Customer Reviews

Andy & Me: Crisis and Transformation on the Lean Journey

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I do not usually like "business novels" because the story gets in the way of the ideas. "Andy & Me" is the exception. This short and readable book does a wonderful job of explaining the transformation of a production plant to the Toyota apporach to lean manufacturing. Reading this you will learn about a number of the lean "tools" but the book is not about lean tools, it is about why those tools are needed and why they work. It is also good to see a lean manufacturing book that recognizes the issues and problems of traditional cost accounting. I recommend this excellent book to anyone on the lean journey.

YES read "Andy & Me" for a quick overview and high-level understanding of the LEAN process. The book will not tell you how to create the LEAN process but will give you a basic understanding to build on and insight into the questions you may need to ask for your particular situation.

I had hoped this book would provide more detail on TPS, but it is very light on any detail and glosses over many points. After you have read The Goal and are use to its style of teaching manufacturing principles in the context of a novel, this book leaves you feeling really disappointed.

Highly recommended. I just received this and tore through it. The book is a quick and light read, although you'll want to stop and let some of the TPS concepts sink in and re-read certain sections and illustrations. The story in this business novel is about on par with "The Goal", but it's easy enough to skip over the storyline (divorced Plant Manager fighting to see his kids, etc.) to read the real meat of the story -- insights and real day to day examples of PDCA and leadership models of lean/TPS. This book focuses on Hoshin planning and day-to-day leadership of a plant going through the lean transformation. The only reasons I give this 4 stars instead of 5 are A) the storyline in business novels like this always seem a bit forced and B) the book tends to shortchange the change management challenges -- people in the book tend to jump on board with the TPS immediately, testament I guess to the leadership of the Plant Manager and the Toyota Sensei, but not typical of all lean implementations. Details such as "I had to get rid of some people" are somewhat glossed over and could have been fleshed out in more detail (this is a short book). Still, this is a good complement to The Toyota Way and other detailed books on lean tools and practices.

It a lean framework with a bit of novel draped over it. It's a quick easy read, and maybe being fictional makes is an easier read. There were some new presentations of lean concepts that I hadn't seen before, so that was somewhat helpful. Is it a top 5 "have to read" Lean reference, No. Is it a pleasant read and can you learn something useful, yes, definitely.

Nice overview of a lean journey just kicking off. Lots of good example of lean methods, just not the same old kanban Mistake proofing, SMED materials. One lean method that really stood out was the example of Policy Deployment and how it was tied to daily management (A3 Sheets). I also like how it showed the leaders involvement from the standpoint of taking responsibility for providing training and stability. Too bad it was a spin of the Goal.

This is a good book once you get over the similarities to 'The Goal'. Very much of it starts and tracks too much of the same scenario, but this time using the 'Lean' approach. With that aside, it does a good job tracking the emotions, excitement, frustrations, challenges and success of a lean journey in a manufacturing and assembly business. Not many lean tools are really described aside of the root cause and corrective action approach, but it provides a pretty realistic look at what happens inside a larger plant once the journey begins and people engage themselves. Andy and Me is a quick read and good for the novice or someone needing to `whet their whistle' on the lean approach.

This book took about an hour and a half to read, and while quick, it wasn't worth the effort. The LEAN portion of the book was vague with little explanation, the characters were shallow and unrealistic, and the details in the book were pretty pointless for the most part. While it wasn't terribly written, it seemed very rushed and I gained little to nothing from having read it. A textbook would have been more informative, and a true novel would have been more interesting. Save your time and don't bother with this one.

The book is a good quick read, for both the LEAN Practitioner and the newby. I think this would be good for someone who might be interested in LEAN and wants a quick peak at what it takes for a transformation. Don't expect this book to go into all the details though. For those of us with a little more experience the book reminds us that LEAN is a lifelong journey and not something that happens overnight! So keep on working!

We have used this book to start a training on lean management. It is a very easy read, contains many of the lean management philosophies. It provides a very good discussion tool. Have your team read several chapters of the book, then have a "book club" where you meet and the sensei asks questions from concepts in the book. It is a good way for people to start understanding basic concepts of lean and start thinking for themselves. After this book, the David Mann book starts to make more sense.