Coming soon · Book Profile
The machine that changed the world based on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology 5-million dollar 5-year study on the…
A groundbreaking MIT study reveals how Toyota's revolutionary 'lean production' system surpasses traditional mass production, changing the rules of manufacturing, the nature of work, and the global industrial landscape.
A profile of this book is on the way.
What it’s about
The Machine That Changed the World unveils the results of a groundbreaking $5-million, 5-year MIT study on the future of the automobile industry, revealing a revolutionary new system of manufacturing called 'lean production.' Pioneered by Toyota, this system combines the best of craft and mass production, using less of everything—human effort, space, capital, and time—to produce higher quality products with greater variety. The book deconstructs the principles of lean production across the entire value chain, from factory operations and product development to supply chain coordination and customer relations, contrasting them with the rigid, wasteful methods of traditional mass production that dominated the 20th century. It argues that the global diffusion of lean production is not just inevitable but essential for the prosperity of companies and nations, changing how we work, what we consume, and how we live.
The through-line
- Who it’s for
- An industry executive, manager, worker, or policymaker concerned with industrial competitiveness and the future of work, who wants to understand the monumental shifts happening in global manufacturing to find a path to success and prosperity.
- The problem
- Their company's or country's traditional mass production system is no longer competitive against a new, superior system (lean production), leading to lost market share, plant closures, inefficiency, and poor quality. They feel confused, anxious, and threatened by the new competition, feeling powerless to respond effectively and fearing for their jobs, their companies' survival, and their nation's economic future.
- The plan
- Understand the history and downfall of mass production.
- Learn the origins and core principles of the lean production system pioneered by Toyota.
- See how lean principles are applied in every element of the business: the factory, product design, the supply chain, customer relations, and overall enterprise management.
- Recognize the challenges of diffusing lean production globally and learn how to overcome them.
- Embrace the transition to create a more competitive, efficient, and fulfilling future.
- The payoff
- Leading companies to become world-class competitors with higher productivity, quality, and flexibility. · Transforming work into a more engaging and fulfilling activity for everyone in the organization. · Providing consumers with better products, more variety, and lower prices.
See our guide
Additional reading
- Lean Thinking · James P. Womack and Daniel T. Jones
Presented as a follow-up to 'The Machine That Changed the World', this book is referenced for its work in codifying the principles of the Toyota Production System into five actionable steps for businesses in any industry.
- Toyota Production System: Beyond Large-Scale Production · Taiichi Ohno
The book recommends this text as the foundational work written by one of the primary architects of the TPS. It provides a direct, first-hand narrative of the system's development and underlying philosophy.
- A Study of the Toyota Production System · Shigeo Shingo
A classic text from a key developer of lean techniques, providing an industrial engineering perspective on tools like SMED (quick changeover) and poka-yoke (mistake-proofing).
- Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience · Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
The book cites this work to provide a psychological basis for why well-implemented lean work systems, which require concentration and provide immediate feedback, are inherently more satisfying for employees.
- Learning to See · Mike Rother and John Shook
Mentioned in the 2003 epilogue, this workbook is presented as the essential tool for applying the book's concept of value stream mapping in a practical, standardized way.
- The Future of the Automobile · Alan Altshuler, et al.
This is the authors' previous book, which identified the competitive crisis in the Western auto industry and laid the groundwork for the IMVP study.
- The Concept of the Corporation · Peter Drucker
A classic analysis of the mature mass-production corporation (General Motors), providing a benchmark for understanding the system that lean production would replace.
- My Years with General Motors · Alfred P. Sloan
The memoir of one of mass production's key architects, detailing the management and marketing philosophy of the system at its peak.
- The Toyota Production System · Taiichi Ohno
The primary source text from the main creator of the lean production system at Toyota, explaining its core principles from the source.
- The Japan That Can Say No · Akio Morita and Shintaro Ishihara
This book captures the confidence and nationalist sentiment in Japan during its technological peak in the late 1980s, arguing that Japan's dominance in semiconductors gave it geopolitical leverage over the United States.