The Machine That Changed the World - Softcover

"The fundamentals of this system are applicable to every industry across the globe . . . [and] will have a profound impact on human society--it will truly change the world."-- "New York Times Magazine""A revealing and compellingly readable account of Japan's achievemnt in revolutionizing manufacturing . . . An eye-opener even for those who already knew Japan didn't do it all with robots."-- "Financial Times"The best current book on the changes reshaping manufacturing and the most readable."-- "Business Week

When James Womack, Daniel Jones, and Daniel Roos wrote THE MACHINE THAT CHANGED THE WORLD in 1990, Japanese automakers, and Toyota in particular, were making a strong showing by applying the principles of lean production. However, the full power of lean principles was unproven, and they had not been applied outside of the auto industry. Today, the power of lean production has been conclusively proved by Toyota's unparalleled success, and the concepts have been widely applied in many industries. Based on MIT's pioneering global study of industrial competition, THE MACHINE THAT CHANGED THE WORLD offers a groundbreaking analysis of the entire lean business system, including product development, supplier management, sales, service, and production - an analysis even more relevant today as GM and Ford struggle to survive and a wide range of British abd American companies embrace lean production. A new Foreword by the authors brings the story up to date and details how their predictions were right. As a result, this reissue of a classic is as insightful and instructive today as when it was first published.