COMMENORATING THE 100th BIRTHDAY OF TAIICHI OHNO
Businesses worldwide are successfully implementing the Toyota Production System to speed up processes, reduce waste, improve quality, and cut costs. While there is widespread adoption of TPS, there is still much to be learned about its fundamental principles.
This unique volume delivers a clear, concise overview of the Toyota Production System and kaizen in the very words of the architect of both of these movements, Taiicho Ohno, published to mark what would have been his 100th birthday. Filled with insightful new commentary from global quality visionaries, Taiichi Ohno’s Workplace Management is a classic that shows how Toyota managers were taught to think.
Based on a series of interviews with Ohno himself, this timeless work is a tribute to his genius and to the core values that have made, and continue to make, Toyota one of the most successful manufacturers in the world.
"Whatever name you may give our system, there are parts of it that are so far removed from generally accepted ideas (common sense) that if you do it only half way, it can actually make things worse."
"If you are going to do TPS you must do it all the way. You also need to change the way you think. You need to change how you look at things." -- Taiichi Ohno
"This book brings to us Taiichi Ohno's philosophy of workplace management--the thinking behind the Toyota Production System. I personally get a thrill down my spine to read these thoughts in Ohno’s own words." -- Dr. Jeffrey Liker, Director, Japan Technology Management Program, University of Michigan, and Author, The Toyota Way
Based on a series of interviews with Taiicho Ohno, this unique volume delivers a clear, concise overview of the Toyota Production System and kaizen in the very words of the architect of both of these movements, published to mark what would have been his 100th birthday.
Review
This book brings to us Taiichi Ohno's philosophy of workplace management the thinking behind the Toyota Production System. I personally get a thrill down my spine to read these thoughts in Ohno's own words. My favorite part is his discussion of the misconceptions hidden within common sense and how management needs a revolution of awareness. - --Dr. Jeffrey Liker, Director , Japan Technology Management Program, University of Michigan and Author "The Toyota Way"
While no one person invented lean, no one is given more credit than Taiichi Ohno. Access to his true thoughts and ideas are rare, and this book is the best and most useful of Ohno's work. Many lean students would want nothing more than to spend a day with Taiichi Ohno walking through their plant. This book is the closest thing we have left to that experience. Jon Miller has done a diligent job not just in translation but ensuring that the true meaning comes through in a readable fashion. You truly feel as if you are in conversation with the father of the Toyota Production System. While this book won't paint a clear picture of what to do next on your lean journey, it should be required reading for any serious student of the subject. - --Jamie Flinchbaugh, Co-author, "The Hitchhiker's Guide to Lean: Lessons from the Road"
This book and its translation provide the reader a wonderful opportunity to learn directly from the master architect of the Toyota Production System. One is able to hear, in his own words, the principles that have evolved into the most successful management method ever developed. Today, these lessons are being applied in many industries including health care in addition to their long term application in manufacturing. This book enables the reader to get inside Taiichi Ohno's thinking as he makes concepts such as Kanban, The Supermarket System and Just in Time come alive in ways that can be easily understood. This book will help me, as a senior executive in health care, better implement our management method, the Virginia Mason Production System. - --Gary S. Kaplan, MD, Chairman and CEO, Virginia Mason Medical Center --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
About the Author
Taiichi Ohno was born in Dalian, China, on February 29, 1912. He joined Toyoda Boshoku in 1932 after graduating from the mechanical engineering department of Nagoya Technical High School. Mr. Ohno was transferred to Toyota Motor Company in 1943 and was named the machine shop manager in 1949. He was promoted at Toyota to director in 1954, managing director in 1964, senior managing director in 1970, and executive vice president in 1975. He retired from Toyota in 1978. Mr. Ohno is the father of the Toyota Production System. He authored three works: Toyota Production System: Beyond Large-Scale Production, Taiichi Ohno's Workplace Management, and Just-in-Time for Today and Tomorrow with Setsuo Mito.
