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The Toyota Way
Fieldbook is a companion to the
international bestseller The Toyota Way. The
Toyota Way Fieldbook builds on the
philosophical aspects of Toyota's operating
systems by detailing the concepts and
providing practical examples for application
that leaders need to bring Toyota's
success-proven practices to life in any
organization. The Toyota Way Fieldbook will
help other companies learn from Toyota and
develop systems that fit their unique
cultures.
The book begins with a
review of the principles of the Toyota Way
through the 4Ps model-Philosophy, Processes,
People and Partners, and Problem Solving.
Readers looking to learn from Toyota's lean
systems will be provided with the inside
knowledge they need to
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- Define the companies purpose and
develop a long-term philosophy
- Create value streams with connected
flow, standardized work, and level
production
- Build a culture to stop and fix
problems
- Develop leaders who promote and
support the system
- Find and develop exceptional people
and partners
- Learn the meaning of true root cause
problem solving
- Lead the change process and
transform the total enterprise
The best book
for lean implementers,
This temendous book is
the best book I have read on the specifics
of TPS so far, and the one closest to it's
elusive spirit - it's an absolute must read
for any lean implementer. Far beyond the
description of tools, it's a brilliant
attempt at giving a feel for what TPS is
truly about. For instance, there's a lovely
story of one of the authors looking at a
westerm traditional automotive assembly
chain. At some point, he spots a problem
with a carpet in the cars being assembled.
Instinctively, he looks for the andon cord,
before reminding himself that, of course,
there would be one. Then he points out the
defect to the supervisor, who answers, that,
yeah, he's right - they'll probably spot it
at rework and deal with it. Should they talk
to someone upstream? Not necessary, the
previous process is probably aware of the
problem and trying to do something about it.
The author then describes his moment of
total anguish at seeing a defect go through
the process and not being able to do
anything about it.
This, I believe is a
reflection of the true TPS spirit. I know a
plant manager who used to work with Toyota
before chosing to come back home and take a
local non-Toyota plant. The first thing he
did was set up an andon board. At first, he
was puzzled to see the lights never went
off. Then he realized there was nothing, but
absolutely nothing in the current social
system of the plant that would make the
operators trigger an andon signal, or the
management react to it. To implement TPS,
everything had to be constructed from
scratch.
The Toyota Way Fieldbook
is far more than a companion to The Toyota
Way, which is a great management book about
Toyota. The Fieldbook goes explicitly into
some of the least described aspects of TPS:
the development of people thorugh constant
problem-solving. The Fieldbook describes
both techniques to follow people
development, and problem-solving processes
which are, in my mind, at the heart of the
TPS. I can't recommend this book enough to
all readers out there who struggle in trying
to implement lean without access to a
sensei. This won't replace the sensei, but
it's the closest thing to it.
Practical and
useful "how to" companion to the Toyota Way,
Book description: what's the key message?
While Jeffrey Liker's
book The Toyota Way was an examination of
the 14 Principles of the Toyota Way, it was
not an explicit "how to" guide at a tactical
level. This follow up book is intended as
the more practical guide to Becoming Lean
(to borrow the title of an earlier book
written by Liker). The Fieldbook is
organized in the framework of Toyota's 4
P's:
- Philosophy
- Process
- People and Partners
- Problem Solving
The book starts first
with "philosophy," not lean tools. It
develops an important relationship between
the two. The book, in its entirety,
emphasizes that copying Toyota tools,
regardless of how thoroughly, is not enough
to become lean. Early chapters talk about
defining your company's purpose and
philosophy, providing many examples of
Toyota's purpose and unique view of their
place in society and the world. From there,
the Fieldbook guides you through a
reasonable progression of lean topics and
methods to work with in your own company.
While there is no simple linear progression
through a lean transformation, the authors
address the challenge well in structuring
the flow of the book. Typical "early" stages
of lean learning and implementation are
covered first, including learning how to
identify waste, establishing process
stability, and developing flow. The book
spends more time on organizational culture
and management methods, as opposed to tools.
The book remains practical and actionable,
rather than theoretical.
A strong central portion
of the book focuses on developing leaders,
how to lead in a lean environment, and how
to develop "exceptional" employees. One
particular highlight are the detailed
examples, including a breakdown of the roles
of Group Leaders, Team Leaders, and Team
Members in a lean setting, not covered in
most lean books.
The book recognizes that companies are not
Toyota as a starting point. Rather, they are
trying to become a Toyota-like lean
organization. There is a chapter on
respecting suppliers and managing them as
Toyota does. The last sections of the book
cover Toyota problem solving and
implementation strategies, including a
discussion of the pros and cons of different
common lean transformation or implementation
approaches, including kaizen events and the
development of a "Company Production
System."
How does it contribute to the lean knowledge
base?
This book is a unique compilation of Toyota
Production System methods, concepts, and
philosophies. There are many adaptable
examples of Toyota tools and methods,
including Standard Work Combination tables,
Cross Training matrices, 5 Why's problem
solving analysis, and A3 reports. There are
many new case study examples in the book
that will be helpful, even to an experienced
lean practitioner.
The book is also unique in that it is
co-authored by a former Toyota team leader,
an American, as opposed to reading an older
book by Toyota executive Taiichi Ohno or
consultant Shigeo Shingo.
What are the highlights? What works?
The book is very readable and easy to
understand. Its layout and format borrows
many of the good practices of the "For
Dummies" series. You might consider this to
be a "Toyota Production System For Dummies"
book. There are many callouts with icons
indicating "Tips" and "Traps" to look out
for in your own lean implementation, to help
avoid common lean implementation mistakes or
failure modes.
This is very helpful, as the authors realize
that it can be difficult work implementing
lean. They never talk down to you or make
you feel bad that you might struggle with
the Toyota Way in your own environment,
because you are not Toyota.
Furthermore, co-author David Meier was a
group leader at Toyota. Many perspectives on
Toyota come from the process or industrial
engineering perspective, but the perspective
of front-line supervisor is of significant
value and often overlooked.
What are the weaknesses? What's missing?
While this is clearly a field book in its
application focus, it is less clear how it
is connected to companion book, The Toyota
Way. The 14 principles of that book are
mentioned briefly but are not integrated
into this book. The Fieldbook has value as a
standalone volume, but those looking for a
specific companion to The Toyota Way will be
disappointed.
You might be surprised to not find much
information about Kanban, a process made
famous by Toyota. Although the concept of
pull is covered, there is no chapter on
Kanban or examples of calculations or Kanban
cards. Thankfully, there are many references
and other books available on this topic.
How should I read this to get the most out
of it?
The book can be read straight through. For
an experienced lean practitioner, it can
easily be used as a reference book. Topics
are well organized and tools are easy to
find with a well-documented index. For
example, if you want an example of an A3
Report, you will find many pages of
explanation about the tool and how to use
you. You will also find fully completed
examples of the tool. This is extremely
helpful and adds to the book's value as a
practical reference.
Great
addition to Toyota Way but not as good,
The Toyota Way Fieldbook
is excellent and it's a great addition to
the Toyota Way. It's hard to write a book as
good as the Toyota Way, this book is good,
but not as good as Toyota Way.
When I started reading the fieldbook, I was
highly dissapointed. The first 200 pages
basically just explained the basic lean
tools. It's good if you do not know them,
but I felt that the book didn't add anything
to the existing lean literature. I expected
more from Jeff Liker, especially after the
excellent Toyota Way.
Part IV of the book starts around page 200
and talks about developing people. Here, for
me, the book took a turn and became better
the more I continued. (I also immediately
ordered the new Toyota Talent book to hope
to get more information on this side of
Toyota). The organizational structures and
training descriptions was very concrete, as
I would expect in a fieldbook. Then Part V
started around page 300 and it was...
excellent. It's about find root causes and
continuous learning. Just chapter 14 is
worth the whole book. The description of the
"therefore" method and it's relationship to
the 5why's is very important. (this section
talks about how 5why is a method for finding
the root cause, but it's just as important
to abstract the problem in "the true
problem" so that you got more flexibility in
ways of solving it).
The last part is about managing the change.
The stories are all very nice and concrete.
The advise is useful.
I really like this book, especially chapter
14! It gave me, again, new insights in
Toyota's way of working and especially it's
culture. The stories made it concrete and
they were fun to read. Recommended, after
you finished the Toyota Way.
The most
important 'lean' book.
Simply the most important
book to have on your shelf if you are
serious about lean manufacturing. This book
is less about theroy and more about
practical advice. I find it is the book I
take with me as a senior lean consultant.
Dave and Jeff have done an excellent job
putting these concepts and experiences into
word.
Some miss the wisdom in these pages but I
find it right on the money. Chapter 4 is a
chapter I have asked people to read over and
over. In my opinion it is most companies are
and don't know it.
I recommend this book very highly. Get it,
read it more than once.
Guide, menu,
toolbook, cookbook, non Toyota case
studies...whatever you name it. It helps!,
For those who had been
deeply impressed by "The Toyota Way" and
want to implement it to your business, this
book is an excellent pracctical guide. There
are plenty of charts, flow diagrams, tables,
checklists, non Toyota examples, action
plans, report forms etc etc which I find
very helpful. I particularly like the
"Reflect and Learn from the Process" Section
(summary/key points/action items) in the end
of each chapter. A book well worths its
price! Highly recommended! However, please
read "The Toyota Way" before this.
p.s. One value added for my review, or in
fact a justification for my high preference
of this book. On page 122-124, the authors
discussed the six myths of standardized
work. (So bad that some managers in my
office hold them as axioms)
Myth 1: If we have standardized work,
anyone can learn everything about the job by
looking at the documents.
Myth 2: If we have standardized work,
we can bring anyone off the street and train
them to do the job in a few minutes.
Myth 3: We can incorporate all
details of the work and standards into the
standardized work sheet.
Myth 4: We will post the document so
operators can look at the sheet each day to
remember how to do the job.
Myth 5: Employees develop their own
standardized work.
Myth 6: If we have standardized work,
operators will do the job properly and will
not deviate from the standard.
The Toyota
Way Fieldbook,
The Toyota way, written
by Jeff Liker, a coauthor of this book, was
great as a look into the softer side of the
Toyota philosophy and culture. This book
fills in the gaps on technical support and
is organized in a manner where a chapter can
be assigned at a time and still be useful
out of context of the rest of the book. The
real life aspects and explanations brought
to light by Dave Meier add hands on credence
to the work. As a Lean implementor I know I
will assign sections for reading to those I
work with from this book since alot of
people really don't want to read a full book
in todays busy world and may not need all of
it at once. Still, a good book to read fully
if you can as it is packed with information,
tips and traps.
One more
Jewel,
Hats off to Dr Liker in
bringing one more precious book to us.
Everyone can read this book with ease and
understand Toyota principles through case
studies.
Among many things I liked
-
Flow diagrams, TIPS,
TRAPS, case studies and most importantly
the visuals
-
More clarity on
leveling paradox with examples
-
Toyota technology
adoption strategies
So you think
your company is lean?
Think again..., read this
book and I will guarantee you will look at
your company's Lean implementation in a
different way. The perspective given as you
read the book makes one feel as though you
are actually working for Toyota. The book's
content, real-world examples and
illustrations will present you with
opportunities to ask the question "Why" to
your management again and again.
This book will make you "Think" and think
like Toyota would think and what better
company would there be to follow? IMO, there
is none and what makes it that way is
Toyota's humble attitude in that they are
not perfect and always strive for
perfection.
Read the book, make the changes in the way
you do business, become more competitive and
profitable, satisfy your customers, change
yourself and hopefully those around you and
best of all, have fun doing it.
Practical and
Fact Filled,
An excellent follow-up to
The Toyota Way! The Fieldbook offers
countless tips and practical applications
that can be used in real-life situations! I
have recommended this book to all of my
clients and I would recommend it to anyone
interested in progressing down the lean
pathway!
Excellent
Training / Front-Line Leader Resource,
I added this book to my
lean collection over a year ago. Those of us
that have 10+ years experience with lean, we
will find this resource very basic. What the
author created was a resource tool for
training. I utilize this resource for
introducing new leaders to the concepts of
lean. In addition, this resource is
especially helpful for those who have zero
understanding and are somewhat resistant to
embrace lean / systems thinking.
I find the author created an introduction
tool for front-line leaders. Therefore, this
is a must have for people at this level.
Unfortunately, I have recognized a number of
gaps with this text. First, if your culture
does not promote these concepts, forget it.
If you are a supervisor in a ridged union
shop, you will have a hard time implementing
these concepts, since the thrust is aimed at
non-union and high-performance driven
cultures. My second issue is the overall
simplistic approach granted to cultural
transformation. Even in the best, most
highly motivated environments, a lean
transformation requires great time and
patience. A change agent must understand
that positive change occurs when these
excellent concepts are `top down, bottom
driven.'
Lastly, I would like to see more case
studies. More specifically, this audience
needs case studies on how to transform a
culture (from mass production to lean for
example) in small pieces. Leaders need more
than concepts to learn. As we know and have
experienced, leaders, especially front-line
leaders, need a road map of how to start. I
recommend small case studies that illustrate
small success stories.
I still highly recommend this resource, for
all levels. The author created an
easy-to-read guide that motivates the reader
to begin cultural transformation. I would
like to see a dedicated resource on case
studies for (a) union and non-union shops;
(b) lean with limited resources such as
organizations with few employees, start-ups;
(c) lean in highly challenging, toxic work
environments; and (d) lean in distribution
industries.
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