The Machine That Changed the World: The Story of Lean Production-- Toyota's Secret Weapon in the Global Car Wars That Is Now Revolutionizing World Industry

I read the book and thoroughly enjoyed it. It was a lot to digest at first but once it started clicking with me I realized it really makes you think. I actually own a 2016 Toyota Camry and it made me look at my Camry in a different way as far as looking at what it took to actually make and produce my car. From tracing it not only to the dealership I bought it from, but now thinking about from when it was designed to the part supplier to the assembly to the paint to all the 10,000 plus parts that are apart of my car. It gives you more of an appreciation for the manufacturing of vehicles. And I myself work in a manufacturing plant, though not for auto. So I am able to look at my job and see the elements of Lean production that we have, though for the most part, we are, in fact a Mass production plant, at least according to how this book broke down each. I will say that this is a great book for anyone in any kind of manufacturing industry as you will get a sense of how production works through all phases. And maybe take some of what you learn and possibly recommend it to your supervisors and managers which may improve things at your own plant possibly.

Great insight into the automobile industry in general and the rise of Toyota.

The Machine That Changed the World; The Story of Lean Production A great book that although becoming a little outdated portrays the ongoing trends in the automobile production industry in three major cultural areas. The three areas are;the Asian lean production (Toyota) v.s. the American system,(mass production) v.s. the European craftsman system. On a larger scale it will and is affecting manufacturing everywhere. Henry Ford was the founder of the American mass production system, and Ford was very successful adopting it to the aircraft and steel industries. American companies adopted this system and it is one of the main reasons for American pre-eminence in many industries worldwide. Toyota has become the founder of the Lean system of manufacturing. Most of the early adherents to this system were other large Japanese companies, and responsible for the Japanese manufacturing miracle since the 1960's, as it was adapted from automotive to all manner of industries. The book is well written and interesting even though it is based on an MIT study of global trends in the auto industry. I would like to see an update to this book. The one anomaly I see is the German Automobile industry. If Japan and Korea have some of the most efficient auto manufacturing plants in the world and North America is becoming more competitive, what is happening in Europe comes as no surprise. Many European automakers have yet to fully embrace American mass production techniques and are now faced with the greater efficiencies of Lean production. The book does not explain in my mind the success of the German Auto industry. It seems to be the one exception to the rule.

required reading for anyone involved in Lean Manufacturing. Easy to read and very interesting

Five stars for a very well researched tome, chock full of case studies. The text has aged well in spite of the publication date. I bought my copy in 2025

While this is THE classic book on lean production, it suffers from two problems. First, the topic is lean production but the book is based on research focussed exclusively on data from automobile assembly plants rather than broader data across different types of manufacturing. This forces the authors to treat the best automobile assembly plant as the best model for lean production. Had the authors looked beyond the automobile assembly industry, they might have come to a different conclusion. But the problem is worse than that. Not only did they use only one set of data from one industry, they also allowed bias to color their analysis. They were biased toward product design, production engineering and JIT. They give short-shrift to the real key. The original researcher for this study was John Krafcik (he later became the President and CEO of Hyundai Motor America). In his own report of the data he pointed out that the skills and motivation of the work force has the greatest explanatory power of assembly plant performance. Yet this is given remarkably little attention in this book. Had the authors look beyond the automobile assembly even as nearby as the turnaround at Harley Davidson this focus on people might have gotten much more attention. In the case of Harley, there was no way to miss that the key was the people in every factory floor function. Get the people environment right, and everything else will sort itself out. Get it wrong and your ability to perform with high productivity and quality deteriorates. None of the plants studied actually does an exemplary job with people. Early in the book the authors insert several paragraphs on how the lean environment might increase employee stress, create anxiety over making costly mistakes, might cause the employee to miss getting a specific enough skill to be marketable outside the company, and worry that "workers may feel they have reached a dead end at an early point in their career." Clearly, the authors did not 'get-it' when it comes to people in this environment. But, they've done well for themselves promoting the other aspects of lean, and, no doubt, had very positive impacts on company's bottom lines. When they get the people equation right, they'll be even more potent.

As much as a great historic analysis of lean and mass production as a template to commission a synthesis of the growth and propagation of a concept across cultures.

This book was a great introduction to the concept of lean manufacturing. The writing style of the book is comprehensive enough to be useful for current managers, yet readable enough to be engaging for those who are new (i.e. students) to these concepts. Those who are more savvy in the area of operations and supply management may find the book a bit repetitive in some areas. Although the book focuses on auto manufacturers (mainly Toyota), a reader should not expect a detailed account of Toyota's supply chain or operations management, but rather a survey of concepts and a view of how Toyota has applied these methods and/or how other auto manufacturers have lagged on applying these techniques. The book provides many comparisons to assist the reader in understanding (the general approach per chapter is to give an overview of the mass production system, and then give its improved lean production counterpart). The book does not give any practically methodology on how to convert a non-lean production system over to a lean one, but there are many other books out there that can delve into this further. If you are looking for a book to introduce you to lean production, written in laymen's terms, using a model that almost all of us can understand I strongly recommend this book. However, you will need more background/research than this book provides to actually apply lean operations methodologies if you so desire.

Es una obra fundamental de referencia en la historia del "Lean Manufacturing". Recoge los resultados de la investigación llevada a cabo durante 5 años en la industria del automóvil y en lo relativo al sistema de producción en masa frente al nuevo paradigma (ya no tan nuevo) del Lean Manufacturing/Production cuyas bases están en el sistema de producción de Toyota. Por lo que respecta al envío fue muy rápido y llegó en perfectas condiciones. Muy buen servicio.

About the ins and outs of lean vs mass production that started in the automotive sector and gradually took upon the world, proving right the initial theory of lean approach's efficiency in product, production, supply chain, and beyond. Productivity, quality, modularity, agility, craftsmanship vs standardisation. There must also be a book out there exploring how lean integrates in different cultural contexts (geography and company specific). 'Truly lean plant has two key org characteristics: It transfers the max number of tasks and responsibilities to those workers actually adding value to the car on the line, and it has in place a system for detecting defects that quickly traces every problem, once discovered, to its ultimate cause.' Interestingly, this essentially history of automotive industry touches on climate change that the industry heavily contributes to and levers to overcome market saturation like self-driving technology.

Il primo di una lunga serie di libri per lean manager. Non il più semplice e non il più utile... ma va letto per conoscere le origini della lean manifacturing

i think its the best book that describes and gives us clear understanding about the evolution of practices and procedures followed by the worlds leading automotive manufactures, describing importance of lean practise

Livro ideal para entender como iniciou a metodologia Lean manufacturing.