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

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.

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

The Machine That Changed the World; The Story of Lean ProductionA great book that although becoming a little outdated portrays the ongoing trends in the automobile production industry in three major cultural areas.The three areas are;the Asian lean production (Toyota) v.s. the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 theearly 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 andNorth 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 Leanproduction. 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.

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.