The Toyota Way—14 Management Principles from the World's Greatest Manufacturer

This book will give you an understanding of what has made Toyota successful and some practical ideas that you can use to develop your own approach to business.--Gary Convis, Managing Office of Toyota

Fewer man-hours. Less inventory. The highest quality cars with the fewest defects of any competing manufacturer. In factories around the globe, Toyota consistently raises the bar for manufacturing, product development, and process excellence. The result is an amazing business success story: steadily taking market share from price-cutting competitors, earning far more profit than any other automaker, and winning the praise of business leaders worldwide.

The Toyota Way reveals the management principles behind Toyotas worldwide reputation for quality and reliability. Dr. Jeffrey Liker, a renowned authority on Toyotas Lean methods, explains how you can adopt these principles--known as the Toyota Production System or Lean Production--to improve the speed of your business processes, improve product and service quality, and cut costs, no matter what your industry.

Drawing on his extensive research on Toyota, Dr. Liker shares his insights into the foundational principles at work in the Toyota culture. He explains how the Toyota Production System evolved as a new paradigm of manufacturing excellence, transforming businesses across industries. Youll learn how Toyota fosters employee involvement at all levels, discover the difference between traditional process improvement and Toyotas Lean improvement, and learn why companies often think they are Lean--but arent.

The fourteen management principles of the Toyota Way create the ideal environment for implementing Lean techniques and tools. Dr. Liker explains each key principle with detailed, examples from Toyota and other Lean companies on how to:


Foster an atmosphere of continuous improvement and learning

Create continuous process flow to unearth problems

Satisfy customers (and eliminate waste at the same time)

Grow your leaders rather than purchase them

Get quality right the first time

Grow together with your suppliers and partners for mutual benefit

Dr. Liker shows the Toyota Way in action, then outlines how to apply the Toyota Way in your organization, with examples of how other companies have rebuilt their culture to create a Lean, learning enterprise. The Toyota Way is an inspiring guide to taking the steps necessary to emulate Toyotas remarkable success.

Dr. Jeffrey K. Liker is a professor of industrial and operations engineering at the University of Michigan and cofounder and director of the Japan Technology Management Program at the University of Michigan.