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Taiichi Ohno's Workplace Management
This classic work by the founding father of the Toyota Production System returns to print in a new translation. Ohno delivers timeless lessons on how to effectively manage the gemba actual place or work. He relates stories from across his nearly 40 years of struggle to establish the Toyota Production System as both a mindset and supporting behaviors of constant improvement. In the book s 37 chapters, Ohno covers a broad range of topics and lays out the fundamental philosophy of kaizen (continuous improvement) that has made Toyota the most successful automobile manufacturer today.
146 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1988
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August 2, 2015
I read this book to get a sense of the history of the concept of “lean”. For that, it was interesting. There were also gems of wisdom throughout. The book is like a collection of thoughts or perhaps answers to interview questions. The author was 70 when this book came out i 1982. Some things seems very modern and timely, while certain attitudes to people seem very archaic. This is puzzling when you read that he puts people first. He puts people first because it is from people that you get the ideas for making improvements in the workplace. Listening and observing are key skills he promotes. the Publisher’s Forward in the 1988 edition I read had a quote from someone who experienced a visit from two of Ohno’s students at his plant in the U.S. He said, “ But what I admired most was their incredible respect for humanity.” So… maybe Ohno comes across as rather stodgy at times, but if his students have this incredible respect for humanity, it can’t be all that bad. :)
I give the book an overall 3-star rating and think it would be interesting for students of lean. Lean philosophies might be stated more succinctly in other books, but it never hurts to know the roots.
I found the language a bit choppy at times. This was mostly when I was in sections that I was not familiar with such as those with references to actual car manufacturing or accounting methods. I didn’t lose out from glossing over those parts because there was good material elsewhere, and, as I have said, this book is not really one coherent whole that must be grasped completely. He also mentions that you cannot fire workers in Japan. I know nothing about working in Japan so I don’t know whether this is still the case. Because you could not just lay off people when times were bad for manufacturing, you had to deal with all these people who had nothing to do. That gave some interesting production challenges and definitely influenced some of his proposals, as far as I could see.
His explanation of the just-in-time concept was slightly amusing. This is because he feels the need to spell it out. Again, this was written in 1982. For some, it was still misunderstood and new. Now, I perceive it as well known and well understood.
The preface says the Toyota production system can be summed up in one statement: “Make only what you need, in the quantities you need, when you need it.”
I tried to take notes on each chapter as I read this, and then I decided I would just charge through and pick up what I could. I marked sections that I wanted to highlight with post-it notes (I had a library book :)). Each chapter’s title is supposed to sum up the contents. I am sure they read as nice, neat mottos in Japanese. Here my notes. I actually scanned chapters 29 and 30 to keep as reference. They are taking longer to digest, but they are more digestible that the chapters I got stuck on. I just have no nice summaries of them for now. I want to mull over them.
Chapter 1: The superior person knows how to adapt.
Develop personal humility.
Quotes: “If you want change, you really have to persuade people first, bringing them around to your way of thinking.”
“We are all human and as much as half of what we do is mistaken; managers may sometimes even tell subordinates things that are wrong. The people managers deal with will gradually begin to turn away unless those managers first adopt the attitude that those under them are human beings, too - and that at least half of what their subordinates say is right. It seems to me, in short, that the development of this sort of personal humility is an essential condition for building solid powers of persuasion.”
Chapter 2: If you are wrong, admit it!
All should learn to admit being wrong. I sense an echo of the “failure” trend - learning from failures and being more open about having failed.
Quote: “…Many things in the world cannot be understood without trying them out. Indeed, a surprising number of things, when tried, yield results that are exactly the opposite to what one expects. This shows how inescapably dogged by illusion humanity really is.”
“…wouldn’t workers be even more cooperative when mistakes are met, not with reproving looks, but with encouragement and the explicit recognition that only five out of 10 ideas that you yourself come up with are right? When workers start thinking that they have to keep quiet and stick with whatever the boss tells them to do, for better or worse, they will gradually stop listening.”
Chapter 3: Illusions lower efficiency.
Good chapter. It is how we are all blinded to things because “that is how we have always done this”. Even intellectuals (a term he uses now and then) fall into this trap. He encourages the attempt to try different approaches here. He has a story about the time it takes to drill holes and whether manual or automatic methods are better. The people drilling the holes looked only at the actual drilling time. They did not count the need to cool the drill or sharpen the drill. When Ohno proposed a new method, the person couldn’t respond because it was so radical. The worked was happy to drill 80 holes a day whereas Ohno was proposing drilling even more in one hour through automation. Moral: Try different ways when they are suggested and compare the current and proposed method carefully to see whether the new way is more efficient. “Don’t knock it till you try it!”
Chapter 4. Confirm failure with your own eyes.
Identify what is valuable in ideas and suggestions. He had a section here that appealed to me as a technical communicator. He had proposed centralised grinding and sharpening of some blades. The grinding experts were against this because there was so much you had to know before doing this job. A lot of knowledge was required. He told them that was irrelevant. “All we had to do was set up standard specifying the different blade materials to be used in each case. It would have been extremely inefficient to tell hundreds of people what they could and could not do in sharpening their bits.” As I read it, he was arguing for simple and precise instructions for doing specific tasks quickly and efficiently. No need for the history of manufacturing each time you needed to grind or sharpen something! This was in this chapter because his idea of centralised grinding had been tried during the war and it didn’t work. He pointed out context, etc. can change. Try again!
Chapter 14. Rationalize your operation when business is booming
Prepare yourself at all times to be truly rational. That is, when times are rough and you are running out of money, it can be really hard to cut corners because there is probably no fat left to cut. He mentions a Japanese saying: “flour is more valuable than cake”. “Indeed, I think the crucially important point in rationalisation is to make operations more rational when business is good and while the company is doing well.” “We need to lower costs in a truly rational, scientific way by totally eliminating waste.”
Chapter 16: Toyoda Sakichi’s theory of autonomation
This was my introduction to this word. It is basically automation with a human touch. Setting things up to be automated, but allowing for human intervention at critical points.
Chapter 17: The goal: a tenfold increase in productivity
Many chapters had some explanations of Japanese words. This was critical to his tale. The words for “motion” and “work” were explained previously and here he reminded us that “everyone confuses motion with work”. Think about it. Are you just shuffling papers at work for 8 hours, or are you actually producing something (be it thoughts or reports or whatever)? ;)
The words for motion and work are both “do” where the o has a macron over it. I could write “doh”, but that could be misunderstood! Anyway, to distinguish between motion and work, the graphic element that means person is added to “do” so that that combination becomes work! Without “person”, “do” means simply to move.
Chapter 25: Work is a contest of wits with subordinates
Provocative title! Managers giving instructions should imagine being on the receiving end of the instructions! And admitting they are beaten when they lose that battle of wit. A lot of it is about the trick of getting people to follow you. The managers need to provoke employees to think and then to discuss those thoughts in a kind of discourse. Not discouraging, but investigating and examining. I think he is saying that if you just accept what subordinates tell you, they will lose respect for you. You can question, but not so as to reject their ideas. A real give-and-take. This is what I take from this chapter. It is slightly vague and unclear in the language, but this is what I got out of it.
Chapter 34: The “monaka” system
Key message: “Cost reduction must be a prime concern all the time.” Monaka is a sweet bean paste bun. His message is about what can you prepare in advance efficiently so that you can cope with sudden demand, but not such that what you prepare goes to waste.
Chapter 35: Only the workplace can cut cost
He had a section here I was nodding at. “It is a crazy arithmetic that figures the effects of rationalisation in terms of how many percentage points more rational things get every month.” This echoes what I have heard over the past many years. I have often wondered about it - the math, and yet, I, too, have been caught in the spell (see chapter 3 about illusions). “Let’s make this x% more this, less that”. How do we know what is better or worse? Basically, he is pushing for more “kaizen” - small improvements. Little by little does the trick even though the results may not be visible immediately. Because you need patience to tide you over when you are not seeing really tangible results, he advises that you be tenacious. When you get impatient for results, you tend to focus too narrowly. He mentions how the gap in skills is narrowing - many companies can do X very quickly and cheaply, so tenacity is what will separate the wheat from the chaff. You must adhere to your procedures through thick and thin - and yet remember that those procedures can be changed. Procedures are set merely as a starting point. Then, as experience grows, you can learn and propose changes. He has an interesting paragraph:
“If a particular device or anything else is changed in a certain way, that “change” is the improvement - even though some changes are for the worse. Any change for the worse has to be corrected right away. And that means “improved” and not simply returned to the original state.”
That last sentence is crucial.
OOPS! I rated the book with an incomplete review. I had some more notes.
Chapter 11: Wasted motion is not work.
This is crucial to Ohno's concepts of 7 wastes. Cultivate an ability to find waste. Has an interesting discussion of success: did you manage to do something or did you "succeed" (in achieving your goal)? He says this is akin to whether you all worked hard to complete something or did you get someone else to do the work. He plays with interesting nuances.
Chapter 22: Don't hesitate to shut down machinery
I saw parallels here to the quality themes in "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance".
Chapter 32: Production technology versus manufacturing technology
I see this as a discuss of roles and how they must take care of their speciality and yet listen to the other. Production technology looks at how best to do something, what are the right tools, etc. Manufacturing technology is using those tools and applying the processes to get things done. Both sides must work together.
By the way, here as in other chapters, the Japanese railway gets real jabs about their inefficiency. And here I thought they were super efficient. Maybe there is something under the surface I don't know about. Or maybe things were different back in 1982.
Chapter 36 The best standard times are the shortest
Here he had a bizarre bit about not counting bathroom breaks when evaluating the most efficient time for doing something. I think he might me count the shortest time to do something as a factor to put into the bigger efficiency equation. In other words, his comments stand a bit on their own here and come across as rather mean.
I give the book an overall 3-star rating and think it would be interesting for students of lean. Lean philosophies might be stated more succinctly in other books, but it never hurts to know the roots.
I found the language a bit choppy at times. This was mostly when I was in sections that I was not familiar with such as those with references to actual car manufacturing or accounting methods. I didn’t lose out from glossing over those parts because there was good material elsewhere, and, as I have said, this book is not really one coherent whole that must be grasped completely. He also mentions that you cannot fire workers in Japan. I know nothing about working in Japan so I don’t know whether this is still the case. Because you could not just lay off people when times were bad for manufacturing, you had to deal with all these people who had nothing to do. That gave some interesting production challenges and definitely influenced some of his proposals, as far as I could see.
His explanation of the just-in-time concept was slightly amusing. This is because he feels the need to spell it out. Again, this was written in 1982. For some, it was still misunderstood and new. Now, I perceive it as well known and well understood.
The preface says the Toyota production system can be summed up in one statement: “Make only what you need, in the quantities you need, when you need it.”
I tried to take notes on each chapter as I read this, and then I decided I would just charge through and pick up what I could. I marked sections that I wanted to highlight with post-it notes (I had a library book :)). Each chapter’s title is supposed to sum up the contents. I am sure they read as nice, neat mottos in Japanese. Here my notes. I actually scanned chapters 29 and 30 to keep as reference. They are taking longer to digest, but they are more digestible that the chapters I got stuck on. I just have no nice summaries of them for now. I want to mull over them.
Chapter 1: The superior person knows how to adapt.
Develop personal humility.
Quotes: “If you want change, you really have to persuade people first, bringing them around to your way of thinking.”
“We are all human and as much as half of what we do is mistaken; managers may sometimes even tell subordinates things that are wrong. The people managers deal with will gradually begin to turn away unless those managers first adopt the attitude that those under them are human beings, too - and that at least half of what their subordinates say is right. It seems to me, in short, that the development of this sort of personal humility is an essential condition for building solid powers of persuasion.”
Chapter 2: If you are wrong, admit it!
All should learn to admit being wrong. I sense an echo of the “failure” trend - learning from failures and being more open about having failed.
Quote: “…Many things in the world cannot be understood without trying them out. Indeed, a surprising number of things, when tried, yield results that are exactly the opposite to what one expects. This shows how inescapably dogged by illusion humanity really is.”
“…wouldn’t workers be even more cooperative when mistakes are met, not with reproving looks, but with encouragement and the explicit recognition that only five out of 10 ideas that you yourself come up with are right? When workers start thinking that they have to keep quiet and stick with whatever the boss tells them to do, for better or worse, they will gradually stop listening.”
Chapter 3: Illusions lower efficiency.
Good chapter. It is how we are all blinded to things because “that is how we have always done this”. Even intellectuals (a term he uses now and then) fall into this trap. He encourages the attempt to try different approaches here. He has a story about the time it takes to drill holes and whether manual or automatic methods are better. The people drilling the holes looked only at the actual drilling time. They did not count the need to cool the drill or sharpen the drill. When Ohno proposed a new method, the person couldn’t respond because it was so radical. The worked was happy to drill 80 holes a day whereas Ohno was proposing drilling even more in one hour through automation. Moral: Try different ways when they are suggested and compare the current and proposed method carefully to see whether the new way is more efficient. “Don’t knock it till you try it!”
Chapter 4. Confirm failure with your own eyes.
Identify what is valuable in ideas and suggestions. He had a section here that appealed to me as a technical communicator. He had proposed centralised grinding and sharpening of some blades. The grinding experts were against this because there was so much you had to know before doing this job. A lot of knowledge was required. He told them that was irrelevant. “All we had to do was set up standard specifying the different blade materials to be used in each case. It would have been extremely inefficient to tell hundreds of people what they could and could not do in sharpening their bits.” As I read it, he was arguing for simple and precise instructions for doing specific tasks quickly and efficiently. No need for the history of manufacturing each time you needed to grind or sharpen something! This was in this chapter because his idea of centralised grinding had been tried during the war and it didn’t work. He pointed out context, etc. can change. Try again!
Chapter 14. Rationalize your operation when business is booming
Prepare yourself at all times to be truly rational. That is, when times are rough and you are running out of money, it can be really hard to cut corners because there is probably no fat left to cut. He mentions a Japanese saying: “flour is more valuable than cake”. “Indeed, I think the crucially important point in rationalisation is to make operations more rational when business is good and while the company is doing well.” “We need to lower costs in a truly rational, scientific way by totally eliminating waste.”
Chapter 16: Toyoda Sakichi’s theory of autonomation
This was my introduction to this word. It is basically automation with a human touch. Setting things up to be automated, but allowing for human intervention at critical points.
Chapter 17: The goal: a tenfold increase in productivity
Many chapters had some explanations of Japanese words. This was critical to his tale. The words for “motion” and “work” were explained previously and here he reminded us that “everyone confuses motion with work”. Think about it. Are you just shuffling papers at work for 8 hours, or are you actually producing something (be it thoughts or reports or whatever)? ;)
The words for motion and work are both “do” where the o has a macron over it. I could write “doh”, but that could be misunderstood! Anyway, to distinguish between motion and work, the graphic element that means person is added to “do” so that that combination becomes work! Without “person”, “do” means simply to move.
Chapter 25: Work is a contest of wits with subordinates
Provocative title! Managers giving instructions should imagine being on the receiving end of the instructions! And admitting they are beaten when they lose that battle of wit. A lot of it is about the trick of getting people to follow you. The managers need to provoke employees to think and then to discuss those thoughts in a kind of discourse. Not discouraging, but investigating and examining. I think he is saying that if you just accept what subordinates tell you, they will lose respect for you. You can question, but not so as to reject their ideas. A real give-and-take. This is what I take from this chapter. It is slightly vague and unclear in the language, but this is what I got out of it.
Chapter 34: The “monaka” system
Key message: “Cost reduction must be a prime concern all the time.” Monaka is a sweet bean paste bun. His message is about what can you prepare in advance efficiently so that you can cope with sudden demand, but not such that what you prepare goes to waste.
Chapter 35: Only the workplace can cut cost
He had a section here I was nodding at. “It is a crazy arithmetic that figures the effects of rationalisation in terms of how many percentage points more rational things get every month.” This echoes what I have heard over the past many years. I have often wondered about it - the math, and yet, I, too, have been caught in the spell (see chapter 3 about illusions). “Let’s make this x% more this, less that”. How do we know what is better or worse? Basically, he is pushing for more “kaizen” - small improvements. Little by little does the trick even though the results may not be visible immediately. Because you need patience to tide you over when you are not seeing really tangible results, he advises that you be tenacious. When you get impatient for results, you tend to focus too narrowly. He mentions how the gap in skills is narrowing - many companies can do X very quickly and cheaply, so tenacity is what will separate the wheat from the chaff. You must adhere to your procedures through thick and thin - and yet remember that those procedures can be changed. Procedures are set merely as a starting point. Then, as experience grows, you can learn and propose changes. He has an interesting paragraph:
“If a particular device or anything else is changed in a certain way, that “change” is the improvement - even though some changes are for the worse. Any change for the worse has to be corrected right away. And that means “improved” and not simply returned to the original state.”
That last sentence is crucial.
OOPS! I rated the book with an incomplete review. I had some more notes.
Chapter 11: Wasted motion is not work.
This is crucial to Ohno's concepts of 7 wastes. Cultivate an ability to find waste. Has an interesting discussion of success: did you manage to do something or did you "succeed" (in achieving your goal)? He says this is akin to whether you all worked hard to complete something or did you get someone else to do the work. He plays with interesting nuances.
Chapter 22: Don't hesitate to shut down machinery
I saw parallels here to the quality themes in "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance".
Chapter 32: Production technology versus manufacturing technology
I see this as a discuss of roles and how they must take care of their speciality and yet listen to the other. Production technology looks at how best to do something, what are the right tools, etc. Manufacturing technology is using those tools and applying the processes to get things done. Both sides must work together.
By the way, here as in other chapters, the Japanese railway gets real jabs about their inefficiency. And here I thought they were super efficient. Maybe there is something under the surface I don't know about. Or maybe things were different back in 1982.
Chapter 36 The best standard times are the shortest
Here he had a bizarre bit about not counting bathroom breaks when evaluating the most efficient time for doing something. I think he might me count the shortest time to do something as a factor to put into the bigger efficiency equation. In other words, his comments stand a bit on their own here and come across as rather mean.
November 12, 2013
Taichi Ohno comes off like such an arrogant jerk. Some of the things he says to employees border on abusive. Having said that, there is something about reading his boiled-down, harsh directives and commentaries. I may take some of those concepts and turn them into teachings that are less cruel. Definitely a book worth reading (borrow, don't buy); Taichi Ohno may not be long on "respect for people" but he has a lot of wisdom and imparts some in this book.
March 5, 2017
This was the perfect book to read on a long flight. The chapters are short but intense. You can read a chapter or two and then sit back close your eyes and reflect on the wisdom you just read. If blogging was in fashion during Ohno’s time, I think he could have been one of the original business bloggers. Think of this book as a collection of stand-alone blogs. Each chapter is 3-4 pages. The translation does not flow perfectly, but like Jon Miller discusses in the Afterword the Japanese language is complicated, a smooth English translation isn’t always possible. Also each chapter does not lead directly into another. Again in the Afterward it was explained that this book wasn’t meant to go from chapter to chapter perfectly but rather to be a collection of interviews and wisdom.
Be warned, Workplace Management is definitely not “introductory” lean reading and would not be a good choice for someone with little or no background in the topics. It really digs to the core of how Ohno drove operational excellence within Toyota. Time for reflection is a critical piece to truly absorbing the material. One reading was sufficient for me. I discuss at the end my intentions for using this book in my continued learning.
For me, the biggest take away from this book is how Ohno separates and prioritizes kaizen. My early learning I was taught that “kaizen was kaizen”. Any improvement was good improvement. Ohno discusses three specific types of kaizen…Manual Work, Equipment and Process Kaizen. His key point is that manual work kaizen is ALWAYS the first place to start. Equipment and Process kaizen have a place, but not until manual work improvement is well established.
A second takeaway is counter-intuitive to much of my learning and that is not to worry about the categorizing waste. In one of the sections Ohno discusses how more modern books have focused on identifying and reducing the 7 wastes. He makes it clear that classifying and categorizing waste for the sake of doing it is not worthwhile. To briefly paraphrase the Master, anything that adds cost without adding value should be eliminated….period. Don’t worry if it’s motions or waiting or whatever. Experiment..improve..repeat!
What surprised me the most was Ohno’s approach to management. Toyota with its well established philosophy of respect for humanity/people I was surprised that Ohno actually encourages “scolding” managers. Not only that but scolding them at the gemba. This is contrary to so much of today’s leadership training. Modern wisdom says not to “scold” but to coach these people off line. His argument is that workers want to see support. When something isn’t right workers need to see management addressing it swiftly and with vigor. Having held middle level management positions I can see how Ohno must have been difficult to work with. But in other chapters, he says when you are wrong, no matter what your rank or title, admit it swiftly and sincerely.
Another lesser surprise is a modern Lean Myth debunked. It is well documented in many of the original Japanese translated books from authors such as Ohno-san and Shingo-san, kaizen IS about reducing costs. I have great respect for many of today’s lean bloggers and podcast hosts who discuss that you focus on the process and the costs will follow. Ohno is clear, we do improvement not for improvement’s sake we do it to reduce costs.
I loved this entire book, but my absolute favorite part was not originally included in the first edition…in the Afterward there is a section called The Sayings of Ohno. These 4-5 pages have single sentence quotes on specific topics. I know that quotes alone don’t paint the entire picture, but they continue to paint the picture of what Ohno created.
In summary, I plan on using this book in the future a little differently - Not to read cover to cover as I did this time at 30,000 feet, but to read a single chapter a week and to deeply reflect on that chapter throughout the week. Since format of this book is that each chapter is short and is a stand-alone piece of work I think this is very feasible and could add a lot of value to my continued learning.
Be warned, Workplace Management is definitely not “introductory” lean reading and would not be a good choice for someone with little or no background in the topics. It really digs to the core of how Ohno drove operational excellence within Toyota. Time for reflection is a critical piece to truly absorbing the material. One reading was sufficient for me. I discuss at the end my intentions for using this book in my continued learning.
For me, the biggest take away from this book is how Ohno separates and prioritizes kaizen. My early learning I was taught that “kaizen was kaizen”. Any improvement was good improvement. Ohno discusses three specific types of kaizen…Manual Work, Equipment and Process Kaizen. His key point is that manual work kaizen is ALWAYS the first place to start. Equipment and Process kaizen have a place, but not until manual work improvement is well established.
A second takeaway is counter-intuitive to much of my learning and that is not to worry about the categorizing waste. In one of the sections Ohno discusses how more modern books have focused on identifying and reducing the 7 wastes. He makes it clear that classifying and categorizing waste for the sake of doing it is not worthwhile. To briefly paraphrase the Master, anything that adds cost without adding value should be eliminated….period. Don’t worry if it’s motions or waiting or whatever. Experiment..improve..repeat!
What surprised me the most was Ohno’s approach to management. Toyota with its well established philosophy of respect for humanity/people I was surprised that Ohno actually encourages “scolding” managers. Not only that but scolding them at the gemba. This is contrary to so much of today’s leadership training. Modern wisdom says not to “scold” but to coach these people off line. His argument is that workers want to see support. When something isn’t right workers need to see management addressing it swiftly and with vigor. Having held middle level management positions I can see how Ohno must have been difficult to work with. But in other chapters, he says when you are wrong, no matter what your rank or title, admit it swiftly and sincerely.
Another lesser surprise is a modern Lean Myth debunked. It is well documented in many of the original Japanese translated books from authors such as Ohno-san and Shingo-san, kaizen IS about reducing costs. I have great respect for many of today’s lean bloggers and podcast hosts who discuss that you focus on the process and the costs will follow. Ohno is clear, we do improvement not for improvement’s sake we do it to reduce costs.
I loved this entire book, but my absolute favorite part was not originally included in the first edition…in the Afterward there is a section called The Sayings of Ohno. These 4-5 pages have single sentence quotes on specific topics. I know that quotes alone don’t paint the entire picture, but they continue to paint the picture of what Ohno created.
In summary, I plan on using this book in the future a little differently - Not to read cover to cover as I did this time at 30,000 feet, but to read a single chapter a week and to deeply reflect on that chapter throughout the week. Since format of this book is that each chapter is short and is a stand-alone piece of work I think this is very feasible and could add a lot of value to my continued learning.
October 12, 2016
Good conceptions.
Read
February 4, 2021Lots of people speak about the Toyota Production System or lean manufacturing, but few have taken the time to look at what the originator has to say about it. Taiichi Ohno’s Workplace Management: Special 100th Birthday Edition is his writing about the development of the system, including the thinking that led to its development.
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November 6, 2017
Whether you believe Ohno is the Master, or simply "the guy leading all the other guys", I still consider his works vitally important to understanding the principles of Lean.
January 8, 2020
Very important for TPS knowledge
Crucial to anyone wanting to learn more about TPS tools and mindsets in the workplace. It is a quick knowledge read.
Crucial to anyone wanting to learn more about TPS tools and mindsets in the workplace. It is a quick knowledge read.
March 21, 2020
Loved this! It's a wonderful complement to the (many) books on lean management such as the 5-star "Machine that Changed the World." The first-hand wisdom & storytelling are priceless.
August 7, 2020
Excelente libro para entender más en profundidad la filosofía Kaizen. Recomendando para aquellos que tengan una base en el tema
May 8, 2021
The whole book is about the definition of lean.
May 19, 2021
Få gode pointer.
Men dårlig opsat bog, hvor det er svært at overskue hvad der er væsentligst.
Gammel bog.
Men dårlig opsat bog, hvor det er svært at overskue hvad der er væsentligst.
Gammel bog.
August 8, 2021
Not as good as I expected
October 28, 2022
The author provides an idea on how the Toyota management system came together providing various chapters describing various parts of the system, with some examples and clear explanations on the why.
September 19, 2016
Very philosophical book (more towards the start then it gets more manufacturing specific). It reads very quickly and if you are into the mindset and understand the context it is a joy. There are a couple of things, specially about trying to squeeze employees that might be taken wrongly but I would guess this is mostly because of the context. I would say that the important thing is not take it as gospel as Ohno advocates but use it as a way of finding your own way. I wouldn't read it straight away without some introduction to Lean Manufacturing, Toyota System etc. Some quotes I really enjoyed:
"Perhaps the more a person is an intellectual the more they are prone to misconceptions"
"Openness to admit your own mistakes makes people feel better about trying your ideas and become more willing to cooperate. That is the true power of persuasion"
"Each person should be tenacious when testing their ideas and checking the results until everyone is persuaded that they have found the one better way"
"If your idea fails, then go to see what failed with your own eyes
That way you will see what things were tried and what things were not"
"The ability of people to relate to each other is a significant strength"
"Misconceptions easily turn into common sense"
"Unless we completely change how we think, there is a limit to what we can accomplish by continuing the same thinking"
"The shift to producing higher-value-added products is a typical philosophy of economists"
"The cost that is reduced is the profit that is generated"
"Costs do not exist to be calculated but to be reduced"
"Try methods and see which ones reduce cost"
"If I could predict the future I wouldn't need to come to work. I could make more money betting on horses at the track"
"Perhaps the more a person is an intellectual the more they are prone to misconceptions"
"Openness to admit your own mistakes makes people feel better about trying your ideas and become more willing to cooperate. That is the true power of persuasion"
"Each person should be tenacious when testing their ideas and checking the results until everyone is persuaded that they have found the one better way"
"If your idea fails, then go to see what failed with your own eyes
That way you will see what things were tried and what things were not"
"The ability of people to relate to each other is a significant strength"
"Misconceptions easily turn into common sense"
"Unless we completely change how we think, there is a limit to what we can accomplish by continuing the same thinking"
"The shift to producing higher-value-added products is a typical philosophy of economists"
"The cost that is reduced is the profit that is generated"
"Costs do not exist to be calculated but to be reduced"
"Try methods and see which ones reduce cost"
"If I could predict the future I wouldn't need to come to work. I could make more money betting on horses at the track"
August 13, 2016
While I gave this 5 stars, it is NOT for everyone. I love the gems throughout the book. If someone is looking for formulaic advice, they will be very disappointed. If they follow without processing (repeatedly) the concepts based on their own experiences and knowledge then they will be disappointed. For those who have been working toward a true interaction with employees, and working toward jointly considered solutions, where employees have more say in the HOW (maybe more than the WHAT)... this will be a book FULL of gems based on Tahiichi Ohno's deep and rich experiences. This is a great source of insights. Please do NOT expect it to give you formulas to follow. Do NOT expect it to give even rules to be followed without considering the concepts, etc. Do NOT expect it to be a beginner's tutorial. If you take it for the (somewhat haphazard) list of valuable experiences and lessons learned that you can process and apply as helpful, this will be a gold mine. In my opinion, this great man's presentation is not what I wish it were, but his content (if you do the mental work to see what applies and how) is nothing short of fantastic.
January 20, 2016
In general this is a good book for manufacturing. Since I don't involve much in manufacturing subject, this is a fresh view for me.
The book talks a lot about productivity and cost reduction.
Little from the book can be applied for my kind of business but some are very cool to have a perspective on, especially the ones with leadership lessons.
I especially like the additional part with the timeless quotes:
"Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Seek what they sought."
"If you are going to do Kaizen continuously… you've got to assume that things are a mess."
"Teaching means to teach something unknown. Training means to repeatedly practice something you know until your body remembers it."
"Let the flow manage the processes, and not let management manage the flow".
"Knowledge is something you buy with the money. Wisdom is something you acquire by doing it."
The book talks a lot about productivity and cost reduction.
Little from the book can be applied for my kind of business but some are very cool to have a perspective on, especially the ones with leadership lessons.
I especially like the additional part with the timeless quotes:
"Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Seek what they sought."
"If you are going to do Kaizen continuously… you've got to assume that things are a mess."
"Teaching means to teach something unknown. Training means to repeatedly practice something you know until your body remembers it."
"Let the flow manage the processes, and not let management manage the flow".
"Knowledge is something you buy with the money. Wisdom is something you acquire by doing it."
July 6, 2015
A quick and easy read written in a conversational style. I wouldn't consider this an instructional book, but rather a supplement of meaningful lean anecdotes for those already in the practice or who have basic knowledge.
April 2, 2013
Simply stated, because it is first person stories it points out the human side, and humility that is lacking in so many "management" books.
March 23, 2014
Wow
I would recommend anyone in management to read this book. completely changes your way of thinking from start to finish.
I would recommend anyone in management to read this book. completely changes your way of thinking from start to finish.
June 14, 2016
Great book for any manager. A must for anyone who works on the shop floor and manages a team.
September 4, 2015
Ingeniería industrial directamente del arquitecto del TPS. Excelente.
January 31, 2016
Short chapters filled with wisdom. Must read for every Lean practitioner.
July 23, 2017
This is the second book I’ve ready by Taiichi Ohno. I love Ohno’s style. He makes everything sound so simple and clear. You get a sense, quickly, that he is an authority on the topics he discusses. Ohno can write about a concept in a very short amount of words, yet they explain everything. His writing style is as efficient as his improvement systems.
I chose to read Ohno’s books to ground myself in the origins of Lean. I’m glad I did it since it gives me perspective on how the current processes formed. It gives me the original “5 Whys” perhaps. Since he is the standard, I can use it as a baseline for everything else.
I recommend Workplace Management highly. It is a short read packed with a lot of great stuff. If I had to choose, I suppose I think that The Toyota Production System was better. However, I feel like I get a more comprehensive understanding of the man who did so much to shape the future of manufacturing and improvement.
For a full review, please visit my site at https://davemolinari.com/2017/07/13/b....
I chose to read Ohno’s books to ground myself in the origins of Lean. I’m glad I did it since it gives me perspective on how the current processes formed. It gives me the original “5 Whys” perhaps. Since he is the standard, I can use it as a baseline for everything else.
I recommend Workplace Management highly. It is a short read packed with a lot of great stuff. If I had to choose, I suppose I think that The Toyota Production System was better. However, I feel like I get a more comprehensive understanding of the man who did so much to shape the future of manufacturing and improvement.
For a full review, please visit my site at https://davemolinari.com/2017/07/13/b....
November 26, 2017
Nice collextion of short, insightful stories, yet some parts feel a bit... dated. Although thr book specifically states it should be seen as an interview, I do think that it would be immensely helpful if the book was mote streamlined Kaizen, the next edition ? ;)
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