The Story of Lean Production - Toyota's Secret Weapon in the Global Car Wars That is Revolutionising World Industry
A paperback reissue of the classic, best-selling book that first articulated the principles of lean production, with a new foreword and afterword by the authors. When James Womack and Daniel Jones first wrote 'The Machine that Changed the World' in 1990, the 'New York Times Magazine' had this to say about the book's predictions for the Japanese auto industry, and for Toyota in particular: "The fundamentals of this system [lean production] are applicable to every industry across the globe... and will have a profound effect on human society -- it will truly change the world." Nearly two decades later, the book's predictions have been born out in Toyota's unrivalled success.
When James Womack and Daniel Jones first wrote 'The Machine that Changed the World' in 1990, Japanese automobile makers, and Toyota in particular, were making a strong start by putting the principles of lean production into practice, but those principles were as yet untested and unproven. Today, nearly two decades later, the book's predictions have been proven many times over by Toyota's unparalleled success.
Based on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's five-million-dollar, five-year study on the future of the automobile, 'The Machine that Changed the World' offered a groundbreaking analysis of the worldwide movement from mass production to lean production -- an analysis that is more relevant than ever today as car manufacturers struggle to survive.
Drawing on their in-depth study of practices of 90 auto assembly plants in 17 countries and their interviews with employees, scholars, and union and government officials, Womack, Jones, and Roos revealed the specific manufacturing techniques that Japan had adopted by 1990, and which Toyota has since proven to be remarkably effective. Dubbing those techniques 'lean production', the authors helped spark a manufacturing revolution around the world.
