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: Good Summary of Toyota Culture
Summary: 4 Stars
This book brings it all together under 14 principles. It is a good book for those who would like to learn about Toyota's success.Book Review: Good Treatment of Lean Production
Summary: 4 Stars
This is an excellent, in-depth examination of the Totoya Way and the Toyota Production System. A must read for anyone wanting to understand the culture that is the foundation of lean production. Useful information can be gleaned and adapted to almost any profession, not just manufacturing. Well worth reading.Book Review: Good insights on the thinking of Toyota management
Summary: 4 Stars
This book puts Toyota back where it belongs: front and center in the world of the lean enterprise. The idea that Toyota just originated lean and that others have since taken it further is a fallacy that has lately been creeping into publications and conference presentations. The reality is that Toyota is still far ahead and that the vast majority of companies that claim to be lean are only "kinda, sorta" lean, with managements that simply have not understood the approach.
The book has a visible structure that the reader can use to zoom in on topics of interest. Fourteen principles are stated upfront, and then a chapter is devoted to each of these principles. The writing is clear, and many outside sources are acknowledged with a thoroughness that is uncommon in business books. In particular, 28 Toyota executives are acknowledged or quoted, which gives the book the flavor of an authorized rendition of the company's philosophy.
The book's greatest strength, the closeness of the author to the company's management, is also its main limitation. As an academic, the author could have assumed a less worshipful stance. For example, rather than taking management statements about wanting to do right for society as a whole at face value, he might have pointed out that they sound like obligatory recitations of Confucian values, and that it is arguable that flooding the world with cars is in the best interest of the human race. Also, without attacking the company, he could have made its portrayal more nuanced and vivid by including more points of view, such as those of line workers and former employees who may have a different perspective than current top managers.
The executives quoted in the book clearly feel that the philosophy is more important than the technical tools of the production system. This insight, however, has come to them as a result of using the tools intensively for many years, and the reader should not be misled into thinking that it is possible to bypass the tools and go straight to the philosophy.
I also have a few minor quibbles with the way the book is produced. The fourteen chapters covering the fourteen principles have numbers that don't match those of the principles, so that, for example, Principle 6 is covered in Chapter 12. This is confusing when looking up cross references. The subject of this book also calls for abundant illustrations, but there is only one for every seven pages, and no photographs. Finally, I think that the use of long words where short ones would do should be identified as the 9th category of waste. We don't need to hear about a "paradigm," As Tom Wolfe's hero in "A man in full" points out, the only thing it ever does is shift. Saying "non-value-added waste" where "waste" would suffice also strangely suggests that there might be an opposite called "value-added waste."
All this being said, this book is a good read based on intimate knowledge. I recommend it to anyone involved with lean, and particularly to managers and engineers in the auto parts industry who want to sell their products to Toyota.
Book Review: Good introduction -- but all pros and no cons?
Summary: 4 Stars
Since the author is a professor, I'd originally hoped for a balanced coverage. But the book did not explore the shortcomings of The Toyota Way. Knowing both the pros and cons would have given us a much deeper understanding.
For example, the American auto companies are still in business long after Japanese cars surpassed American cars in quality -- so the American companies must have done something right, too, like inventing the minivan and SUV markets. Therefore, there's got to be some strategic shortcomings of The Toyota Way.
Another example... the book's case study of the new Sienna minivan is not such a shining example, in my opinion. The chief engineer has to drive across North America to discover the advantage of having multiple cup holders??? American cars/vans have had that feature for years! He had to observe the loading of wood planks into a Honda Odyssey to be convinced for the large body size??? Then "The Honda Way" was already better than "The Toyota Way", and in any case, all American vans/trucks have had the size advantage for decades! Besides, reading an issue of The Consumer Report magazine could give you the same info. So, the question is not how "The Toyota Way" helped discovering those good features in the car, but why it took so long?
Despite the above, I think this is a great book that clearly articulated The Toyota Way from technique to philosophy. Recommended!
Book Review: Great Example Of Process
Summary: 5 Stars
My disclaimer: As with any opinion, it is only my opinion and these reviews will vary depending on who reads the book and what the reader is looking for. I look for ways to improve businesses, this book shares many ideas and gives many applicable take-a-ways.
On a 1 to 5 scale, 5 being the best:
Readability: 1 I could handle about fifteen minutes of reading before I took a rest from it. Good reading when you would like to be knocked out. (That doesn't take from just how good this book is!)
Information and
new ideas: 5 There are a ton of ideas in this book that can be innovated on and used in other businesses.
Applicable Ideas: 5 Ditto. Tons.
Value: 5 It'll give you much more than the 20 dollars or so that it cost buy the book.
I give it a 5 overall. The reading is very dry, but it is loaded with valuable ideas that are applicable in just about any business. Remember that Toyota has been leading the automotive industry in quality for years. Who else to learn from than the best?
Good job Mr. Liker
Rip Walker
Author: Rip's Book of Common Sense Selling: Improving Sales Through Process Implementation