| | |  | Miscellaneous | Home » » » » Today and Tomorrow - Special Edition of Ford's 1926 Classic | | | | | | | Product Promotions: | | | | | Description: | | Winner of the 2003 Shingo Prize! Henry Ford is the man who doubled wages, cut the price of a car in half, and produced over 2 million units a year. Time has not diminished the progressiveness of his business philosophy, or his profound influence on worldwide industry. The modern printing of Today and Tomorrow features an introduction by James J. Padilla, Group Vice President, Ford North America. It also includes an enhanced selection of photos illustrating the processes and facilities Ford covers in the text. Taiichi Ohno acknowledged that a key stimulus to JIT was his close reading of this book. Today, these same ideas are re-emerging to revitalize American industry in new ways. "I, for one, am in awe of Ford's greatness. I believe Ford was a born rationalist -- and I feel more so every time I read his writings. He had a deliberate and scientific way of thinking about industry in America. For example, on the issues of standardization and the nature of waste in business, Ford's perception of things was orthodox and universal."
— Taiichi Ohno | | | Product Details: | | | Author:
| Henry Ford | | Hardcover:
| 286 pages | | Publisher:
| Productivity Press | | Publication Date:
| December 30, 1988 | | Language:
| English | | ISBN:
| 0915299364 | | Product Length:
| 9.43 inches | | Product Width:
| 6.35 inches | | Product Height:
| 0.81 inches | | Product Weight:
| 1.15 pounds | | Package Length:
| 8.9 inches | | Package Width:
| 6.2 inches | | Package Height:
| 1.0 inches | | Package Weight:
| 1.15 pounds | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 7 reviews |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
 ( 7 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
23 of 27 found the following review helpful:
 The book that inspired Taiichi OhnoOct 21, 2001
By Subrata Das
This is an outstanding book for those folks in manufacturing who are starting out on their "Lean" journey. The book teaches the uninitiated an original thinker's way of recognizing "waste" in manufacturing, and often, how to deal with that waste. Taiichi Ohno took a "shipload" of this book with him to Japan in the '50s and made sure that every Toyota engineer read the book. The rest is history as to how Toyota packaged this information for the rest of the world, including the United States, in its now famous "7 wastes of manufacturing." You will enjoy the book and learn what an outstanding visionary Henry Ford really was.
14 of 16 found the following review helpful:
A Visionary in Many ArenasFeb 16, 2005
By Larry R. Graham
This is the book that made me appreciate Mr Ford's accomplishments and how he changed the world of business, particularly manufacturing. He was a leader and true visionary in many aspects of business, which are chronicled herein, and many of the roots of Lean are documented in this text. Aside from kanban and `jelly beans', he didn't miss much of the fundamentals of what we see as Lean.
The impacts of Ford's principles on business, the economy, social ramifications, and more are profound. The ideas, thought processes, and applications are expressed well and we can learn from these today. Too bad much of the rest of American business lost sight of Ford's techniques as they became enamored with scientific formulae like EOQ (economic order quantities) without questioning the assumptions.
17 of 23 found the following review helpful:
 An historical document of our contemporaryMay 17, 2005
By Thomas Kull
There are different "uses" for this book - some I'd recommend, and others not.
I WOULD NOT recommend this book for it's insights on -
Economics: Ford explains a classic industrial notion that a company paying employees more will increase its sales because employees will buy more company product. Not only is this a false assumption of employee behavior, it also only approaches plausibility for very large consumer product companies.
Finance: Ford describes how financial instruments are short-term narcotics and long-term ills. His opinion seems to ignore the buffering benefits of finance, as well as the gains created for society by letting financial tools open possibilities.
HOWEVER, YOU SHOULD READ THIS BOOK BECAUSE -
It is current: Ford describes a organizational skill poorly understood and mostly ignored: coordination. In the book, many processes are described that Ford says are all well known to other companies, but how the Ford Corporation made the processes interact was their power. Today's out-sourcing is more palatable knowing this skill.
It is insightful: An excellent alternative to the "profit-motive" of companies is presented: service-motive. Not because profits are bad does Ford present the service-motive, but because profits are give unreliable feedback. Ford sees the maintenance of service to the public as a more durable goal.
It is historical: Not only does it provide the roots to Taiichi Ohno's - Toyota's - operations strategy, but it also gives clues to why Ford lost dominance. The Toyota roots pop up in Ford's writing on waste, on cleanliness (5s), on continuous flow, and on timing. The clues pop up with his ignorance of customer desires vs. needs, his overconfidence in managing highly diverse businesses, and his inattention to downstream processes.
If you know the limitations of Today and Tomorrow, you then can reap great benefits by reading it as if it was written last week. Many of its ideas have yet to fully play out in the world of industry.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Today and TomorrwSep 29, 2009
By JA De Villiers
"Jdv"
Book is great for anyone who is interested in Project Management or just manufacturing and life lessons in all. This book teaches one so many different things that it's hard to say where to classify it under. Put it under the must read section. Jdv.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Very interesting book, especially when realizing it was written in 1920's!Aug 13, 2009
By Bradley P. Bishop
"Bishop"
Very good read - interesting ideas, thoughts, especially when you keep in mind that this was written decades ago. Mr. Ford was very forward thinking. Captures more than just automotive, but ideas about livelihood, wages, government, health, and more.
See all 7 customer reviews on Amazon.com
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