micheline

In the increasingly treacherous global environment, where years of carefully laid plans can be destroyed by a single day's market turmoil, a select group of companies stands apart. These are members of the Global Manufacturing Vanguard: top-notch companies that are setting new standards in their industries by combining clearly conceived processes, leading-edge technology, and seamless people management with ultra-clear values, courageous leadership, and innovative directions. In this groundbreaking book, award-winning business journalist and USA Today Detroit Bureau Chief Micheline Maynard outlines the strategies and techniques that have led companies like Toyota, General Electric, Sony, and Dana to achieve unprecedented levels of manufacturing success.

Much of this success is taking place outside of the world's traditional manufacturing battlegrounds in Japan, the United States, and Germany. Today, vanguard members are branching out to lesser known places like Rosario, Argentina; Graz, Austria; and Vance, Alabama. Though their factories vary in size, investment, and product line, members of the vanguard share a unique set of common traits that is the secret to attaining —and maintaining —long-term leadership.

As Maynard writes, "Vanguard companies have banished the phrase, 'We can't do business there because. . . .' To the vanguard, no market is too expensive, no consumer undesirable, no trade barriers too daunting, and no location too remote. It is not because these companies are reckless. It is because a willingness to take calculated risks is a part of their corporate personality."

The Global Manufacturing Vanguard goes behind the scenes of plants throughout the United States, Europe, Asia, and Latin America to illustrate how vanguard members have effectively capitalized on these risks—and offers advice on how other companies can do the same. With information and insight drawn from Maynard's extensive research and first-hand observations, this book offers a detailed blueprint that takes readers through several vital steps, such as creating executive vision, building financial strength, properly utilizing people, and, most significantly, developing a sound manufacturing process unique to a company's own culture. In a lively and exclusive look at Toyota's hiring process, Maynard also brings readers right to the assembly line to experience the incredible and complex demands put on its potential workers.

To help readers better understand exactly how companies can reach vanguard status, the book features candid interviews with executives responsible for their organizations' outstanding success. Offering their unique perspectives are CEOs such as Toyota's Hiroshi Okuda, Investor AB's Percy Barnevik, Dana's Southwood "Woody"Morcott, and Cummins Engine's James Henderson. Some of the world's best-known manufacturing experts, such as author James Womack, Chrysler executive Dennis Pawley, and Lantech chief Pat Lancaster are featured, as are innovative labor leaders and assembly line workers.

An insightful examination of the practices, people, and performances of today's global leaders in manufacturing, The Global Manufacturing Vanguard is a dynamic, action-oriented book that will benefit managers at any level.

MICHELINE MAYNARD is USA Today Detroit Bureau Chief and the author of the bestselling Collision Course: Inside the Battle for General Motors. Previously, she was a senior business writer with Newsday and an editor at U.S. News & World Report.

"Micheline Maynard supplies us with an inside view of how some of the world's top manufacturers are fundamentally transforming themselves for the twenty-first century. The Global Manufacturing Vanguard is a must read for serious business leaders. It provides a clear account of the changes underway along with a powerful set of practical lessons."—Noel Tichy, Professor, University of Michigan Business School author, The Leadership Edge: How Winning Companies Build Leaders at Every Level.

"The Global Manufacturing Vanguard is well written, highly contemporary, and brings a true sense of the incredible dynamic emerging in global manufacturing."—David Cole, Director, Office for the Study of Automotive Transportation, University of Michigan Research Institute.

"Anyone concerned with the economic future should put The Global Manufacturing Vanguard at the top of their reading list!"—David L. Gregory, Professor of Law, St. John's University.