1st Edition
Henry Ford's Lean Vision Enduring Principles from the First Ford Motor Plant
Praise from Industry Week, January 2003
"...In Henry Ford's Lean Vision...Levinson shows how the father of American mass production toiled to eliminate waste, instituted just-in-time delivery of inventory, and applied many other tools now identified with lean..."
Japanese manufacturers have made concepts like kaizen (continuous improvement), poka-yoke (error-proofing), and just-in-time famous. When the Japanese began to adopt these techniques from the Ford Motor Company during the early twentieth century, they knew exactly what they were getting: proven methods for mass-producing any product or delivering any service cheaply but well.
Henry Ford's methods, however, went well beyond the synergistic and mutually supporting techniques that constitute what we now call lean manufacturing. They included the "soft sciences," the organizational psychology that makes every employee a partner in the drive for success.
In Henry Ford's Lean Vision, William A. Levinson draws from Henry Ford's writings, the procedures in his factories, and historical anecdotes about the birth of lean in Japan to show that the philosophy that revolutionized Japanese manufacturing was the same philosophy that grew the Ford Motor Company into a global powerhouse -- and made the United States the wealthiest and most powerful nation on earth. Levinson reveals how Ford was ahead of other modern visionaries and discusses why the very ideas that made his company such a success were abandoned in his own country, and why they finally found acceptance in Japan.
Henry Ford's Lean Vision is a hands-on reference that provides the reader with proven principles and methods that can be applied in any business or service enterprise. It covers all aspects of building and running a successful enterprise, including Ford's principles for human relationships and the management of physical resources.
Introduction
What to Expect from this Book
Background Resources
Chapter by Chapter Overview
Chapter 1: Brave New World: Changing How the World Works
The Bottom Line: Ford's Results Speak for Themselves
Defining Lean Enterprise
Ford's Basic Principles
Chapter 2: Ford's Principles: The Foundation
Natural Law
Ford and Eastern Philosophy: The Japanese Connection
Continuous Improvement: Kaizen
Bringing Win-Win to the Workplace
Service
Chapter 3: Ford on Labor Relations
Management and Labor as Partners
No Free Lunch: A Key Concept
Human Resource Practices
Employee Housing and Stores
Chapter 4: Principles for Organizational and Personal Success
Persistence
Initiative
Breaking Down Organizational Barriers
Corporate Culture at the Ford Motor Company
How the Ford Motor Company Lost Its Culture
Chapter 5: Perceiving Genuine Value
A Warning to the United States
Everything Must Add Value
Middlemen Do Not Add Value
Advertising as Waste
No Free Lunch
Chapter 6: Ford on Economics, Government, and Health Care
Business Cycles
The Stock Market Should Be Irrelevant to National Prosperity
The Role of Inexpensive Energy
The Role of Government
Health Care
Chapter 7: Eliminate Waste
"Everything But the Squeal"
ISO 14000 Is Free
Chapter 8: Ford's Factory
The Factory and the Worker
Continuous Improvement: Kaizen
Lean Manufacturing
5S-CANDO
Just-In-Time (JIT) Manufacturing and Inventory Reduction
Design for Manufacture and Design for Assembly
Process Simplification and Improvement
Packaging and Delivery
Point-of-Use Assembly
Occupational Safety
Quality Control
Chapter 9: Customer and Supplier Relationships
Identifying Markets and Creating Demand
Pricing Strategy
Supply Chain Management
Chapter 10: Frederick Winslow Taylor and Scientific Management
Did Taylor Influence Ford?
Scientific Management, Lean Manufacturing, and Kaizen Blitz
Taylor and Motion Efficiency
The Truth Behind Taylorism
Principles for Change Management
An Experimental Design Tragedy
Chapter 11: The Influence of Benjamin Franklin
Franklin on Waste
Franklin on Initiative, Self-Reliance, and Persistence
Franklin on Money
Bibliography
Index
Biography
William A. Levinson
"Henry Ford's Lean Vision could have been written about the Theory of Constraints (TOC) as much as about Lean! To understand better TOC's concepts of Throughput World, satisfying all of the stakeholders, creating value, managing the supply chain and the constraint, the reader need only look into the fundamentals and principles of Henry Ford in Mr. Levinson's book. The book captures the idea that sustainable success must come from an integrated approach of leadership, methodology, culture and organizational alignment. Anyone who is trying to implement Theory of Constraints or Lean or other improvement methodologies should read and reread this book. Its historical analogies and numerous references to the more modern gurus make it an interesting and enjoyable read!"
Dee Jacob, Partner, The Goldratt Institute 06/01/04
