Customer Reviews

The Toyota Way to Continuous Improvement: Linking Strategy and Operational Excellence to Achieve Superior Performance

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I pre-ordered this book and have been eagerly awaiting it for quite a while. Started reading it a couple of days ago, and am happy to say that so far, it has exceeded my expectations. Excellent explanation of role of PDCA in creating an organization that is learning, improving, and learning together over and over again. Excellent mix of theory and case studies so far. I believe that this book will be a great read for anyone at any place along their lean journey. Can't wait to read more!

I have read all books by Jeff Liker and most of them more than once. His "The Toyota Way", "Toyota Culture" and "Toyota Talent" are classics for anyone interested in Lean (Toyota Business System). They give a good and detailed view in the way Lean works for Toyota.

Many Lean Masters/Practitioners are working in a less ideal situation and are struggling to get Lean implemented or to sustain/improve Lean in an organization. As with 5S, sustaining is the hardest part of being Lean.

"The Toyota Way for Continuous Improvement" brings the understanding that the PDCA cycle is the necessary part in a CI process. As a consultant I notice that the CA part of this cycle is often forgotten and the operation mostly falls back to its old levels.

Most companies that start with their Lean adventure, start with the ideal of getting Lean but actually look for a nice head count reduction. After a first start the operations always falls back to a basic level of Lean with every now and then an eruption of some Lean activities. Which is preferably linked with the next headcount reduction?

This book gives good guidelines on what to do when such a fallback has taken place. The 8 cases Liker/Franz describe, give a good view on how to improve these operations. What I have learned from this wide variation of companies, is that it takes about 6 to 8 years to really implement Lean in companies that already understand some things about it. What I also recognized is the general feeling in such divers companies, is what I call "we are different" feeling within such companies. Often they have a Lean façade (as Jeff Liker calls it so strikingly). I've heard this "different-saying" from Banks, Hospitals, Government organizations, and so on. The cases in this book show that the Lean tools can work everywhere, whenever there is waste.

Reading this book often brought a recognizing feeling of stages companies are in, who mention themselves as being Lean. No empowerment, 5S only on a basic level, only limited visual management, CI as a saving tool. This book can help every Lean Master/Practitioner to bring the company they are working for to the next level of Lean in a never ending journey.

I have read and reviewed all of Jeffrey Liker's previously published books and think this one, his latest co-authored with James Franz, is his most valuable because it will have much wider and deeper impact than has any of the others, notably The Toyota Way, Toyota Talent, and Toyota Culture. As is also true of most other outstanding business books, the wealth of material in this one was driven by research and analysis to answer an especially important business question: "How to link strategy and operational performance to achieve and then sustain superior performance?" Once again, Liker draws heavily upon nearly three decades of his close association and central involvement with the Toyota Motor Corporation.

Others have their own reasons for thinking so highly of this book. Here are two of mine. First, as I correctly anticipated, Liker and Franz clear the air and set the record straight with regard to the facts concerning Toyota's widely-publicized, widely-perceived "problems" that led to the recall of more then 10 million vehicles between late-2009 and early-2010. I hasten to add that Liker and Franz in no way come across as apologists for Toyota. Rather, they address head-on the major issues to assess the legitimate claims while ensuring that the soundness of Toyota's management principles is reaffirmed.

I also appreciate the participation of six guest contributors who play major roles when Liker and Franz focus on a series of case studies of lean transformation in Section Two. They are world-class authorities who invest the narrative with an even richer texture of experience and, more importantly, of wisdom in combination with "street smarts." They include, in Chapters 6, 7 & 9, Robert Kucner ("When Organic Meets Mechanistic: Lean Overhaul and Repair of Ships"), Tony McNaughton ("An Australian Sensei Teaches a Proud Japanese Company New Tricks: Brining TPS to a Complex Equipment Manufacturer"), and Richard Zarbo ("Bringing Ford's Ideas Alive at Henry Fort Health System Labs Through PDCA Leadership").

FYI, as Liker and Franz explain, in Japanese, the word "sensei literally means `teacher,' but it implies much more. It implies the respect granted to a master of his craft by the apprentice [deshi] who is struggling to learn that craft." As for PDCA, it refers to "plan/do/check/ adjust, a mantra that W. Edwards Deming taught to the Japanese. Again as Liker and Franz explain, "When an organization embraces PDCA, it starts to grow to become a learning organization. Projects go beyond one-offs and become a continuous stream of learning opportunities on the road to excellence." My own opinion is that continuous learning is interdependent with continuous improvement and both are essential to reaching the ultimate objective: "to link strategy and operational performance to achieve and then sustain superior performance." That is why Liker and Franz stress, "For Toyota, PDCA is more than a way to get results from process improvement. It is a way of developing people."

No brief commentary such as this can possibly do full justice to the wealth of information, insights, and recommendations that Jeffrey Liker and James Franz provide. However, I do hope that I have given at least some indication of the scope and depth of their brilliant coverage of that material.

I have just finished my first read through of the latest offering in the Toyota Way series by Jeff Liker and James Franz. This book, in my opinion, is the best addition to the series and gives the original Toyota Way a run for its money when it comes to pure value.
The book is broken into three distinct sections beginning with the purpose of the book, which is dead on, the philosophical and theoretical constructs around PDCA. It continues with a tremendously diverse section of case studies from around the globe and finished up with a final novella about a company undergoing its own transformation and the lessons learned by all involved.
I'm glad to see the authors attribute to Shewhart/Deming the heavy lifting of developing the conceptual framework of P-D-C-A almost a century ago. Too often books on Toyota are superficial and miss this important part of their competitive DNA. I agree with a prior reviewer about the importance in Chapter 5 about the distinction between a typical `lean it out' approach and truly building what the authors call a `lean system.'
The case studies were a valuable addition to the book as they took real people in real industries that aren't automotive and allowed the reader to join them on their respective lean journeys. There were varying levels of successes in the stories, but all showed the power of developing people into problem solvers.
The final section starts with a `case study' of a company just starting on their journey and the successes and setback that they encounter. The last two chapters deal with the topics of leadership and sustaining the improved system, which haven't been emphasized enough in other publications, in my opinion. The typical narrow-minded thinking around what the authors call mechanistic hits very close to home.
It's a long book but definitely leaves the reader with an idea of `what now' that a lot of the other books lack. I'm going back over specific chapters again as it's a lot to take in with just a single read.

This is a great book to go deeper into understanding the key process of Toyota's success, PDCA. What I like about the book is that it not only gives the perspective from Toyota's point of view, but also from others. Well over half of the book is made up of "Case Studies", from other organizations and industries that helps me to apply these principles in other settings than just making automobiles. I highly recommend this book to anyone going through their "lean transformation".

Thoroughly enjoyed reading this book by Liker and Franz. What a great job they did sharing the concept of PDCA and lean as removing waste in a continuous way, striving for excellence but always continuing the journey. The case studies demonstrated not only what was done well but what wasn't. It showed us that even the "sensei" need to continuously learn from their mistakes and improve. I whole-heartedly recommend this book to those who would like a method of moving their organization toward excellence.

This is a great book to go deeper into understanding the key process of Toyota's success, PDCA. I will give to Dr. Liker a WOW.
Luis Cantu

Section 1: The Journey to Continuous Improvement (p1-96) - Mostly a rehash of the authors earlier work and a little tedious. But press on!

Section 2: Case Studies (p97-342) - A very good series of warts and all case studies from US, Japan and Australia, written by a group of contributors. While not all in a factory production environment, they do tend to be in similar areas (ship repair: high volume valve overhaul shop, health care: path lab, nuclear: fuel can manufacture, resource industry: mining site). Many comments contrast mechanistic 6 sigma with the organic lean approach the authors take.

Section 3: Making your Vision a Reality (p343-432) - useful practical application material, useful for companies planning a lean transition and for budding consultants.

The authors do have certain views as consultants that not all readers will agree with but the book has value for anyone aiming for continuous improvement or planning a major cultural or organisational change.

I'm 'into' Lean Manufacturing, so for me this book was like Tom Clancy or Dan Brown. I couldn't put it down. For someone who doesn't find rapid change-over or manufacturing theories and philosophies quite so rivetting, this book might not be as 'fun' as a novel, but you'll still learn a great deal.

More importantly, this book is probably the best in terms of showing lean for what it really is - a business philosophy. Lean can be applied to anything, but it's not about specific tools and techniques so much as specific approaches to problem-solving and a commitment to improving continiously.

The Toyota Way shows how Lean evolved and in doing shows how one can evolve the principals of the underlying philosophies into their environment. Other lean books tend to focus more on the specific manufacturing toolsets. The truth is that if you adopt a lean culture, you'll stumble on the right toolsets over time even if you don't do so intentionally. If on the other hand you view lean as a set of tools to copy - as most American companies view it - you might get a few unsustainable short-term gains but you'll get little else. This is probably the best book at showcasing and selling lean as a culture and a philosophy. And it's awfully well written!

I had the privilege to read this book as a gift, and what a great gift it turned out to be. I had just changed jobs and I am now working for a company that uses this leaner approach theory from Mr Liker books. One of our core values is Continuous Improvement and we use this model on daily goal setting we call homeroom.I found this book from Mr Liker and Mr Franz a wonderful tool toward that process.I would recommend any new company to use these guidelines for a successful endeavor. Thank you sirs for sharing your knowledge. I have benefited greatly.