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Title: The Kaizen Blitz: Accelerating Breakthroughs in Productivity and Performance by Anthony C. Laraia, Patricia E. Moody, Robert W. Hall ISBN: 0-471-24648-4 Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Pub. Date: 22 February, 1999 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $65.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.78 (9 reviews)
Rating: 1
Summary: Disappointed!
Comment: Did NOT help us run Kaizen events. An overview and story.
Author has never implemented Kaizen, only told about others' successes.
Not a "how to do it" book.
Rating: 5
Summary: "Continuous Improvement" of What?
Comment: As you probably know already, the word "kaizen" is a Japanese term meaning "to make better" with the implication that such effort should be continuous, indeed intensive and unrelenting. Since 1994, the Association for Manufacturing Excellence (AME) has developed a series of educational initiatives known as the "Kaizen Blitz." In the Introduction to this volume, Jon Brodeur observes: "We think non-consultant-driven events -- training and on-the-floor work by the experts, the hands-on employees who have experienced the power of the Kaizen Blitz -- will continue to be a welcome addition to any organization's arsenal of improvement approaches. Small- and medium-sized companies can do it as well as larger ones and they may have an advantage if operations are small enough in scope to get their arms around." However, positive and significant results can only be achieved with an appropriate combination of leadership at its highest level, acceptance (indeed enthusiasm) throughout all other levels, and tenacious involvement about attaining 20 percent to 50 percent improvement (or greater) in performance in a short time and in narrowly targeted areas. The effective Kaizen process must be top-down, initiated and sustained by teamwork, and focused entirely on doing "whatever needs to be done" ASAP. The authors of this book explain both how and why.
The material is organized within 11 chapters whose titles correctly suggest the nature and extent of coverage: The Power of AME's Kaizen Blitz: Learning by Doing; The Roots of Kaizen; Improvement Strategy: Implementing the Big Picture; Getting Ready for Kaizen; Time Prints and Takt Times; How to Tell If There Is Improvement: Adding Value, Subtracting Waste: Uncovering the Flows: Establishing and Clarifying Process Flows; Forms, Charts, and Measurements; Sustaining the Gain: Lean Leadership; and finally, Never Look Back. Throughout the book, the authors reiterate the imperative that Kaizen Blitz initiatives must be sharply focused, task oriented, results driven, measurable and -- meanwhile -- FAST. Hence the relevance of the concept of "blitz," which gained worldwide prominence prior to and then during World War II when Fascist and then Allied forces attacked enemy positions with unprecedented velocity. As the AME Kaizen Blitz has demonstrated so convincingly, the same strategy (with obvious modifications) can effectively be implemented within any organization, regardless of size or nature.
Obviously I think highly of this book because it offers a sensitive, flexible, thoughtful and rigorous program to achieve what the subtitle correctly describes as "accelerating breakthroughs in productivity and performance." If these brief comments suggest that this is a program your organization needs, I strongly recommend that all of its decision-makers read it. Then, schedule an offsite meeting during which the book becomes the agenda for collaborative efforts to formulate and implement a Kaizen Blitz appropriate to your organization's specific needs and interests. If there is a need for additional resources, I strongly suggest Breyfogle's two books as well as one written by Pande and his co-authors.
Rating: 2
Summary: I've Never Done This Before, But Let Me Tell You How.
Comment: Three contributers, three more "experts" trying to tell us how to do something that they have never done themselves.
A lot of references and notable people and companies are mentioned, but where is the real hands-on "How to do it?"
This book is a story book and should be classified as FICTION.
This trio are writers, not "Lean Manufacturing" implementers.
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Title: Kaizen Event Implementation Manual by Geoffrey L. Mika ISBN: 0970872402 Publisher: Kaizen Sensei Pub. Date: 01 January, 2001 List Price(USD): $69.99 |
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Title: Gemba Kaizen: A Commonsense, Low-Cost Approach to Management by Masaaki Imai ISBN: 0070314462 Publisher: McGraw-Hill Trade Pub. Date: 01 March, 1997 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: Lean Thinking : Banish Waste and Create Wealth in Your Corporation, Revised and Updated by James P. Womack, Daniel T. Jones, James Womack, Daniel Jones ISBN: 0743249275 Publisher: Free Press Pub. Date: 10 June, 2003 List Price(USD): $28.00 |
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Title: Lean Transformation: How to Change Your Business into a Lean Enterprise by Bruce A. Henderson, Jorge L. Larco, Stephen H. Martin ISBN: 0964660121 Publisher: The Oaklea Press Pub. Date: May, 1999 List Price(USD): $26.95 |
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Title: Office Kaizen: Transforming Office Operations into a Strategic Competitive Advantage by William Lareau ISBN: 0873895568 Publisher: American Society for Quality Pub. Date: July, 2002 List Price(USD): $30.00 |
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