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| The Toyota Way | 
 enlarge | Author: Jeffrey Liker
Publisher: McGraw-Hill
Category: Book
List Price: $27.95
Buy New: $14.98
You Save: $12.97 (46%)
New (45) Used (26) Collectible (1) from $14.24
Avg. Customer Rating:  83 reviews
Sales Rank: 791
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 350
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.6
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.3
ISBN: 0071392319
Dewey Decimal Number: 658.5
UPC: 639785384403
EAN: 9780071392310
ASIN: 0071392319
Publication Date: December 17, 2003
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand New, Perfect Condition, Please allow 4-14 business days for delivery. 100% Money Back Guarantee, Over 1,000,000 customers served.
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Product Description
How to speed up business processes, improve quality, and cut costs in any industry In factories around the world, Toyota consistently makes the highest-quality cars with the fewest defects of any competing manufacturer, while using fewer man-hours, less on-hand inventory, and half the floor space of its competitors. The Toyota Way is the first book for a general audience that explains the management principles and business philosophy behind Toyota's worldwide reputation for quality and reliability. Complete with profiles of organizations that have successfully adopted Toyota's principles, this book shows managers in every industry how to improve business processes by: - Eliminating wasted time and resources
- Building quality into workplace systems
- Finding low-cost but reliable alternatives to expensive new technology
- Producing in small quantities
- Turning every employee into a qualitycontrol inspector
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| Customer Reviews: Read 78 more reviews...
 Highly Recommended! August 4, 2004
29 out of 32 found this review helpful
This book is like a Toyota vehicle: not necessarily fancy, but extraordinarily capable of getting you from point "A" to point "B." Author Jeffrey K. Liker's thorough insight into the continual improvement method known as "The Toyota Way" reflects his experience with the Toyota Production System (TPS) and his knowledge of its guiding philosophies and its technical applications. He explains why Toyota has become a global symbol of passionate commitment to continual improvement and efficiency. Toyota's success as the world's most profitable automaker is no accident and now, thanks to this book, it's no mystery, either. Liker drills down to the underlying principles and behaviors that will set your company on the Toyota Way. The book reflects years of studying Toyota's philosophy: it is well mapped out, straightforward and exceedingly although not daringly innovative. We highly recommend it to anyone striving to improve their organization's operational efficiency.
Clearly shows you why so many fail to copy them November 4, 2006
24 out of 25 found this review helpful
I've read this book a few times, and got our factory excited by it as well. We read it 2 chapters a week as a group, with a volunteer facilitator reviewing the content of the chapters in a weekly session. Suggest you start with this one and then read "Creating a Lean Culture" by David Mann and then "The Toyota Way Fieldbook" by Jeffrey Liker. A must read for those interested in Lean Manufacturing or Self-Directed Workteams.
Pro:
-Shows the commitment of Toyota to their methods and philosophies. By commitment they mean a willingness to pursue your transformation for at least 10 years, which is why I think so many fail... lack of commitment.
-Provides building blocks upon which to apply lean tools or lean toolkit
-Philosophy is quite detailed for a few hundred pages, appears thorough and complete so if you want to, you can create a similar systems-based approach
Con:
-Not a recipe for you to copy... no shortcuts or cutting corners here.
Neutral:
-Not much detail on "tools" which is out of scope for the content of this book
Bottom line: I think that this book is true to the philosophies of Toyota as I've directly observed from the 4 or 5 different senseis (former Toyota executives turned consultants) I have had the chance to work with. I only recommend a few books, this is one of them. Pairs well with "Creating a Lean Culture," by David Mann as a way to extend the lessons learned in The Toyota Way.
 How to do it well March 19, 2005
21 out of 32 found this review helpful
I work in the shipping department for a newer Toyota supplier and was intrigued by the way TMMI pulled orders, so I picked up this book on my own. It is a lot of information to digest, but I thought worth it. A lot of times I was laughing as I read because I remember a couple of years ago when everything at my employer was "5S" this, lean that - only they had it all wrong and management's interest fizzled after a couple of months. In the case of our plant manager, thirty years of manufacturing experience puts him at a disadvantage, especially with the concept of producing in small quantities and doing more version changes. I think management should definitely get with this program, because soon it will be what has to happen to be competitive.
 A Team Members Perspective June 24, 2004
16 out of 19 found this review helpful
This book outlines many fine principles that Toyota Motor Corporation used to build this company. However, if Dr. Liker had devoted an extensive period of time in the Georgetown, KY facility, TMMK, where I've been a Team Member for 13 years, he would have gained a better perspective as to how the modern Toyota system operates, quite unlike the blueprint outlined by this company's founders. Quality is not the same as it was 10 years ago and cost cutting is the flavor of the day. Our workforce consists of a large percentage of temporary non-Toyota employees, many who have been here online for over 4 years. We have not earned a J.D. Power award in a few years either. Mr. Convis, who authored the forward, is the President of TMMK and has recently been engaged in thwarting a union movement by nearly 40% of the regular Team Members. In short, Dr. Liker's failure to extensively study Toyota in action in todays environment failed to appreciate the notion that the 14 principles are ideal, but only if practiced. I welcome anyone at Toyota to prove me wrong. I will say this: When Mr. Cho opened this plant back in 1988, we were a much better run organization and we earned many J.D. Power awards because the environment at that time was the application of many of these 14 Principles - not so today. I believe the author should rethink the way he writes his next book - this one isn't accurate and the reader is being misled if he or she thinks that Toyota adheres to this philosophy
A Misleading Book September 14, 2005
16 out of 22 found this review helpful
I work at TMMK in Georgetown. With management's and the author's permission I personally wrote a detailed critique of Dr. Liker's book back in Sept. 2004 and to date, 12 months later, not a response from anyone. Dr. Liker's book is well written, but it includes several key errors which, if omitted, would make the foundation of his thesis weak. So, here we are a year later and just this past week Toyota announced a major recall of 978,000 vehicles. That number is equivalent to 2 full years of production at the Georgetown facility, though it should be noted that those vehicles being recalled were not produced at TMMK. Regardless, they are still Toyota vehicles and one has to wonder how does The Toyota Way address this quality failure? Think about it folks - 978,000 customers of Toyota purchased a problem they didn't anticipate, didn't want, but now have to devote time and energy to resolve. In my critique, I advised Dr. Liker that this sort of calamity was inevitable - perhaps in the next edition he will revise his assessment of Toyota. Just this past week, Rick Popely and Jim Mateja, reporters for Knight Ridder News Service, addressed the very problem that Toyota and Ford have created for themselves of sharing drive-train components and platforms among several models with the downside being that when there is a problem, a lot more vehicles are affected. It's a cost-cutting measure which, both Ford & Toyota, are willing to employ in order to increase profits. My question is this: Will Dr. Liker address this recall, and prior ones, as he attempts to praise Toyota's Way? Listen folks, the 14 principles Dr. Liker details are great and I encourage any organization to follow them, because for the most part, they will produce great results. My point on this book is that the reader is being led to believe that the modern day Toyota applies these principles. That's simply not true, otherwise they wouldn't be forced to fix 978,000 vehicles. Those 14 principles work great, as they did nearly 60 years ago when Toyota Motor Corporation first began producing cars.
Please don't misunderstand me - TMMK and Toyota as a corporation does a reasonably good job and I personally own 2 Toyota's, a 2001 Corolla and 2005 Sienna. The fact that TMMK allowed me to contact the author and explain my concerns speaks volumes for the company's willingness to become a better organization. I like the company and my job as a Team Member - I simply speak up to make it a better company than it is - and I told Dr. Liker his best source for reality is to spend more time on the floor and in the trenches than in the boardroom. Well written book, but it's not the Toyota I know.
Team Member in Georgetown
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