The Toyota Way to Continuous Improvement: Linking Strategy and Operational Excellence to Achieve Superior Performance Author: Jeffrey Liker | Language: English | ISBN:
0071477462 | Format: PDF
The Toyota Way to Continuous Improvement: Linking Strategy and Operational Excellence to Achieve Superior Performance Description
About the Author
Jeffrey K. Liker, the author of the bestselling
The Toyota Way, is professor of Industrial and Operations Engineering and cofounder and cofounder and President of The Toyota Way Academy. With nine Shingo Prizes for research excellence his work has appeared in
The Harvard Business Review, Sloan Management Review, and other leading publications.
James K. Franz learned lean as a Toyota Production Engineer in Japan, and has more than 22 years of manufacturing experience.
- Hardcover: 448 pages
- Publisher: McGraw-Hill; 1 edition (April 19, 2011)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0071477462
- ISBN-13: 978-0071477468
- Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.4 inches
- Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
I have just finished my first read through of the latest offering in the Toyota Way series by Jeff Liker and James Franz. This book, in my opinion, is the best addition to the series and gives the original Toyota Way a run for its money when it comes to pure value.
The book is broken into three distinct sections beginning with the purpose of the book, which is dead on, the philosophical and theoretical constructs around PDCA. It continues with a tremendously diverse section of case studies from around the globe and finished up with a final novella about a company undergoing its own transformation and the lessons learned by all involved.
I'm glad to see the authors attribute to Shewhart/Deming the heavy lifting of developing the conceptual framework of P-D-C-A almost a century ago. Too often books on Toyota are superficial and miss this important part of their competitive DNA. I agree with a prior reviewer about the importance in Chapter 5 about the distinction between a typical `lean it out' approach and truly building what the authors call a `lean system.'
The case studies were a valuable addition to the book as they took real people in real industries that aren't automotive and allowed the reader to join them on their respective lean journeys. There were varying levels of successes in the stories, but all showed the power of developing people into problem solvers.
The final section starts with a `case study' of a company just starting on their journey and the successes and setback that they encounter. The last two chapters deal with the topics of leadership and sustaining the improved system, which haven't been emphasized enough in other publications, in my opinion. The typical narrow-minded thinking around what the authors call mechanistic hits very close to home.
I have read and reviewed all of Jeffrey Liker's previously published books and think this one, his latest co-authored with James Franz, is his most valuable because it will have much wider and deeper impact than has any of the others, notably The Toyota Way, Toyota Talent, and Toyota Culture. As is also true of most other outstanding business books, the wealth of material in this one was driven by research and analysis to answer an especially important business question: "How to link strategy and operational performance to achieve and then sustain superior performance?" Once again, Liker draws heavily upon nearly three decades of his close association and central involvement with the Toyota Motor Corporation.
Others have their own reasons for thinking so highly of this book. Here are two of mine. First, as I correctly anticipated, Liker and Franz clear the air and set the record straight with regard to the facts concerning Toyota's widely-publicized, widely-perceived "problems" that led to the recall of more then 10 million vehicles between late-2009 and early-2010. I hasten to add that Liker and Franz in no way come across as apologists for Toyota. Rather, they address head-on the major issues to assess the legitimate claims while ensuring that the soundness of Toyota's management principles is reaffirmed.
I also appreciate the participation of six guest contributors who play major roles when Liker and Franz focus on a series of case studies of lean transformation in Section Two. They are world-class authorities who invest the narrative with an even richer texture of experience and, more importantly, of wisdom in combination with "street smarts.
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