Discusses the new idea of "Lean Production" where manufacturing flow, flexibility, and value added per customer are important. Written Fascinating history of the development of mass production at the Henry Ford factory in early 's and how it excelled in terms of efficiency over European craft production.
Written about 20 years ago so somewhat dated. Great read for anyone with an engineering or management interest. I read this book for one of my Six Sigma, continue improvement class. The book was interesting at the beginning when it talked about the history of lean production and improvement.
There are lots of great examples about mass production and lean improvement in Ford Company. It also talks about Toyota and other car companies who adopted lots of changes in their manufacturing process based on their market knowledge. This book can be interesting for the people who are in auto business and industry, I read this book for one of my Six Sigma, continue improvement class.
This book can be interesting for the people who are in auto business and industry, or have a passion for cars and whatever relates to cars. I did not enjoy this book that much because of its technicality. I'm not too much into cars, so that is my problem. Nov 15, Bob Wallner rated it it was amazing Shelves: audible , lean.
The first book in the Womack and Jones Lean Trilogy, "Machine" is equal parts history book and business book. The authors do a good job of presenting the historical facts behind the automotive revolution really starting with Henry Ford, then moving into the Sloan years at GM and finally discussing the emergence of the Japanese market and the impacts felt both in the US and in Europe.
There are no formu The first book in the Womack and Jones Lean Trilogy, "Machine" is equal parts history book and business book. There are no formulas on how to transform your company and there's very little guidance on how to roll out what was seen.
There is a little discussion on leadership and management, as the focus of this book is really on what could be seen as an observer of the Japanese production system compared to what was going on in other places in the world. There are a couple of good sections on product development and supply chain that take you out of the factory and show how Japanese companies manage non-production activities.
There were a couple things that stood out for me in this book. First and most notably I want to say how poorly GM is painted in this book. I'm actually impressed and I appreciate that they didn't try to censor the book. Secondly I'm impressed with the author's view of the Ford Motor Company, I don't mean during the day of Henry Ford but in its current state. I've never visited a Ford plant but, the authors have painted a picture of a more progressive company that is open to embracing the Japanese method a production.
I was extremely surprised to hear that Sumitomo was part of Toyota's keiretsu. I spent working at a Sumitomo plant. The Japanese Nationals in the plant were very anti-lean and anti-Toyota. Their motto was, "We don't make cars, if our machines aren't running we're not making money.
This is an excellent read and I regret that I waited this long to read it. The audiobook is a good choice as the book is unabridged and the narrator is pleasant to listen to. The authors really try to make the point that lean production is a 'step function', similar to how radically mass production changed things versus craft production, but they didn't fully convince me.
The book itself mentions that the ROIs that Ford saw from his change in production techniques were so insane that he could afford to easily raise wages and still remain enormously profitable. We haven't seen anything similar for lean production, and although there is plenty of data provided in the book to show that lean can do much better than high-inventory mass-production, it's not the orders-of-magnitude improvements that were found in the early s at Ford.
But the book never really had good pacing and after a few hours I felt like I was just hearing more about specifics of different factories in Europe vs.
US vs. Japan, which couldn't hold my attention as someone only somewhat interested in the automotive industry. Overall, not a bad use of time and probably a good read for someone with a higher interest level. Granted, it is a broad study about how lean compares to mass production in the car industry. The data and research are thorough, no doubt. What I did find is that this book is less about the machine that actually changed the world and more about proving that it did.
Independent of the machine, some of the predictions of the car industry from thirty years ago have also taken an interesting turn of events. But neither of these two points are real criticism, just wishes and thoughts thirty years later. What intrigued me: My mentor, Tom, recommended this book to me when we were discussing my career goal of becoming better versed in the automotive industry.
What I liked: It's a classic for a reason. What I didn't like: It's very dense with lots of theories, data, and figures. I found when I set it down it was hard to pick back up again. Definitely something that you need to pace yourself with to absorb.
I would What intrigued me: My mentor, Tom, recommended this book to me when we were discussing my career goal of becoming better versed in the automotive industry. I would have preferred in this edition for the additional learnings since to have been placed in the applicable parts of the book rather than a chapter at the end. I felt like I had to go back and reference the original information. Favorite quote: "The best lean producers believe that the point of production is where value is truly added, not through indirect managerial activities, and that all employees need to understand this fact as soon as they enter the company.
Jul 09, Review Before Read rated it really liked it. In the beginning, I was thinking, why a title is a machine that changed the world when it talked only about the automobile production system?
As I went along I discovered that the book may be talking about only automobiles but it's methods, principles, philosophy was so open that every industry, every sector easily evolved its practice along with it. Be it Muda, total production management, root cause analysis, Kaizen, Gemba, five why's. It was a great adventure to read this book.
Everything is written in proper synchronization so readers won't find problems in connecting the dots. I always find it interesting reading the books written based on past events that moulds present.
I work in IT sector where we talk about project management, agile scrum having no idea what it is. My readers!!! Nov 19, Ray rated it liked it. Book compares the progression from craftsmanship by hand and custom manufacturing with mass production and lean production. The authors had surveys and contact with car manufacturers and summarized the results in the book. As you'd assume, craftsmanship has the slowest production rate and highest errors, whereas lean production had a better production rate with the least errors and mass production, according to the numbers, seemed to have a higher production rate with a moderate amount of erro Book compares the progression from craftsmanship by hand and custom manufacturing with mass production and lean production.
As you'd assume, craftsmanship has the slowest production rate and highest errors, whereas lean production had a better production rate with the least errors and mass production, according to the numbers, seemed to have a higher production rate with a moderate amount of errors.
The production types also had implications for employee advancement and morale, where lean production allowed workers to constantly think about improvements as opposed to just doing only your assigned task. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
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It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website. Share this Product Like this product? Jones and Daniel Roos. About The Book. About The Authors. Photo Credit:. Daniel Roos. Product Details. Resources and Downloads. Audiobook narrated by Alex Smith. Authors James P. Unfortunately, these techniques are simply not competitive enough when compared to the ideas pioneered by the Japanese companies, methods which did not even have a name yet.
The authors spent five years exploring the differences between mass production and lean production, and they contacted insiders, industry leaders, and more. In the process, they learned that the principles of lean production could be applied to more than just the auto industry - it could be applied in every industry across the globe and have a profound effect on human society that could truly change the world.
Throughout The Machine that Changed the World, the authors will uncover the secrets of how lean production came to be and explain how the system led Toyota to global success. Chapter 1: The Evolution of the Auto Industry. If we take a look at the automobile industry in the s, we will see a great difference in how we do business today. By the early s, the auto industry used craft production, which meant that car manufacturers relied on skilled craftspeople to carefully hand-build cars in small numbers.
They tailored each car to the precise desires of the individual buyer, making the cost of driving expensive - a luxury that few people could afford. As a result, only about 1, vehicles were produced each year.
Today, that number is closer to 90 million. Ford found a way to overcome the problems of craft production, like lack of reliability and durability. He researched new techniques that would dramatically reduce the costs of building a car while also increasing product quality. The system is what Ford would go on to call mass production. Ford also realized he could produce more cars in less time by designing cars that used the same interchangeable parts.
Furthermore, he understood it would be more efficient to work on producing each part separately rather than working on the car as a whole. The first step to make this process more efficient was to deliver the parts to each work station so assemblers could remain at the same spot allday. Then, in , Ford achieved perfect part interchangeability, so he decided that each assembler would perform only a single task and move from vehicle to vehicle to do so. By August of , the assembly line was created, and the average task cycle for a Ford Assembler was reduced from to 2.
These innovations meant huge savings for Ford, which allowed Ford to sell its Model T for much less than its competitors. Furthermore, Ford appealed to his target market of average consumers by making the operation and maintainability of his car easy to understand. As a result, no longer did car owners need to have a modest tool kit with mechanical skills.
Anyone could drive and repair a Ford! As mass production began to increase production and lower costs, American cars continued to sell worldwide. The first problem with mass production is the workforce and separation of labor.
In this atmosphere, assemblers were not given the opportunity to voice their concerns on operating conditions, such as if a tool was malfunctioning or if a method could be improved upon. There was little reward or room for growth, so employment turnover was quite high. Even worse, the assembly line moved forward on a tight schedule, so if a worker found a problem with a particular part, he might just send the defective part down the line without reporting it.
Assembly-line managers were also too concerned with the number of cars the line produced, as their performance was measured by this number.
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