The Toyota Way to Continuous Improvement

The newest book in the bestselling Toyota Way series gives executives and managers the blueprint for successful lean process projects that deliver breakthrough results

In The Toyota Way to Excellence, Jeffrey Liker and James Franz covers all steps in creating lean processes, from identifying goals to developing an action plan for implementing and managing change to verifying results and fine-tuning. Through numerous compelling case studies, readers learn how lean masters at Toyota and other corporations design and implement lean processes-and create additional value by integrating these processes with the right people to yield an unbeatable system for continuous improvement.
• Toyota still regularly ranks among the world's most profitable, best-run companies-and managers the world over are eager to read about the methods and models behind this success
• Liker's Toyota Way books have sold nearly a half-million copies, and continue to rack up awards and critical praise
• Toyota Way to Excellence brings concepts of the Toyota Way full circle. Everyone who has read it will need to read this book too


Jeffrey K. Liker (Ann Arbor, MI) is professor of Industrial and Operations Engineering and cofounder and Director of the Japan Technology Management Program at the University of Michigan.

James K. Franz (Saline, MI) learned lean as a Toyota Production Engineer in Japan, and has more than 22 years of manufacturing experience.

A lean blueprint for creating long-term sustainability the Toyota way!

During Toyota's highly publicized recalls of 2009 and 2010, the legendary carmaker's 60-year-old reputation for operational excellence was put under the microscope. Business pundits wondered out loud if Toyota's quality levels had decreased dramatically, while the harshest critics predicted the end of the company as we know it. For the most part, the government's findings absolved Toyota of serious defects and accidents, and Toyota recovered rapidly but mistakes were made, which showed that Toyota is not perfect. In fact, there is always opportunity for improvement in every process.

In his bestselling business management classic The Toyota Way, Jeffrey Liker introduced the world to the foundational principles that have made Toyota the envy of companies around the world. Now, in The Toyota Way to Continuous Improvement, Liker teams up with former Toyota production engineer James Franz to explain the underlying thinking behind continuous improvement and why any company needs a disciplined approach to process improvement in every part of the organization.

Liker and Franz outline the common mistakes in thinking that limit results, and they reveal how Toyota achieves its dual objectives of improving business performance and developing its people through following Dr. W. Edwards Deming's teachings of Plan-Do-Check-Adjust (PDCA). Through detailed case examples in many industries, you?ll learn how to :
• Determine why your processes aren't achieving anticipated results
• Build a sustainable lean process with a well-defined purpose
• Create a system that reveals problems
• Teach every leader and team member at every level the art of PDCA for process improvement

With The Toyota Way to Continuous Improvement, you have the foundation you need to develop a vision of continuous improvement specific to your organization and plot a path to turn your vision into a measurable reality.

Praise for The Toyota Way to Continuous Improvement :

I have found inspiration and lessons in these real stories from real people who try, sometimes fail, and yet find creative ways to succeed in adapting the principles of Deming and Toyota. Despite the diversity of applications revealed here, the commonality in vision, values, and desired outcomes unifies these leaders. You won?t be able to put this book down.
RICHARD ZARBO, MD, DMD, Senior Vice President and Chairman of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Henry Ford Health System

Lean is no longer an idea, a hypothesis, or a theory it is a proven set of principles and practices that more and more people are using to achieve substantial, sustainable continuous improvement in a variety of enterprises. This book details the practices and case studies to help you bring Lean transformation to your enterprise!
CHARLES BAKER, former Chief Engineer and former Vice President, Honda R&D Americas

Acknowledgments and Guest Author Biographics
Prologue : Is Toyota Still a Great Company Others Can Learn From?

Section I : The Journey to Continuous Improvement
Chapter 1 : Continuous Improvement Towards Excellence
Chapter 2 : PDCA and Striving for Excellence
Chapter 3 : How Process Improvement Can Develop Exceptional People
Chapter 4 : Lean Processes Start with a Purpose
Chapter 5 : Lean Out Processes or Build Lean Systems?

Section II : Case Studies of Lean Transformation through PDCA
Chapter 6 : When Organic Meets Mechanistic : Lean Overhaul and Repair of Ships (with Robert Kucner)
Chapter 7 : An Australian Sensei Teaches a Proud Japanese Company New Tricks: Bringing TPS to a Complex Equipment Manufacturer (with Tony McNaughton)
Chapter 8 : Lean Iron-Ore Mining in the Pilbara Region of Western Australia
Chapter 9 : Bringing Ford’s Ideas Alive at Henry Ford Health System Labs through PDCA Leadership (with Dr. Richard Zarbo)
Chapter 10 : Teaching Individuals to Fly by the Numbers : Transforming Health-Care Process (with Steve Hoeft)
Chapter 11 : Transforming How Products Are Engineered at North American Automotive Supplier (with Charlie Baker)
Chapter 12 : Going Nuclear with Lean (with John Drogosz)

Section III : Making Your Vision a Reality
Chapter 13 : One Time around the Plan-Do-Check-Adjust (PDCA) Loop: A Lean Short Story at Alte Schule
Chapter 14 : Sustaining, Spreading, Deepening : Continuing Turns of the PDCA Wheel
Chapter 15 : Continuous Improvement as a Way of Life

Notes
Index