Cover image for The Toyota way to continuous improvement : linking strategy and operational excellence to achieve superior performance
Title:
The Toyota way to continuous improvement : linking strategy and operational excellence to achieve superior performance
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Publication Information:
New York, NY. : McGraw-Hill, c2011.
Physical Description:
xxvii, 450 p. : ill. ; 24 cm.
ISBN:
9780071477468
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30000010279751 TL278 L543 2011 Open Access Book Book
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Summary

Summary

Building upon the international bestselling Toyota Way series of books by Jeffrey Liker, The Toyota Way to Continuous Improvement looks critically at lean deployments and identifies the root causes of why most of them fail. The book is organized into three major sections outlining:

Why it is critical to go beyond implementing lean tools and, instead, build a culture of continuous improvement that connects operational excellence to business strategy Case studies from seven unique industries written from the perspective of the sensei (teacher) who led the lean transformation Lessons about transforming your own vision of an ideal organization into reality

Section One: Using the Plan-Do-Check-Adjust (PDCA) methodology, Liker and Franz contrast true PDCA thinking to that of the popular, superficial approach of copying "lean solutions." They describe the importance of developing people and show how the Toyota Way principles support and drive continuous improvement. Explaining how lean systems and processes start with a purpose that provides a true north direction for all activities, they wrap up this section by examining the glaring differences between building a system of people, processes, and problem- solving that is truly lean versus that of simply trying to "lean out" a process.

Section Two: This section brings together seven case studies as told by the sensei who led the transformation efforts. The companies range from traditional manufacturers, overhaul and maintenance of submarines, nuclear fuel rod production, health care providers, pathology labs, and product development. Each of these industries is different but the approaches used were remarkably similar.

Section Three: Beginning with a composite story describing a company in its early days of lean implementation, this section describes what went right and wrong during the initial implementation efforts. The authors bring to light some of the difficulties the sensei faces, such as bureaucracies, closed-minded mechanical thinking, and the challenges of developing lean coaches who can facilitate real change. They address the question: Which is better, slow and deep organic deployment or fast and broad mechanistic deployment? The answer may surprise you. The book ends with a discussion on how to make continuous improvement a way of life at your company and the role of leadership in any lean transformation.

The Toyota Way to Continuous Improvement is required reading for anyone seeking to transcend his or her tools-based approach and truly embrace a culture of continuous improvement.


Author Notes

Jeffrey K. Liker , author of the bestselling The Toyota Way , is professor of industrial and operations engineering at the University of Michigan. His most recent book, Toyota Under Fire , chronicles Toyota's response to the recession and recall crisis.
James K. Franz has more than 24 years of manufacturing experience and learned "lean" as a Toyota production engineer in the United States and Japan. He has worked for and consulted with various organizations, including Ford, Bosch, the U.S. Air Force, Exxon Mobil, AMCOR, Hertz, and Applied Materials. He also teaches for the University of Michigan's Center for Professional Development's Lean Certification course.


Table of Contents

Robert KucnerTony McNaughtonRichard ZarboSteve HoeftCharlie BakerJohn Drogosz
Acknowledgments and Guest Author Biographiesp. xiii
Prologue: Is Toyota Still a Great Company Others Can Learn From?p. xix
Section 1 The Journey to Continuous Improvementp. 1
Chapter 1 Continuous Improvement toward Excellencep. 5
Continuous Improvement as the Pursuit of Excellencep. 5
The Toyota Way as the Path to Excellencep. 8
Lean and Why Companies Fail at Itp. 12
Is Lean More than Mediocrity at a Cheaper Price?p. 15
The Real Journey to Excellence Follows PDCAp. 16
Learning Organizations Need Managers Who Are Teachersp. 20
The Sensei Perspective of This Bookp. 23
Chapter 2 PDCA and Striving for Excellencep. 25
PDCA as a Way of Thinking and Learningp. 25
The Folly of ôLean Solutionsöp. 30
Toyota Business Practices to Grow People and Processes through PDCAp. 35
PDCA Is a Way of Life; Copying Shouldn't Bep. 41
Chapter 3 How Process Improvement Can Develop Exceptional Peoplep. 43
Not Excellent: A Tale of Refrigerator Basketsp. 43
The Torque Wrench Problem: Developing a Manager to Find the Real Root Causep. 46
The Business Purpose and the People Purposep. 50
Innovation Comes from Working toward the Targets and Purposep. 51
Chapter 4 Lean Processes Start with a Purposep. 55
A Tale of Two Lean Transformations (Composite Cases)p. 55
Inspiring People through a Sense of Purposep. 57
From Vision to Plansp. 60
A Target Is a Concrete Guidepost to Compare Againstp. 69
Combining Short-Term and Long-Term Thinking in a Crisisp. 73
What You Work on Now Depends on Your Situationp. 75
Lean as a Culture of Continuous Improvementp. 78
Chapter 5 Lean Out Processes or Build Lean Systems?p. 79
ôLeaning Outö Processesp. 79
Are Organizations Like Machines or Organic Systems?p. 83
Entropy: The Antagonist to Mechanistic Lean Deploymentp. 86
An Effective Work Group Can Overcome Entropyp. 89
The Real Purpose of Lean Systems Is to Bring Problems to the Surfacep. 92
Mechanistic versus Organic? Not So Fastp. 95
Section 2 Case Studies of Lean Transformation through PDCAp. 97
Chapter 6 When Organic Meets Mechanistic: Lean Overhaul and Repair of Shipsp. 103
How We Got Started on Lean at Remanp. 104
Overhaul and Repair Compared to Volume Manufacturingp. 108
Phases of Deploymentp. 110
Phase 1 Early Awarenessp. 111
Phase 2 Grassroots Deploymentp. 112
Phase 3 Spreading Lean Broadlyp. 121
Phase 4 Corporate Engagement and the Next Level of Deploymentp. 122
Phase 5 Crisis in Lean Manufacturing Deploymentp. 130
Phase 6 Regrouping and Redefinitionp. 131
Evaluating the Success of Small Ship and Big Shipp. 135
Chapter 7 An Australian Sensei Teaches a Proud Japanese Company New Tricks: Bringing TPS to a Complex Equipment Manufacturerp. 141
Background of the Japanese Company and the First Visitp. 143
The Power of Public Humiliationp. 147
The Starting Point: ôComponent Aö TPS Pilotp. 151
Building a Lean System-Summary of Pilot Results and Learningp. 156
Postscript on the Pilotp. 159
Further Expansionp. 163
Navigating the Global Financial Crisisp. 168
Reflection on Building Lean Systems Organicallyp. 169
Chapter 8 Lean Iron-Ore Mining in the Pilbara Region of Western Australiap. 177
How We Got Herep. 178
Welcome to the Bushp. 181
Getting the Big Picturep. 184
Starting by Understanding the Current Statep. 185
The Final Recap of the Gemba Visitp. 198
On to a Future State Vision and an Action Planp. 199
Communicating across the Sitep. 204
Planning for the Morning Meetingp. 205
The First Morning Meetingp. 210
Daily Production Boardsp. 213
5S at the Western Ranges Crusherp. 214
Coaching Problem Solvingp. 216
Process Confirmationp. 217
Early Deployment Challengesp. 219
Lessons Learned at Start-Upp. 220
Expanding the Effortsp. 221
PDCA as a Key Driverp. 222
The End for Usp. 222
Chapter 9 Bringing Ford's Ideas Alive at Henry Ford Health System Labs through PDCA Leadershipp. 225
The Motivation for Change Started with Qualityp. 226
We Wanted It, but We Did Not Understand Itp. 228
Beginning the Lean Journey: Every Breakthrough Starts with a Failed Experimentp. 232
A Little Help from a Friendp. 233
Surgical Pathology as Our Learning Laboratoryp. 234
Our Henry Ford Production Systemp. 238
Deepening Ownership by Work Groupsp. 248
Lessons Learnedp. 256
Chapter 10 Teaching Individuals to Fly by the Numbers: Transforming Health-Care Processesp. 261
The Problemp. 262
Backgroundp. 264
Case 1 Insurem (Insurance Company)p. 265
Case 2 T-City Care Homesp. 269
A Final Reflectionp. 273
Chapter 11 Transforming How Products Are Engineered at North American Automotive Supplierp. 275
Who Am I?p. 276
Case Backgroundp. 280
The Problemp. 280
Grasping the Situation at the Gembap. 282
An Overall Vision for Transformationp. 284
Getting Started on People Engagement and Stabilityp. 285
Metrics the Lean Way-Making Flow, Waste, and Value Visiblep. 289
Teaching Problem Solving: A Case Examplep. 293
The Need for Emotional as Well as Intellectual Engagementp. 297
Another Win as a Result of Leanp. 298
The Importance of Tactical Planning by Whiteboardp. 299
Definition of Lean Management Philosophy: ORPMARp. 301
The Second Stage: Sustaining and Expanding Leanp. 306
Identification of Subject Matter Technical Expertsp. 307
Implementing Design for Costp. 308
Reverse Engineering to Gain Overwhelming Competitive Advantagep. 311
The Change Process-the Underestimated Critical Variablep. 312
Chapter 12 Going Nuclear with Leanp. 315
Background on Lean at Nuclearp. 316
Phases of Deploymentp. 318
Phase 0 Structural Changes in Preparation for Lean Deploymentp. 319
Phase 1 Lean Awareness and Value Stream Visionp. 320
Phase 2 Implementation of Lean Pilotsp. 322
Phase 3 Spreading the Implementation across the Other Value Streamsp. 325
Shortage of Internal Lean Leaders to Support and Coach the Expanding Number of Teamsp. 327
Phase 4 Management Learning and the Start of Continuous Improvementp. 333
Final Reflectionp. 340
Section 3 Making Your Vision a Realityp. 343
Chapter 13 One Time around the Plan-Do-Check-Adjust (PDCA) Loop: A Lean Short Story at Alte Schulep. 345
The First Pilot Team Meetingp. 345
Getting Started on the Deep-Dive Pilotp. 348
One Last Hansei before the Executive Presentationp. 366
The Executive Reportp. 369
Kate's Reflections on What She Learnedp. 373
Chapter 14 Sustaining, Spreading, Deepening: Continuing Turns of the PDCA Wheelp. 375
The Role of the Lean Senseip. 378
Developing Internal Coaches as Lean Evangelistsp. 382
How Do We Learn Complex Skills Like Lean Coaching?p. 384
The Dangers of Creating a Mechanistic Lean Bureaucracyp. 387
Sustaining the Gainsp. 390
Spreading While Deepeningp. 398
Managing Change Is Politicalp. 408
Chapter 15 Continuous Improvement as a Way of Lifep. 411
Does Lean Ever Become Self-Perpetuating?p. 422
The Journey Needs Leadershipp. 427
Is Continuous Improvement a Realistic Vision?p. 429
Notesp. 433
Indexp. 441