build Your Own Lean Learning Enterprise, Borrowing from the Toyota Way." He thinks that will provide an appropriate framework within which to proceed from Gary Convis Foreword and Likers Preface to the conclusion of Chapter 21. That suggestion is worth consideration.
Those who share my high regard for this book are urged to check out Likers Toyota Culture: The Heart and Soul of the Toyota Way as well as Matthew Mays The Elegant Solution: Toyotas Formula for Mastering Innovation, David Magees How Toyota Became Toyota: Leadership Lessons from the Worlds Greatest Car company, and What Is Lean Six Sigma? co-authored by Michael L. George, David Rowlands, and Bill Kastle.
Book Purchase
Rating Point :5 Helpful Point :0
Book seller presented accurate information regarding the condition and quality of the book. Book receipt time was excellent and well within the timeframe given to the purchaser. Thanks for the great service.
Value for the operations oriented individual
Rating Point :4 Helpful Point :0
For any individual working in an operations oriented field this book can be a valuable tool for learning more about the Toyota Way and Lean manufacturing.
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