The Toyota Way

Rating: ***** (OK)

Review:

This is a book more on the history of Toyota and its philosophy, than a book on Lean Techniques. That said, it does a good job on describing these, but fails to be very objective on its shortcomings and also fails to address the fact that the majority of companies nowadays are service companies (I am myself a 30 year veteran of this industry, even though some of the companies had manufacturing as well). It fails to even differentiate between "traditional" manufacturing, where Toyota and its way really shines, and for example Software Development, where the Toyota Way has to be re-interpreted soo much that it looses its original meaning (kinda of reminds me of reading the Bible or the Quaran and trying to over-interpret everything as something else...)

If you are interested in the Japanese company Toyota or in the underpinnings of Lean Production (as defined by Toyota), then this is a book for you, otherwise, you may safely skip it, as it doesn't give you any revelations.