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The Machine That Changed the World: The Story of Lean Production-- Toyota's Secret Weapon in the Global Car Wars That Is Now Revolutionizing World Industry Paperback – March 13, 2007

by James P. Womack (Author),‎ Daniel T. Jones (Author),‎ Daniel Roos (Author)

137 customer reviews

in Foreign Automotive

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When The Machine That Changed the World was first published in 1990, Toyota was half the size of General Motors. Today Toyota is passing GM as the world's largest auto maker and is the most consistently successful global enterprise of the past fifty years. This management classic was the first book to reveal Toyota's lean production system that is the basis for its enduring success.

Now reissued with a new Foreword and Afterword, Machine contrasts two fundamentally different business systems -- lean versus mass, two very different ways of thinking about how humans work together to create value. Based on the largest and most thorough study ever undertaken of any industry -- MIT's five-year, fourteen-country International Motor Vehicle Program -- this book describes the entire managerial system of lean production.

Nearly twenty years ago, Womack, Jones, and Roos provided a comprehensive description of the entire lean system. They exhaustively documented its advantages over the mass production model pioneered by General Motors and predicted that lean production would eventually triumph. Indeed, they argued that it would triumph not just in manufacturing but in every value-creating activity from health care to retail to distribution.

Today The Machine That Changed the World provides enduring and essential guidance to managers and leaders in every industry seeking to transform traditional enterprises into exemplars of lean success.

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Paperback: 352 pages
Publisher: Free Press; Reprint edition (March 13, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0743299795
ISBN-13: 978-0743299794
Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.8 x 8.4 inches
Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 137 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #17,005 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1 in Books > Engineering & Transportation > Automotive > Foreign
- #3 in Books > Business & Money > Industries > Automotive
- #4 in Books > Business & Money > Industries > Transportation

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Josh Yeager

Still relevant

November 7, 2016

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

I have not completed this book yet, but I'm very impressed. I've read the reviews that stated this information is dated and is more of a history lesson than a valuable resource, and that's not true. While the information and data was collected years ago, the lessons and ideas of lean manufacturing are still relevant. The comparison of craft vs mass vs lean is explained using the automotive industry as the setting, as Toyota is the pioneer in lean production. It's a much better read than Toyota Kata, and deserves a place in your collection if you work in a manufacturing environment.

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Virginia A. Bautista

Learn From Lean Applied In The Auto Industry

May 21, 2016

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

Good book. I liked it. I read this book for my own personal Lean Six Sigma knowledge & improvement. I enjoyed the history of Lean using the auto industry: Ford, Chrysler, Honda, Toyota, etc. Interesting to see the progression of Lean Production & Manufacturing throughout the years. The study shows how the lack of implementation of Lean has and can erode a company's standing, profitability & endurance through hard times. Good book to get your feet wet in the Lean Six Sigma world.

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T. Edward Kleiner

Worth reading in these times of change when we as ...

March 14, 2017

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

Worth reading in these times of change when we as a country are reconsidering producing "things" in an industrial complex back in the USA. It can be done with technology and people not exclusively of the other. Technology provides capacity for production that can offer the displaced worker other opportunities commensurate with their ability to learn new tasks and practices. As human beings we can learn even late in life. Brain power...

Comment One person found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?

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R. Simpson

A great example of how research can change an entire industry

November 22, 2016

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

I read this after taking a tour of the Toyota plant in Kentucky. Both the tour and the book helped me understand how Toyota changed much of industrial production. I only wish there was a final chapter to explain how the process originated by Toyota has spread throughout the automotive and other industries.

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J. head

a Manufacturing Mustread

April 24, 2003

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

The Machine That Changed the World; The Story of Lean Production
A great book that although becoming a little outdated portrays the ongoing trends in the automobile production industry in three major cultural areas.
The three areas are;the Asian lean production (Toyota) v.s. the American system,(mass production) v.s. the European craftsman system. On a larger scale it will and is affecting manufacturing everywhere.
Henry Ford was the founder of the American mass production system, and Ford was very successful adopting it to the aircraft and steel industries. American companies adopted this system and it is one of the main reasons for American pre-eminence in many industries worldwide. Toyota has become the founder of the Lean system of manufacturing. Most of the
early adherents to this system were other large Japanese companies, and responsible for the Japanese manufacturing miracle since the 1960's, as it was adapted from automotive to all manner of industries.
The book is well written and interesting even though it is based on an MIT study of global trends in the auto industry. I would like to see an update to this book. The one anomaly I see is the German Automobile industry. If Japan and Korea have some of the most efficient auto manufacturing plants in the world and
North America is becoming more competitive, what is happening in Europe comes as no surprise. Many European automakers have yet to fully embrace American mass production techniques and are now faced with the greater efficiencies of Lean
production. The book does not explain in my mind the success of the German Auto industry. It seems to be the one exception to the rule.

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Shona

A Great Introduction to Lean Production

June 22, 2010

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

This book was a great introduction to the concept of lean manufacturing. The writing style of the book is comprehensive enough to be useful for current managers, yet readable enough to be engaging for those who are new (i.e. students) to these concepts. Those who are more savvy in the area of operations and supply management may find the book a bit repetitive in some areas.

Although the book focuses on auto manufacturers (mainly Toyota), a reader should not expect a detailed account of Toyota's supply chain or operations management, but rather a survey of concepts and a view of how Toyota has applied these methods and/or how other auto manufacturers have lagged on applying these techniques. The book provides many comparisons to assist the reader in understanding (the general approach per chapter is to give an overview of the mass production system, and then give its improved lean production counterpart). The book does not give any practically methodology on how to convert a non-lean production system over to a lean one, but there are many other books out there that can delve into this further.

If you are looking for a book to introduce you to lean production, written in laymen's terms, using a model that almost all of us can understand I strongly recommend this book. However, you will need more background/research than this book provides to actually apply lean operations methodologies if you so desire.

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Sandra Graham

Five Stars

February 27, 2018

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Great

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Arshad Altaf

Very very interesting to read amid some old statistics and data

October 25, 2015

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Before reading this one I actually had a chance to read "Driving Honda" by Jeffrey Rothfeder in which I noticed this one mentioned a number of times. Driving Honda is not bad as well. "The Machine that Changed the World" is a thorough analysis focusing primarily on "Toyota" rise and a very strong association with a highly efficient and effective lean production system. It is understandable that Toyota must have done something extra ordinary to get to where they are. And this book is written before Toyota actually became the biggest car producer. The authors have gone to painstaking detail and have worked hard in collecting data. However, after "Chapter 5-Designing the Car" they should have stopped as in my opinion the rest of the detail is less interesting. Even the new forewords don't provide any new detail. Nevertheless a very good book to read.

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Most recent customer reviews

Sandra

another jeff bezos crapfest?

I didn't intend to purchase this book. My intent was to sample it but my finger twitched as it headed to the sample area and accidentally set off one-click.Read more

Published 4 months ago

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Bought the book for a job interview. Applying these methods to the creation of software architecture.very interesting approach to the problem.

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Five Stars

great content. a classic .

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Jeffrey Carter

If you are in manufacturing, want to understand the ...

If you are in manufacturing, want to understand the evolution of car manufacturing, want a working understanding of JUST IN TIME, want to uncover the real meaning of the 80's TV...Read more

Published 10 months ago

Mike

If you ever wondered where Lean came from, read this

Classic Book for any manager

Published 10 months ago

A. Barnes

Just a book.

Required reading for my husband's masters program. It's a book. About lean manufacturing. It came with all the pages and a front and back cover, which is where the 5 star rating...Read more

Published 1 year ago

Daniel

Very interesting book

Good book to get an introduction to Lean manufacturing. It's not a prescriptive book for lean on its own (other than to say lean is superior), so you will need to get other books...Read more

Published 1 year ago

Sam P

Only worth it if you are interested in this field. Otherwise, it's just a history book.

Great read but can be dry if you're not into the history of things.

Published 1 year ago

Oscoda

Three Stars

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Published 1 year ago

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