Books for/about - toyota

The Toyota Way: 14 Management Principles From The World's Greatest Manufacturer

Publisher: McGraw-Hill
Authors: Jeffrey Liker

ISBN: 0071392319
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Summary: Excellent Overview of Toyota Principles
I found this book to be very useful in describing the overall Toyota philosophy as well as the principles of Lean Manufacturing. If you desire to build a business based on continuous process improvement, superior customer value and long-term thinking, this book provides an excellent model for building your own corporate culture along a proven Toyota methodology. I ordered additional copies for all of our Sr Mgmt...excellent book...highly recommended.

Summary: Not easy to read, but neither is the Bible
I enjoyed this book and learned a lot from it. The book is not a fun vacation poolside read, but it is not a totally boring academic text either. If you work in a large-scale manufacturing facility, or if you are just curious about best practices in business, The Toyota Way is like gospel. This book covers all of the hip Japanese shop floor slang, such as muda, genchi genbutsu and nemawashi. There are informative diagrams, thorough explanations and good business anecdotes throughout the book.

You might also like the book 'All I Need to Know About Manufacturing I Learned in Joe's Garage' by William B. Miller, which is an elegantly simple read about the fundamentals of The Toyota Way.

Summary: Great company! Excellent book! Dont miss it!
As you can check the 4Ps and the 14 management principles typed by some reviewers here, most of them are just common sense. However, common sense is really not that common, at least not in the auto industry when one sees the high failure rate, even amongst Japanese auto makers who copy some but not all of the Toyota Way or Toyota Production System TPS. Thanks to the author, many good samples are vividly written of how Toyota fully commits to its long term principles at the expense of short term benefits, respects the communities where its factories locate, supports even the lowest of worker to quality/value devotion (Dare you stop the whole production line for a minor fault you find? They encourage you to do so in Toyota). I am sure many ordinary but top level managers will excuse themselves from the level of Toyota committment on unique circumstances. In Toyota, they ask themselves "why" five times on each problem to nail its root cause, instead of taking anything for granted, as those ordinary managers do. Moreover, Toyota had invested/devoted much to adapt to the cultural, social....difference between Japan and US. Add them all up, that's the difference between survival and death.

I had read many business books of the HBR type. However, if I am asked to make only one recommendation, this is it.

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Product Development for the Lean Enterprise: Why Toyota's System Is Four Times More Productive and How You Can Implement It

Publisher: Oaklea Press
Authors: Michael N. Kennedy

ISBN: 1892538091
List Price: $26.95
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Summary: Thumbs up!
Thumbs up, but I'd recommend you attend his workshops over the book if the opportunity presents itself.

The book is written as a fictional account of a company's journey from process hell to an environment where engineers can devote themselves more completely to the craft they love. It is complete with protagonists and antagonists. The many men and women who have devoted large portions of their careers to wrestling with new product development process issues and trying to improve the quality and efficiency of product development processes may justifiably take offense at being cast as the antagonist, but it wouldn't be much of a story without the villains.

The book raises some very good issues and points out some very good practices that have contributed to Toyota's success. Toyota's design philosophy is optimized for lowest possible risk to model year goals. American management teams would do well to think about optimizing for low risk instead of highest efficiency and lowest development cost. For many companies the cost of developing a new product is a fairly modest portion of their overall cost structure and the price they pay for missing new product introduction dates is far greater than the gains from tailoring their internal processes for the lowest cost development.

The implementation of highly redundant development paths (called sets in the book) will be far less revolutionary than the book would have you believe. It really comes down to a willingness and ability to make the necessary investments. Readers who have studied Japanese companies will find much that is familiar. Publicly held Japanese companies are far less driven by quarterly results than are their American counter parts. Japanese companies typically have few (if any) small stockholders looking for short term gains. The largest stock holders in a Japanese company are often other Japanese companies. They tend to set long term strategic goals e.g. to dominate the world car industry in 5 years. While these businesses must make money to sustain themselves they are content with smaller earnings than their American counterparts making it possible to re-invest larger portions of their revenues back into the company. Some of that reinvestment shows up as investment in engineering work that reduces risk to new product introduction dates. But make no mistake about it, there are no miracle cures. During the initial stages of introducing a risk adverse strategy you are getting less (new features) with more (investment), but on time, likely with better quality, and you can build economically on that investment for a future stream of new products.

Efficiency can be a huge problem, but not always. In many organizations engineering efficiency is disappointingly low. The book tries to make the case that Toyota's engineers are 4X more productive than the engineers of the fictitious company in the book (approx. 80% productive compared to ITRs 20%). The measure of productivity is not explained, but it is implied that it is simply the number of hours/week that engineers spend engineering instead of (presumably) unnecessary process compliance. It is unlikely that Toyota's engineers are on average really 4X more productive than the best of American engineering teams. A comparison between Toyota's engineering and one of America's best is probably a better comparison than a fictitious engineering team. The book does not sight any objective evidence for the 4X claim. Although few companies share their productivity numbers, 65% is a widely accepted number for staff utilization. If Toyota's staff utilization really is 80% then that would put them about 1.23X more productive. In actual fact productivity is far more complex to measure and since it is so complex many observers chose a metric and then measure changes rather than focus on an absolute #. Lack of evidence aside, the book does highlight some interesting opportunities for improvement in the area of knowledge retention and reuse.

I have no doubt that there are companies whose developers are 20% productive. Lack of stability in the organization is certainly a contributor. The ineptitude and unending churn of engineering management teams is a frequent cause. Many companies have suffered at the hands of corporate management teams looking for quick fixes to the perception that their projects take too long, cost too much, and fail too often. They are often executives who have no engineering experience and no way to objectively assess the performance of their teams. They are driven by fear and uncertainty. They have often set goals that are hopelessly impossible to begin with. The result from the engineer's perspective is an unending stream of organizational change meetings to roll out the new engineering management team, introduce their dramatic new ideas, and get the teams trained. This is immediately followed by or coupled with a call to heroic self-sacrifice in an effort to meet the hopeless goal with the new structure. Sound familiar? If you we're drawn to this book it probably does.

The first thing that any student of Japanese industry learns is its strong reliance on life-time employment. While there has been some decline in longevity in recent years it remains the expectation for most Japanese employees entering the workforce. The long-term expectations and thorough understanding of the company and its markets which the most senior managers obtain during their long careers fosters more emphasis on incremental improvement rather than radical re-birth. Either strategy can work, but the highest probability of long-term success is with the incremental improvement paradigm.

Mr. Kennedy is a joy to talk to with a refreshing directness and wealth of experience. The book has a "sensational" tone, but you'd expect that in a work that was intended to get your attention and interest. The advice he offers in person is well reasoned and sound. Well worth the price of admission.

Summary: Highly Recomended for anyone interested in Product Development
For anyone interested in the next stage of Product Development -- this is a must read. The Toyota system encorporates what I felt has been missing in the product development process for so long. It takes into account the chaos that exists during development and actually encourages it instead of covering it up.

I've beginning to incorporate these concepts into our process and am excited about the results I'm seeing.

Summary: Best book available on lean development.
Even in the academic literature, there is no better reference. Note: do not buy the book "the minding organization" where the author refers to in the book.

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	The Toyota Product Development System: Integrating People, Process And Technology Publisher: Productivity Press Authors: James M. Morgan Jeffrey K. Liker
ISBN: 1563272822 List Price: $40.00 Amazon Price: $25.20 Usually ships in 24 hours Buy this book from amazon.com or from amazon.co.uk	Avg Cusomer Rating: 5 Reviews: Summary: A must read A very detailed and at times difficult read. However, it is a must for anyone involved in product development. Summary: The Toyota Product Development System I found Morgan and Liker's new book The Toyota Product Development System to be an excellent discussion of the key fundamentals that are missing in Detroit today based on my experience in the automotive industry. The most important reason Toyota is best is because of the way they develop and value people. This book describes the basics required to build a great Engineering organization. Engineering is the foundation that drives cost, quality and timing. This book should be required reading for everyone in the automobile industry from top management down. Morgan and Liker provide a great map for going forward for any company that designs and manufactures a product regardless of industry. The key is to start the Journey. This book is a great place to start. Summary:

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The Toyota Way Fieldbook

Publisher: McGraw-Hill
Authors: Jeffrey Liker David Meier

ISBN: 0071448934
List Price: $29.95
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Summary: So you think your company is lean? Think again......
...read this book and I will guarantee you will look at your
company's Lean implementation in a different way. The perspective given as you read the book makes one feel as though you are actually working for Toyota. The book's content, real-world examples and illustratons will present you with opportunities to ask the question "Why" to your management again and again.

This book will make you "Think" and think like Toyota would think and what better company would there be to follow? IMO, there is none and what makes it that way is Toyota's humble attitude in that they are not perfect and always strive for perfection.

Read the book, make the changes in the way you do business, become more competitive and profitable, satisfy your customers, change yourself and hopefully those around you and best of all, have fun doing it.

Summary: Review
Absolutely an excellent book that takes the "theory" of Lean, and converts it to reality in a very clear, understandable manner. If you are going to implement Lean...read this book!

Summary: Best book on marrying business and HR strategy
At last someone who understands the secrets of Toyota's amazing success story and the part the human dimension plays in management thinking at Toyota.

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Toyota Production System: Beyond Large-Scale Production

Publisher: Productivity Press
Authors: Taiichi Ohno

ISBN: 0915299143
List Price: $45.00
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Summary: Toyota Magic
"Toyota Production System: Beyond Large-Scale Production" is a very enlightening work by the inventor of lean manufacturing, Taiichi Ohno. This small book is packed with insights and ideas on how to efficiently and effectively run a production system. The Toyota Production is also known as lean manufacturing, entails, among other things, minimising waste through continuous improvement and producing only what is sold, as requested by the customer. This unique and innovative system explains why Toyota makes profits even in tough times when other competitor firms are losing money.

The book explains this fascinating subject in a simple and easy to read and understand way that makes it accessible to a wide range of readers. Among the things that I found very interesting was the concept of zero defects, production load-levelling, standardised work and just-in-time delivery.

The book is very enlightening reading for those involved in any production process.

Summary: Toyota Production Systerm: Beyond Large-Scale Production
Great! Enlightening AND an interesting read. So good I bought an extra copy to give as a gift.

Summary: Worth every penny
The Toyota Production System provides fantastic insight into the genius of Toyota and how implementing Lean Principles or Continuos Improvement can help eliminate waste. Whether your new to Lean or need a jump start, this is a great book.

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	Inside the Mind of Toyota: Management Principles for Enduring Growth Publisher: Productivity Press Authors: Satoshi Hino Jeffrey K. Liker Andrew Dillon
ISBN: 1563273004 List Price: $50.00 Amazon Price: $50.00 Usually ships in 24 hours Buy this book from amazon.com or from amazon.co.uk	Avg Cusomer Rating: Reviews: Summary:

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A Study of the Toyota Production System from an Industrial Engineering Viewpoint (Produce What Is Needed, When It's Needed)

Publisher: Productivity Press
Authors: Shigeo Shingo

ISBN: 0915299178
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Summary: Detailed engineering description of TPS
There are a lot of books about the Toyota Production System, but this is one of the most useful for those actually attempting to implement elements of this system. Most of the books on TPS by western authers are just superficial glosses written by MBA's who don't seem to have a clue how to make anything. This book is detailed, specific, clearly written, and very well translated. Some of the material is repetative, nevertheless this is the book to get on TPS.

Summary: Excellant book to understand how the TPS evolved.
I enjoyed it since it gave me insight on how TPS evolved and allowed me to better understand not how TPS works but more why.

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	Toyota Camry 1997-01 (Chilton's Total Car Care Repair Manual) Publisher: Thomson Delmar Learning Authors: Chilton
ISBN: 1563924676 List Price: $27.45 Amazon Price: $17.29 Usually ships in 24 hours Buy this book from amazon.com or from amazon.co.uk	Avg Cusomer Rating: 4 Reviews: Summary: Good quality book for the basic DIYer It has a great step-by-step explanation on how to look into your car. Also, it has numerous pictures and photos. So, even though you are a really beginner, we can do something. Summary:

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