My Book and Education Bibliography
Bibliography for The Toyota Production System
Womack, J., Jones, D., Roos, D. 1990 The Machine That Changed the World. New York, NY: Macmillian Publishing Company
Key Takeaways
At Toyota they use:
- 1/2 the human effort in the factory
- Also, 1/2 of the manufacturing space
- 1/2 the investment tools
- Importantly, 1/2 of the engineering hours
- 1/2 the time to develop new products
Liker, J. 2004. The Toyota Way, 14 Management Principles From the World’s Greatest Manufacturer. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill
Key Takeaways
330 pages used to explain Toyota’s Guiding Principles that guided Toyota to build a 6+ Sigma System.
Ohno, T. 1988 Toyota Production System Beyond Large-Scale Production. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press
Key Takeaways
Firstly, Taiichi Ohno is the father of the Toyota Production System and this is his history of it. He covers how it started and evolved and evolved some more as well as discusses the global impacts and the benefits of Ford’s Mass Production System. He concludes with how Toyota weathered the slow economic growth periods.
Shingo, S. 1981 A Study of the Toyota Production System, From an Industrial Engineering Viewpoint. Cambridge, MA: Productivity Press
Key Takeaways
There are too many takeaways from this book to even start. For example, Shingo states on page 19: “These are excellent achievements that are consistent with results at other companies. On average, an 80 to 90% reduction in the number of defects can be achieved within one month of adopting the successive inspection system.” The successive inspection system is another name for the andon system. Subsequently, in the Toyota Production System, everyone on the assembly line is a quality inspector. They are responsible for inspecting the product or service of the work performed on the product or service by the preceding process. If they detect a defect they make an andon call which stops the manufacturing line. They then go chase down the cause of the defect and then rectify the defect before restarting the assembly line.
Miller, J., Wroblewski, M., Villafuerte, J. 2014 Creating a Kaizen Culture, Align the Organization, Achieve Breakthrough Results, and Sustain the Gains. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education
Key Takeaways
Above all, this may be the most bookmarked book in my library. Certainly, I believe every Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt should read this book. Kaizen is Japanese for continuous improvement. Toyota’s continuous improvement methodology is called Kata and is a competitive advantage for Toyota. Just to give you one quote from the book: “Kaizen culture demands management by fact. This means that decisions must be underpinned by evidence, results of decisions require personal process confirmation by leaders, and time is made to reflect and learn from the results of these decisions, even when the results challenge our beliefs. Beliefs are inherently difficult to change because we hold them to be true in our mind regardless of the evidence and veracity of those beliefs.” This book encompasses the wisdom of the Toyota Production System.
Rother, M. 2010 Toyota Kata – Managing People for Improvement, Adaptiveness, and Superior Results. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education
Key Takeaways
This is one of the most impactful books I have read on the Toyota Production System. This was a secret until this book was published. Toyota improves at a phenomenal rate and all in a management-defined improvement direction. Because of this, no competitor will ever catch Toyota. This generates so much change in an organization’s system that it alleviates the need for Kaizen Events.
Rother, M. 2018 The Toyota Kata Practice Guide. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education
Key Takeaways
This is a companion guide to the book above. It contains a summary of every step mentioned in the book in an easy-to-read manner. Its 302 pages are a nice summary of the 306 pages of the above book. It is just focused on the how-to part of implementing KATA.
Ohno, Taiichi 1988 Toyota Production System Beyond Large-Scale Production. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press
Key Takeaways
This is a wonderful overview of how Toyota built its Toyota Production System. The book does not flow well but it is worth the read because Ohno was the primary designer. He gives details and time frames. If you want to build your Production System, this is a must-read.
Bibliography for Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt
Arthur, J. 2016 Lean Six Sigma for Hospitals, Second Edition. New York, NY., McGraw-Hill Education
Key Takeaways
Hospitals like any other system can utilize Lean Six Sigma. For example, reach for the Malcomb Baldridge Award of excellence.
Cudney, E., Agustiady, T. 2017 Design for Six Sigma – A Practical Approach through Innovation. Boca Raton, FL: Taylor and Francis, CRC Press
Key Takeaways
Design for Six Sigma or DFSS is a methodology used in Lean Six Sigma when you need to implement a new process, rather than improve an existing process.
Kubiak, T., Benbow, D. 2014 The Certified Six Sigma Black Belt Handbook, Second Edition.ASQ Quality Press
Key Takeaways
This 620-page reference manual is a slow read but important as it contains much of what a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt is responsible for. Consequently, as a Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt, it opened my eyes to the breadth of what a Black Belt can deliver.
George, M. 2003 Lean Six Sigma for Service – How to Use Lean Speed& Six Sigma Quality to Improve Services and Transactions. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill
Key Takeaways
Lean Six Sigma is a powerful tool for any system, even Businesses in the Service industry.
King, P. 2009 Lean for the Process Industries – Dealing with Complexity. New York, NY: CRC Press
Key Takeaways
This is a very good summary book. There is nothing new in this book vs. the other books mentioned but it is relatively concise. It was published before the book on KATA, which is Toyota’s continuous improvement program. King has a chapter on Kaizen Events which was made obsolete by Toyota’s KATA.
A Strong Education Bibliography (Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt), Visit the “University of Villanova”
- Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt,
- Lean Innovation & Management,
- Lean Six Sigma Sensei, and
- Design for Six Sigma.
Reference Book Bibliography
Kubiak, T. 2012 The Certified Six Sigma Master Black Belt Handbook. Milwaukee, WI: ASQ Quality Press
Key Takeaways
645 pages of Lean Six Sigma