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Rebirth of American Industry [Paperback]

William H. Waddell , Norman Bodek
4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)

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Book Description

December 15, 2005
We have a certain amount of sadness as we read of the bankruptcy of Delphi Corporation, and the losses and downsizing of General Motors (GM) and Ford. GM and Ford were the world leaders in automobile manufacturing, the richest companies in the world. What happened? Could it have been prevented? And have they, and we, learned a very important lesson to not repeat the mistakes from past? The very purpose of this book is to examine what were the principle things that did go wrong and to give modern managers specific guidelines to think about today to be internationally competitive.

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Rebirth of American Industry + Practical Lean Accounting: A Proven System for Measuring and Managing the Lean Enterprise, Second Edition
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Editorial Reviews

Review

This book provides a prescription that should lead American companies to return manufacturing to our shores. -- Doug Nelson, President, APICS, Portland

This excellent book will make some enemies. It is outspoken, hard-hitting, and correct. -- Brian Maskell, author

From the Publisher

In my own personal journey, studying Toyota and the other leading Japanese manufacturers these past twenty five years, I was continually amazed at what I discovered and was continually puzzled why GM and Ford did not do what I did, learn from the best and then to forcefully apply the new methodologies in their companies.

On my first study mission to Japan in February 1981, I visited the American Embassy in Tokyo and met with the information officer. His job was to study the best Japanese technologies and to have that information translated to English to help American companies stay abreast of what was happening in Japan. I was furious at him to have not discovered what Toyota was doing to go from producers of "junk" to world class. His budget, millions of dollars, to spend on translations was hundreds times greater than mine.

Somehow, I was surely blessed to have met Dr. Shigeo Shingo, Mr. Taiichi Ohno, Dr. Ryuji Fukuda, Seiichi Nakajima, Dr. Yoji Akao, Hiroyuki Hirano, Shigehiro Nakamura, Bunji To-zawa, Iwao Kobayashi, Kenichi Sekine and others who were willing to share their information with Americans and allowed me to publish their Japanese books in English.

It shortly became obvious to me from my frequent visits to Japan, 63 as of this date, that the Toyota Production System (TPS) was the most important and the most valuable to study. At first, when I met Mr. Taiichi Ohno, vice-president of manufacturing at Toyota, I asked him to let me have things in writing about TPS. He said, "Norman, we don't have things written down, for it is always changing." I felt that he was just reluctant to share the information that was making Toyota so successful. But, I was perseverant. I wouldn't stop searching for information to share with companies in the West. I magically found Dr. Shingo, co-creator with Ohno of TPS, and he graciously allowed me to publish all of his books in English. After a few years Mr. Ohno also gave me permission to publish also his books in English.

But, why wouldn't GM and Ford do the same? Why wouldn't they locate, translate and publish everything available on Toyota? It is still a mystery to me. In 1984, Toyota decided to open a joint venture plant with GM, NUMMI, to share their production system with GM. Virtually, all of Toyota's secrets were now available to GM. Why didn't GM study carefully the JIT/LEAN concepts and apply them? And through the books I subsequently published, when I owned Productivity Press, most of what Toyota was doing was available to everyone.


Product Details

  • Paperback: 304 pages
  • Publisher: PCS Press (December 15, 2005)
  • ISBN-10: 0971243638
  • ISBN-13: 978-0971243637
  • Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.7 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #336,436 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

4.7 out of 5 stars
(11)
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Save yourself the trouble! Eric Burton  |  1 reviewer made a similar statement
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Over the past several months you've probably enjoyed Bill Waddell's hard-hitting posts on Superfactory's Evolving Excellence Blog ([...]) as much as I have. His propensity to challenge the status quo with historical facts has been a breath of fresh air and has forced the lean community to think about the stability of its own foundation.

Bill, in collaboration with Shingo Prize winning author Norman Bodek, has just released a new book, Rebirth of American Industry - A Study of Lean Management. In it he uses his in-your-face style to take issue with several commonly-held lean beliefs, and the companies that mistakenly believe they are lean. The book has already received considerably acclaim from early reviewers.

Brian Maskell, President of BMA, Inc. and one of the leaders of the lean accounting movement, has this to say:

"This excellent book will make some enemies. It is outspoken, hard-hitting, and correct. The authors answer the question "whay have so few American companies successfully transformed themselves into lean organizations". They take us back to the origins of lean at Ford Motor Company and Toyota, and contrast them with the modern American manufacturer. The solutions advocated will be unpopular because they cut to the heart of "professional" management theory and show that the lean transformation must start not on the shop-floor but by active transformation in the executive offices.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Don't let the price stop you February 26, 2007
Format:Paperback
First thing I thought (and anyone I mention this book to mentions) is: "For $47 this had better be a good book!" It is. Don't let the price stop you from buying it. I gave it 4 stars only because the printing and quality are not top notch- something I would expect in a book of this cost. But look at it this way, you are not spending the money on a fancy book, you are spending it on the CONTENT of the book. In this case, if you use the content wisely, it could in fact be worth millions.

As a full time lean consultant and author, I am continuously frustrated by the lack of real success in Lean throughout manufacturing. I intuitively understand what is at the root of the limited success, but this book makes it clear. Every "manufacturing" company in the world- with the exception of Toyota and maybe a few others- uses a measurement system that will drive the business in the opposite direction of lean. It is so ingrained that virtually everyone is in staunch support of the old method. So, in any company, lean "success" can only go so far until it bumps up against the standard "Sloan method" of management. That's when everyone starts to panic and the wheels fall off.

I have worked in numerous companies where everyone could see and measure (using lean measurement of waste and time) a process and understand that overall it was more efficient and lower cost, but when measured with the standard measurement methods it loses, and is not adopted. It is a classic case of the Emperors new clothes. We can all see that the Emperor is naked, but no one is willing to step up and fight the fight. We are simply outnumbered and the fight is sure career suicide. Why fight it?
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars "Manufacturing is important." January 2, 2006
Format:Paperback
Rebirth of American Industry is an important book. It blows the lid off many of the assumptions, processes, and metrics that have led our country down a road that has shipped millions of jobs overseas.

In order for the "Rebirth of American Industry" to take place, a great deal of pain will have to be incurred, unless we immediately challenge the existing norms and make some radical changes.

Death of waste, the elimination of all non-value added activities, must be pursued relentlessly. Birth of a new American heritage of producing with increased value to the customer, designing and delivering products, and providing services under world class conditions is mandatory.

In our free society the customer makes the choice of which products will be purchased and which will not. In a world of vast and instantly available information, with global competitors operating in our own backyards, the customer is indeed king. Companies that choose to ignore this fact do so at great peril.

Newsmagazines and commentators have blasted Wal-Mart, big box retailers, and global competition for our problems in manufacturing. The truth is that educated, knowledgeable customers with virtually unlimited choices wield more power than ever before. Our failures in manufacturing are a result of failing to meet the needs of these customers. In the words of Walt Kelly's Pogo "We have met the enemy - and he is us."

Just as the customer has been empowered under our free economy, we must move forward in educating and empowering our manufacturing employees to better serve that customer.

We must align our strategies, business processes, and performance metrics to the voice of the customer, and aggressively go after our leaner, more agile competitors.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars You REALLY should read this book!
If you're in any business that is trying to apply lean, (also read Six Sigma, Operational Excellence etc.) then you should read this book! Read more
Published 9 days ago by Eric Burton
4.0 out of 5 stars Why Lean doesn't stick
If you're trying to answer the question, "Why does Lean often just become the 'flavor of the month' in organizations," this book does a good job of explaining. Read more
Published 20 months ago by Wing
5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding book - picked it up and didn't stop reading until I was...
This is an outstanding book that goes beyond lean manufacturing to an understanding of the culture of business in general and how that culture effects business outcomes. Read more
Published on February 17, 2010 by You read I read we all read
5.0 out of 5 stars One of the most enlightening books I ever read (and I am not an...
A few years ago, I was at a football game, when I asked my best friend, who is an industrial engineer "What is all of this 'Lean' stuff I hear about? Read more
Published on August 7, 2009 by Judd Vance
4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, but somewhat biased views
I read through this book and felt that there was some interesting facts and history related to progressions of management styles (Taylor -> present). Read more
Published on October 13, 2007 by Trueblade
5.0 out of 5 stars Not just for manufacturing . . . .
Lean Six Sigma is being touted as the 'saviour' of performance management in the financial services industry. Read more
Published on July 10, 2006 by Bryan Frew
5.0 out of 5 stars What makes Lean work
First of all, You should know, that I have received a hand-signed copy of this book for free. While this has absolutely no influence on my opinion about the book, if You don't... Read more
Published on June 19, 2006 by josef.horber@web.de
5.0 out of 5 stars Let's do it!
If this book doesn't make you burst into "God Bless America" nothing will! The exporting of manufacturing and jobs is draining the life blood from America. Read more
Published on February 26, 2006 by Joy Montgomery
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