Taiichi Ohno's Workplace Management

by Taiichi Ohno

Number of pages: 208

Publisher: McGraw-Hill Education

BBB Library: Business Classics

ISBN: 978-0071808019



About the Author

TaiichiOhno was a Japanese industrial engineer and businessman. He is considered to be the father of the Toyota Production System, which became Lean Manufacturing in the U.S. He devised the seven wastes (or muda in Japanese) as part of this system.

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Editorial Review

Many people today are seeking to build their own winning gemba (workplace) management system, just like the one built by Taiichi Ohno at Toyota. The study and application of Kaizen (continuous improvement) and Toyota Production System has become increasingly a part of how hospitals, governments, universities, banks, mining operations, and retailers are choosing to improve performance and develop their people. So, what was Taiichi Ohno seeking? To answer this question we need to pay careful attention to his ideals, his thinking style, his approach to learning and teaching, his views on frontline leadership, to his spirit, and his leadership. We must study and strive to understand how and why masters such as Taiichi Ohno arrived at their accomplishment. Only then can we leave footprints on our own paths.

Book Reviews

"The book, written in 1982, has many very short chapters, addressing the common problems we encounter in the working world–particularly challenges stemming from flawed conventional wisdom.”— HEIT Management

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Wisdom to Share

If you think, “What I said was mistaken,” you should clearly say, “I was wrong.” Without this sort of attitude your subordinates and the people on the gemba will not do things for you.

If you realize that people will make mistakes and have a frank attitude to the point of thinking it is normal to apologize and say that you were wrong even to your subordinates, this will have an effect on how persuasive you can be.

Knowledge is something you buy with money. Wisdom is something you acquire by doing it.

Just as in the expression “the fish that got away always looks bigger,” it is part of human nature that the opportunity that we did not catch looks bigger. The reason that people feel that this is such a big loss is due to another misconception within how we think.

Machines do not break down; people cause them to break.

We need to use the words, “you made,” as in “follow the decisions you made.” When we say “that were made,” people feel like it was forced upon them.

Teaching means to teach something unknown. Training means to repeatedly practice something you know until your body remembers it

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