The Machine That Changed the World : Based on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology 5-Million-Dollar 5-Year Study on the Future of the Automobile Hardcover – October 10, 1990

required reading for anyone involved in Lean Manufacturing. Easy to read and very interesting

I read the book and thoroughly enjoyed it. It was a lot to digest at first but once it started clicking with me I realized it really makes you think. I actually own a 2016 Toyota Camry and it made me look at my Camry in a different way as far as looking at what it took to actually make and produce my car. From tracing it not only to the dealership I bought it from, but now thinking about from when it was designed to the part supplier to the assembly to the paint to all the 10,000 plus parts that are apart of my car. It gives you more of an appreciation for the manufacturing of vehicles. And I myself work in a manufacturing plant, though not for auto. So I am able to look at my job and see the elements of Lean production that we have, though for the most part, we are, in fact a Mass production plant, at least according to how this book broke down each. I will say that this is a great book for anyone in any kind of manufacturing industry as you will get a sense of how production works through all phases. And maybe take some of what you learn and possibly recommend it to your supervisors and managers which may improve things at your own plant possibly.

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.

I love his book and bought another one for a relative. This is real research and reads less like management book but like a non fiction story.I loved learning about the history of car manufacturers and how the business practices established by Ford and GM are why car dealers act the way they do in America. It is a disgrace.Japanese car dealers seem to do the right thing. Very enlightening about how they view their customers vs how the Americans do.

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 commercial of Porsche cars, after assembly spenting more time being fitted and repaired by technicians and calling it hand built, or want to understand when you go to the parts counter at the local NAPA why they ask for the VIN number of your vehicle when it used to be simply year and model, this book is a must read. Should be required reading for all engineering students.

While this is THE classic book on lean production, it suffers from two problems. First, the topic is lean production but the book is based on research focussed exclusively on data from automobile assembly plants rather than broader data across different types of manufacturing. This forces the authors to treat the best automobile assembly plant as the best model for lean production. Had the authors looked beyond the automobile assembly industry, they might have come to a different conclusion. But the problem is worse than that. Not only did they use only one set of data from one industry, they also allowed bias to color their analysis. They were biased toward product design, production engineering and JIT. They give short-shrift to the real key. The original researcher for this study was John Krafcik (he later became the President and CEO of Hyundai Motor America). In his own report of the data he pointed out that the skills and motivation of the work force has the greatest explanatory power of assembly plant performance. Yet this is given remarkably little attention in this book. Had the authors look beyond the automobile assembly even as nearby as the turnaround at Harley Davidson this focus on people might have gotten much more attention. In the case of Harley, there was no way to miss that the key was the people in every factory floor function. Get the people environment right, and everything else will sort itself out. Get it wrong and your ability to perform with high productivity and quality deteriorates. None of the plants studied actually does an exemplary job with people. Early in the book the authors insert several paragraphs on how the lean environment might increase employee stress, create anxiety over making costly mistakes, might cause the employee to miss getting a specific enough skill to be marketable outside the company, and worry that "workers may feel they have reached a dead end at an early point in their career." Clearly, the authors did not 'get-it' when it comes to people in this environment. But, they've done well for themselves promoting the other aspects of lean, and, no doubt, had very positive impacts on company's bottom lines. When they get the people equation right, they'll be even more potent.

I can't believe that I waited so long to read this book. For someone like me, who is not an expert in just-in-time or lean production, this book offered the chance to learn quite a bit