Taiichi Ohnos Workplace Management: Special 100th Birthday Edition

Taiichi Ohno's workplace management used to be pretty hard to get, but John Miller re-translated and re-published it so now it's available for a larger audience. The book contains content from some spoken interviews, so that makes it somewhat strange to read, at least in the beginning, but makes it actually nice.This small book actually contains 38 chapters or which every one is one or two pages. Some of the chapters are extremely insightful in the way of thinking Taiichi Ohno used when thinking up ideas for the Toyota Production System. In this review I won't be able to go over all, so just highlight some point I really liked and remembered:- Misconceptions Hidden within Common Sense explains that common sense is often actually not the right way of thinking and that you should follow your uncommon sense and try to think outside the accepted standard way of thinking (common sense)- In "Wasted motion is not work" he explains that people make a mistake by thinking that "being at work" or "moving" you are actually "working". People ought to separate these so that they can improve their actual work.- He makes strong points to make sure you make a difference between machine time and person time. If the machine is running then that's machine time and the person who is operating the machine can then do something different.- In "Pitfall of cost calculations" he tries to show that you can prove whatever with cost calculations and that thats probably not the right way to make the decisions.These are just examples of the huge amount of wisdom written in this small book. It's absolutely recommended and one of the books that I will re-read again and again to refresh my memory.An absolute must.

As a production Engineer this book is so closed to me. We need to challange the way we think and always make things better. The books is a great way to understand deeper Lean, TPS. Read it especially if you are in production process involving manual workers!!

I am a bit torn about this book. On one hand, I absolutely loved it. On the other hand, I don't think this is necessary or even suitable reading for all Lean practitioners.Workplace management is a collection of short transcripts of Taiichi Ohno's spoken monologues. As a transcript of spoken word, it is not extensively polished, although the English translation is high-quality language. The book offers both a first-person historical perspective into Lean and the development of various Lean tools as well as insight into the value base on which Lean was built.For example, the way Ohno quotes and speaks of Confucius give clear insight into the Confucian roots of Lean, which are not often discussed. I believe that these roots are vital for the Lean concept of respect for people. On the other hand, these ideals are not completely alien to the Western world either, as both the Aristotelian concept of the golden mean and John Stuart Mill's defense of freedom of speech share the some of the same values. Thus, while this is an interesting subject, understanding these roots is not strictly necessary for creating a Lean system.If you are new to Lean, I would not recommend this book. The concepts are not clearly explained and the book follows no clear path from start to finish.If you just want to use Lean, I am not sure whether I should recommend this book to you either. The tools and most of the reasons behind them are more clearly explained in more recent works, for example in those of Jeffrey Liker, Mike Rother, and Masaaki Imai.You should read this book if you are interested in the values that shaped Lean (although you need to read between the lines to get there) or if you are interested in a first-person historical narrative of the beginnings of Lean. It is a short book, so if you have even slight interest in these subjects, reading it will not take a long time.

For those who want to savor the wisdom of kaizen lean from the Source

This book is - as mentioned bij others - a remarkable object, coming from one of the founder fathers of Toyota's Lean Adventure. The book is not written by him, but is the result of several discussions (or monologues) from Ohno. As such it is already possible to use as a study of Ohno himself.However,I suppose that Ohno-san would not like to be a hero or a white knight. This is not lean thinking, where the real hero's are those who add real value to the endcustomer.So, this book is of no help if you have not yet experienced by yourself what lean is or could be. Only when you experienced the long road to lean horizons, you can appreciate the thinkings and concerns of this man. This book will help you to reflect more deeply on problems and solutions. It will make it clear that lean is not an endpoint but a resentless never-ending marathon. Enjoy and suffer!

While no one person invented lean, no one is given more credit than Taiichi Ohno. Access to his true thoughts and ideas are rare, and this book is the best and most useful of Ohno's work. Many lean students would want nothing more than to spend a day with Taiichi Ohno walking through their plant. This book is the closest thing we have left to that experience. Jon Miller has done a diligent job not just in translation but ensuring that the true meaning comes through in a readable fashion. You truly feel as if you are in conversation with the father of the Toyota Production System. While this book won't paint a clear picture of what to do next on your lean journey, it should be required reading for any serious student of the subject.

Crucial to anyone wanting to learn more about TPS tools and mindsets in the workplace. It is a quick knowledge read.

Dear SirThis book is also good for the reader to enhance knowledge and experience. The point which has been highlighted is significant in order to manage workplace toward excellent level. Ok my reading is still going on.Thank youRegardsIshak Salleh

Leerlo es adentrarte en el pensamiento del maestro OHNO.Y esta edición es la de la conmemoración centenaria.Vale mucho la pena.

Really good book

libro molto interessante e utile per chi vuole capire e utilizzare concetti molto avanzati di organizzazione del lavoro spiegati da chi li ha ideation e messi in pratica contribuendo in modo essenziale al successo di Toyota.

If you're involved in manufacturing management (or anything similar) this is a must-read.This is by no means a textbook or manual, but is an enlightening collection of memoirs from the man who originated what became known as the Toyota Production System, later expanded on under a cloud of buzzwords by others into 'lean manufacturing' etc etc.This book won't tell you everything you need to know or give you any impressive diagrams to put in a presentation, but will give you practical examples of solving real world problems, and some principles to put in your mental toolkit.To compare to Taylor's 'scientific management', Taylor treats the workforce like cattle to be herded, while Ohno treats them as valued colleagues to be guided and supported.I have genuinely found this book quite useful in managing a factory; the approaches to problems, to staff and to efficiency discussed are very applicable today in most industries, and have helped enormously in improving productivity (2x!) and quality (rejects down 90%) here while building a good relationship with the staff.

Very poor internal paper quality. Though the main hardcover looks solid and impressive.It's NOT written by mr. Taichi.It's an assembly of his sayings to interviews and his statements made to the various media.English-language quality very poor and not well written. Editor / author highly incompetent.Material very ordinary and nothing suggests that this has something to do with the top notch Toyota production system that people rave about. You'll be SHOCKED to note that this can't be the same person who formulated the TPS.Save your cash.