Product Development for the Lean Enterprise: Why Toyota's System Is Four Times More Productive and How you can Implement It - Softcover

The Toyota Production System is the envy of Western manufacturing, but as important to the continuing success of Toyota is a product development system that's four times more productive than those employed by most companies. This book explains that system and how it can be implemented. No company that depends on an ongoing flow of new and improved products can afford to ignore the revelations it contains or the potential advantages that can accrue from following the process it outlines.

The author of this book has pioneered the redesign of organizational processes for more than 35 years. During his 30 years at Texas Instruments, Mr. Kennedy was the lead engineer on many developmental projects including both missile system products and manufacturing systems. He was credited as being not only an exceptional design engineer but also as a leader in developing and applying the initial concepts of concurrent engineering. During his last ten years at TI, he led the integration of manufacturing and development systems at a major TI facility. He also developed the strategy across the defense business sector for design automation in concert with a redesigned product development environment. In addition to his role as a leader in systems development within TI, Mr. Kennedy also was active in collaborative sharing across the country including many consortia-based projects and presentations at engineering and manufacturing conferences. As a consultant, Mr. Kennedy works extensively with the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences and with major manufacturing companies, including General Motors, United Technologies, Allied Signal, and Delphi, to assess and advance American product development systems. His efforts also have included an extensive nationwide benchmarking study examining a broad spectrum of manfacturing companies in an effort to find unique and effective product development methodologies.