The Toyota Way: 14 Management Principles from the World's Greatest Manufacturer by Jeffrey Liker Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Toyota Way: 14 Management Principles from the World's Greatest Manufacturer
Book Review: Clear and informative for any business
Summary: 5 Stars
What a clear explanation of management principles. Anyone who runs any sort of company, or even a single household, can profit by reading this book. The many graphs are clear, clever, and illuminating. The book goes so much beyond the more simple "lean" theory I had read about before.Book Review: Clearly shows you why so many fail to copy them
Summary: 5 Stars
I've read this book a few times, and got our factory excited by it as well. We read it 2 chapters a week as a group, with a volunteer facilitator reviewing the content of the chapters in a weekly session. Suggest you start with this one and then read "Creating a Lean Culture" by David Mann and then "The Toyota Way Fieldbook" by Jeffrey Liker. A must read for those interested in Lean Manufacturing or Self-Directed Workteams.
Pro:
-Shows the commitment of Toyota to their methods and philosophies. By commitment they mean a willingness to pursue your transformation for at least 10 years, which is why I think so many fail... lack of commitment.
-Provides building blocks upon which to apply lean tools or lean toolkit
-Philosophy is quite detailed for a few hundred pages, appears thorough and complete so if you want to, you can create a similar systems-based approach
Con:
-Not a recipe for you to copy... no shortcuts or cutting corners here.
Neutral:
-Not much detail on "tools" which is out of scope for the content of this book
Bottom line: I think that this book is true to the philosophies of Toyota as I've directly observed from the 4 or 5 different senseis (former Toyota executives turned consultants) I have had the chance to work with. I only recommend a few books, this is one of them. Pairs well with "Creating a Lean Culture," by David Mann as a way to extend the lessons learned in The Toyota Way.
Book Review: Comprehensive and Insightful Guide to Toyota and Lean
Summary: 5 Stars
In spite of the recent embarrassing product recalls, Toyota remains a highly respected global leader. Jeffrey Liker's 2004 book on "The Toyota Way" summarizes 20 years of insightful study. He argues that the 4-P model of Process, Philosophy, People/Partners and Problem Solving describes the four interdependent components required for long-term success.
Scattered throughout the text are descriptions of how and why other firms have failed to succeed in adopting lean manufacturing or "The Toyota Way". They include: lack of senior management involvement or commitment, focus on tools/techniques without an emphasis on culture, overemphasis on cost reduction, lack of discipline to sustain flow improvements, emphasis on format/rules in ISO 9000, inappropriate outsourcing, supplier abuse, and an overly narrow focus in six sigma on statistical techniques applied by experts. The book's insights and stories are valuable, but not totally persuasive.
The text provides good historical and contemporary background on Toyota's quality system and progress. It also describes and illustrates more than 30 of the quality tools and techniques in a non-technical manner. The book is well-written and well-organized, covering a massive amount of material effectively.
In addition to the many "best practices" quality techniques adopted by most Japanese and leading western firms today, Toyota emphasizes a few other management techniques which combine to make its approach unique. Within the context of "14 management principles", the author explains the value of cultural support for tools, the role of standardization as the basis for cumulative learning, the centrality of engineering and production, the use of appropriate technology, the benefits of experiential learning, the rationale for unit of one production, the role of inventory and goals in creating challenges to solve, the short-term blending of push and pull techniques, the extent of fail-safe practices, the nature of an enabling bureaucracy and the need to maintain key internal capabilities. The author does not always explain "why" these choices are necessary or exactly how they add value.
The author closes with an insightful list of "13 Tips for Transitioning Your Company to a Lean Enterprise". Dr. Liker is an unapologetic true believer in "The Toyota Way". His advice to those who do not share his commitment is the weakest part of a very highly valuable reference work on Toyota and Lean Production. "[Non-committed] top leaders should pick and choose from whatever tools are out there to improve processes for the short term, make a bundle of money, and go do something else. This is tantamount to admitting the company will never be a learning enterprise, or a great company, and it is only interested in cutting and slashing waste to look good for the short term."
Book Review: Cultural Change
Summary: 4 Stars
This is one of a good book on productivity improvement.
For the American boss, if you want to implement TPS( Toyota production system ), then you need to change the working culture in your organization.
As a boss , if you think you are not the type of person as indicated in this book (like to dirty your hands ) and you want to implement TPS ; Get a General Manager who have the determination to implement TPS , give him full responsibility to implement.
As a word of caution , employing a TPS consultant will only survive as long as the consultant is around, once the consultant left, the working culture will be back to its original form .
Book Review: Driven to perform....and excel
Summary: 4 Stars
After Allied Forces decimated the Japanese geography, spirit and psyche with atomic weapons in World War II - nobody thought anything would rise from the ashes of the "Country of the Rising Sun." However, within a single generation, that nation has become one of the most affluent consumer markets in the world and a global leader in many industries. In fact, given the recent bankruptcies of U.S. car makers, Chrysler and General Motors, the international market dominance of Toyota is even more miraculous. University of Michigan professor and author, Jeffery Liker writes about his year-long research project at Toyota to help divine its success secrets. Dr. Liker's book, "The Toyota Way," is an operational management treatise that focuses on the company's lean production and just-in-time inventory practices. However, Soundview recommends this book because Dr. Liker goes farther and shows how the commitment to process has led to an organizational discipline that permeates every aspect of the Toyota business model and how it can be duplicated at other organizations. It makes you wonder where GM and Chrysler might be if executives at those Detroit-based companies had adopted the book's Toyota-tested principles of a long-term outlook coupled with problem solving, partnership, process and empowerment.