Toyota Reviews

After only reading a few pages of this book I could see that this Toyota has a lethal weapon in business that American companies seen not interested in using - or worse think that thay are using it just fine? Compare "TPS" with "My Years With General Motors" and imagaine who you would rather compete with? Demming said something like "export everything from America... except american management!" This book will show you why.
This book is not a "ISO" type blueprint in that it is a consise overview without much "filler" or stale requirements so don't worry if you donot get the big picture until you have read and maybe reread the book.
One note - I think that just maybe (if I can be so bold) that chapter 3 should be read first then the rest of the book. I also recomend other books (and web searches) on Kaizen by those who have done it for as long as Mr. Ohno.
I love this book!

I really enjoyed reading Mr. Ohno's book. Even though it is a short book, it is full of ideas that can be applied to any production bussiness.
Even though that the system was created for a car production facility, the concept of "waste" is useful to any type of manufacturing. This idea, coupled with the concept of producing exactly what is sold ( or what the client requests )allows any company to became profitable in times when profit margins get narrower and narrower.

I am a former Toyota Engineer and recommend that anyone interested in learning about the Toyota Production System a.k.a. lean manufacturing this is the place to start. Mr. Ohno is the creator of TPS and he gives a very good overview of how the system works. The book is very easy to read and easy to understand. This book should be read by all upper management employees looking to create a lean environment in their plants. The book will give you a good foundation to start implementing the techniques. It is the best book to read considering it comes from the inventor himself. It is the best you are going to find shy of being actually trained within Toyota's walls.

Excellent book. Highly recommond for any one who would like to know "What is TPS?". As you see in this book one can try to copy a system but to understand and implement the philosophy behind such a system is very very difficult. Once you start reading it you will not put it down till you finish.

I thought the book was as informative as interesting. I learned a lot about Toyota, and management in general. More impressive was the writing I could not put this book down. It was exiting from start to finish.

This book will open your eyes to the unique story of men and machines in Japan, USA and Europe. There are also accurate accounts of the history of the automotive industry in the early days. You will come to realize a new appreciation for the honor and ethics of the Toyoda family and the companies and systems they founded and developed.

The pursuit of knowledge that gives us an understanding of factors that determine success in the market place has always considered "the firm" as the unit of analysis. This has been the case with microeconomics, game theory, competitive strategy and many such specialized areas of research. Cartels that manipulate supply and prices are perhaps an exception to this rule. If, instead of considering the firm as the unit, we consider a group of firms teaming together to collectively provide value to the customer and succeed as a unique identity as a unit of analysis, the methodology to understand competition would undergo a paradigm shift. This book is precisely about this concept as applicable to the automobile industry.

In the early half of the last century it was possible to go to the countryside for a picnic in a Ford Model T car, disassemble and reassemble it with a simple wrench and drive back home in the evening. Today we need computers to diagnose even a simple problem under the hood of cars tailor made to suit individual needs. Given the increase in complexity, explosion of technology and customer preferences, it is impossible for a single firm to ever think of manufacturing even half the components. (River Rouge will be remembered in history as the most ambitious plan of an automotive giant to make all parts of the automobile - including steel and timber from within the company. At best a fairy tale for kids of the twenty first century!).

This book is the summary of an excellent research study of the automobile industry in the 1990's with focus on Toyota and Chrysler. These companies have significantly different "governance structure" (the proportion of parts made in-house, procured from partner firms, and from arms'-length suppliers) from their competitors- GM and Ford. The firms that have a higher proportion of parts that are bought from partner suppliers have a clear edge over competitors that use arm's-length suppliers for the same parts. Extensive data has been collected, analyzed and tested to substantiate the statements made in the text.

Three characteristics that distinguish between partner suppliers from arm's length suppliers- Dedicated asset investments, Knowledge sharing routines and Inter-firm trust form the virtuous triangle that make these partnerships succeed. The results of such partnerships show clearly in tangible terms - Higher profitability per vehicle, better quality, faster time to market, and more new models for customers; the key parameters that enable Toyota and Chrysler to drive at top speed. "It 's not the big that eat the small but it's the fast that eat the slow".

Taking lessons from Toyota, Chrysler adopts concrete programs to consolidate its suppliers, integrate and partner with them to deliver higher value at lower cost to the customer.

Though this research is restricted to the automobile industry, the fundamental principles of "extended enterprise" can be extended across industries.

Highly recommended for all managers and a must read for those working in procurement processes. Next time your supplier drops in, think of this book and start a new relationship.

Having followed Dyer's other research, I think that this is a theoretically elegant piece of work. He builds further on his pieces in SMJ (with Singh from Wharton) and AMR and illustrates the concepts of relationship-based assets in firm networks. The running exemplar has he uses (Toyota) illustrates his theoretical arguments quite elonquently. The book also highlights the limitations of his concept of collaborative advantage, and his closing chapter illustrates how cultural differences (here with Benz) can keep this strategy from becoming reality. This book is not for folks looking for cut-out recipies. This book is a MUST for researchers and managers who like to think instead of searching for cookbooks! The concluding chapter is a gem because it highlights our gaps in knowledge. This is an excellent book, and having read Dyer's other works, it's high quality comes as very little surprise. Buy, own, read, reread, and profusely highlight your own copy! VERY highly recommended.

Jeffrey Dyer, an accomplished scholar and management teacher, has developed a cogent and sophisticated theory of extended enterprise management based on a wealth of empirical data from the history of Toyota in Japan and from his six-year study of Chrysler Corp. before its merger with Daimler-Benz. Beyond being a detailed and rigorous case study of the automobile manufacturing industry, Dyer's book presents an extremely valuable model for vertical integration. His model can be applied to other complex product industries, though he is honest about the limits of its applicability. This book provides a clear, effective blueprint for achieving value-chain collaboration. We [...] recommend it to consultants, executives in complex product industries and leaders in firms that supply components or materials. If you always suspected you were part of a greater whole, now you can be sure.

This is a great book on all generations of the Toyota MR2. Any fan of the car will appreciate the in depth look at the evolution of the Toyota MR2. From concept cars to the different the different variations, its all covered. Includes great colored photos as well as specifications of all the cars including American, Japanese and European grades. Highly recommended.

Is this a user's manual for the MR2 or is it just a history book?

Well if you are a nut about MR2's like I am then you MUST own this book. Many great pictures of the development for all three generations. Also a great read about the history of the MR2.

Chilton has done a fantastic job with repair manuals , This manual I bought is for my 1979 Corona, This manual has plenty of pictures of the engine and great illistrations for vacume and electrical lines AND WHAT PART GOES WERE AND HOW TO REMOVE AND INSTALL !!, This manual elimates all guess work and is very detailed and this manual gets to the point,

If you have a corona and it runs ?, Get this manual

This book relly helped me repair my corona which is constantly breaking down. It's shocks are also in need of repairs because of midnight rondevous.

Michael Kennedy's book, Product Development for the Lean Enterprise, gives an experienced insight into the dilemma faced by some of North America's largest organizations, those who have embraced management science in all of its complexity to win national awards, only to find they are unable to compete successfully at the customer level. Using an engaging fictional narrative, Kennedy provides a fresh insight into product development; this book will challenge your beliefs and understanding and likely intrigue you sufficiently to investigate how aspects of the process can be made applicable in your enterprise. It is a treasure trove of information on, not just its principal topic, Toyota's unique product development process, but details on establishing and operating "a process renewal team" and "large group interventions for organizational change".

In Michael Kennedy's very readable book, one is introduced to Toyota's design concepts, unconventional to the majority of us in corporate North America. Imagine your product development process stipulating:
•explore not one, but multiple design solutions at the same time;
•delay the design's narrowing process to as late as possible in the process;
•demand the building and testing of multiple design models and prototypes for performance conformity;
•have the development, retention and reuse of engineering knowledge and skills a top priority for the company;
•eliminate the use of complex integrated task based program and plans by delegating each program designer to prepare his/her own time-lines to meet fixed review dates and performance levels; and
•have functional engineering managers focus on teaching and mentoring engineering talent, not administration.

In addition to product development, Kennedy's book gives the reader an overview of change management issues from strategy, to personal and political conflict, to presentation and implementation tactics. The book stimulates thought; it proposes possibilities; it gives a glimpse into the future of an enlightened company's product development process. It is beyond a wake-up-call; it is mental nourishment to everyone whose enterprise relies on engineered products.

Michael Kennedy has created a most entertaining and informative book which explores an, heretofore, unexplored aspect of why Toyota, and companies like Toyota, excel at bringing new products to market with 4 times the efficiency of their North American competitors. The book is written in a fictionalized style, ala "The Goal", and conveys the philosophies and paradigms that Toyota embraces which set them apart, in time-to-market and profits, even in this post-bubble economy. Kennedy draws from his life experiences, both as an organizational developer of concurrent engineering processes at a Fortune 100 company, and from his involvement with a National Center for Manufacturing Sciences (NCMS) collaboration which studied and documented this subject. His volume chronicles how IRT Industries, struggles with their product development processes, their discovery of how Toyota uses knowledge-based paradigms, and how IRT grudgingly realizes that major paradigms shifts, not process changes nor process compliance is required to be a world class product development company. And, maybe best of all, he provides a detailed plan and methodology by which enlightened companies can implement what they learn from this volume.

This is a great reference for repairing or "fixing" any part of a Toyota Truck between the years of 1970 to 1986. My father gave me his Toyota 4Runner and it was in great shape. I had a liver transplant and was given a wish from "The Make a Wish Foundation". I decided to "beef" up my truck so that I would be able to drive down main street and have one of the hottest vehicles for a high school student. Make a Wish, put in a new interior, a automatic transmission (from a manual), cleaned the engine, and gave my truck a terrific paint job. When I received the truck from them, it started to have problems. I turned to my Chilton Toyota truck manual, and in less than two weeks, I had "weeded out the bugs". My friends oohed and aaahhed at my glorious vehicle.

From the chilton manual, I found troubleshooting tips, great black-and-white pictures( so you know exactly what part your looking at, and helpful safety precautions. This book also has a sixteen full color page section to help you with tuning and repairing. At the beginning, it gives you the places of where to find your vin numbers and before you begin, a checklist for the tools needed. This book probably saved my fame from becoming a total mess. Everyone including I, loved that truck. And I owe it all the "Chilton's Repair and Tune-Up Guide for Toyota Trucks 1970-1986".

This book explains the global automotive story of GM, VW, and Toyota. This is an accurate account of how and why the companies succeeded and failed in their manufacturing and sales arenas. There are also accurate accounts of the history of the automotive industry in the early days.

If you are interesting in automotive industry stories this book will you like it. Collision has a very nice narrative and it is not difficult to read. I recomend it.

A book that tries to highlight the role of system formation processes that aren't deliberately planned in Toyota. It is written after the author's past works on functional analysis of existing/planned manufacturing systems in automobile industry and Toyota in particular. The presentation adopts the evolutionary approach considering that manufacturing systems aren't merely a product of deliberately planning. Some of Toyota's successful routines may have originated unintentionally. Social systems often evolve because of unanticipated events and unplanned behavior. This idea is related to system emergence, a concept central to the evolutionary framework the author has adopted. What the author has presented and uncovered from Toyota's experience can be happened in other companies or may have been taken place in other companies. This is an example of presentation that we cannot find easily for other successful companies using an evolutionary approach, not strictly in a neo-darwinian framework. This book gives us general idea on how company's organizational capabilities were born and helps us understand particularly how Toyota has created its style manufacturing system and capabilities. A book that is worth-reading not only for scholars and students in management and organizational science, but also by those being actors in companies' building capabilities.