| | |  | Toyota Production System | Home » » » » The truth about Toyota and TPS | | | | | | | Description: | | The Truth about Toyota and TPS explains how Toyota works and focuses on three areas: the production system and how it is built, the marketing of Toyota cars as being superior in quality and its ability to capitalize on this perception, and lastly the management of its workforce. However, behind the cast-iron reputation of the carmaker lays an obsolete organization struggling for survival in one of the auto industry most serious slumps. Will Toyota, the company that survived and succeeded through sixty years of competitive markets, be able to transform itself and prosper? Will it be able to reinvent the car of the 21st century and recover its supremacy? | | | Product Details: | | | Author:
| Eichi Kobayashi | | Paperback:
| 116 pages | | Publisher:
| Prodinnova | | Publication Date:
| September 11, 2009 | | Language:
| English | | ISBN:
| 2917260025 | | Package Length:
| 9.1 inches | | Package Width:
| 6.0 inches | | Package Height:
| 0.2 inches | | Package Weight:
| 0.45 pounds | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 5 reviews |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 3 found the following review helpful:
 WorthlessSep 12, 2011
By J. KERIAN
"joe"
I originally picked this up as my company is going through a transition to a Lean system, and I wanted a bit of a counterbalance to some of the more dogmatic cheerleaders. I was completely disappointed. This screed seems to be nothing more than a graduate student pontificating against "corporate greed" of the most succesful company he could find when it came time to pick a PhD topic.
Rampant spelling and grammar mistakes throughout the book show poor editing and occasionally extremely confused thought. Most of the analogies made to other industries demonstrates the limited nature of the authors experience in productive industry. Very few of the significant claims are backed by any data or even a suggestion that any real research was done.
The analogy to CPU design at Intel takes a single quote from a non-technical manager, misinterprets it, and then draws conclusions that are so obviously wrong that it completely derails his argument.
There are many examples of "original research" without the "research" bit. About the "5 Whys" system, he claims "most operators end up falling back to deduction without truly searching for the root causes". Really? "most"? As they say on wikipedia, "Citation Needed". After a completely unsupported paragraph about how the "5 Whys" system fails to examine root causes or solve anything, including such gems as "[the system results] in a total confusion about the problem root cause" (no citation, why would there need to be?), the concluding sentence is "Toyota accumulated and built this operators' knowledge of root causes into its equipment, processes and procedures which allowed it to gain a competitive advantage over other carmakers."
The claim that "most western companies that have adopted TPS have not been succesful"(paraphrased), is also completly unsupported, and left me wondering how you would define "adopted TPS", given the complexity of converting an entire system, even if you were attempting to prove the point.
For an explanation of why TPS isn't a silver bullet, NPRs radio show on the NUMMI plant was far more informative, particularly as they talked about the attempts to replicate its success at other GM facilities. For a sophomoric rant against a company, this book is a fine substitute for the Che T-shirt wearing undergrad at your local Starbucks.
1 of 2 found the following review helpful:
 Intersting and usefullNov 15, 2010
By Xavier Perrin
"Xavier Perrin"
There are so many books written about Toyota and its TPS today, mainly presenting only positive and spectacular issues about the firm. Eichi Kobayashi has produced a highly intersting and usefull book, which should be red by all person using or teaching the lean approach.
0 of 2 found the following review helpful:
An interesting book about Toyota and TPS!!Jan 10, 2010
By Joyce Åkesson
Somebody has to find a way to make the Toyota and TPS subject realistic and interesting and this book does that. It is easy to read and understand with no sophisticated and boring material such as charts and diagrams (except one or two) and is more up to date regarding Toyota success and failure. This is not the "standard" book about this topic. It is much better.
Joyce Akesson, author of Love's Thrilling Dimensions, The Invitation and Majnun Leyla: Poems about Passion
0 of 2 found the following review helpful:
Amazing Book about the very Future of the Auto Industry and Manufacturing TechniquesDec 25, 2009
By John Keats
"dave"
It is amazing how a system that worked for the last 60 years suddenly stopped working and how Toyota lost its way after defeating the Americans. Now, the new kid on the block is VW and to a smaller extent the Koreans. This book predicts another auto and manufacturing techniques war. I think it has already started.
1 of 4 found the following review helpful:
Definitely a different view of Toyota and TPS...Sep 18, 2009
By tom bertrand
"While all previous Toyota and TPS books are full of buzz words praising the company superior capabilities, this one is completely different and uncovers a different truth about this company and its production system. The events of this year seem to corroborate its findings. A must read."
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