The Machine That Changed the World

The Machine That Changed the World by James P. Womack, Daniel T. Jones, Daniel Roos

Ford pioneered "mass production". Workers did menial tasks over and over again. They were expected to be replaceable cogs. Ford ended up doing it fully integrated. GM later used suppliers pitted against each other. The attempt was to maximize GMs profit. However, it ended up being a race to the bottom with little trust involved. In the process, each entity is responsible for their own small part. There are QA processes at the end, with expectation of rework. There are great expenses at setting up production and little change involved.

Toyota pioneered "lean manufacturing". This involves collaboration with suppliers. All are encouraged to improve quality and reduce costs. The suppliers get to benefit from savings that they achieve. Inventories are kept very low. Parts are expected to be produced as they are needed. Everyone is responsible for quality and there is minimal rework. Production may be stopped any time there is a problem involved. 

"Collaborative" may be a better descriptor than "lean". Just in time production feels like a minor subset of it, but not the key part. As long as everyone is working together for improvement, things can get better.

The book does stress that there is a difference between "talking" and "walking". Some places have described lean principles in their production but failed to implement the details. 

The book is presented as its 1990 version with a new 2007 afterward and forward. This was before some of the big economic downturns. How has this turned out now? How can this new style adapt?