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The Toyota Way Fieldbook
The Toyota Way Fieldbook is a companion to the international bestseller The Toyota Way. The Toyota Way Fieldbook builds on the philosophical aspects of Toyota's operating systems by detailing the concepts and providing practical examples for application that leaders need to bring Toyota's success-proven practices to life in any organization. The Toyota Way Fieldbook will help other companies learn from Toyota and develop systems that fit their unique cultures. The book begins with a review of the principles of the Toyota Way through the 4Ps model-Philosophy, Processes, People and Partners, and Problem Solving. Readers looking to learn from Toyota's lean systems will be provided with the inside knowledge they need to
476 pages, Paperback
First published November 25, 2005
124 people are currently reading
1117 people want to read
About the author
Jeffrey K. Liker
143 books115 followersDr. Jeffrey K. Liker is Professor of Industrial and Operations Engineering at the University of Michigan and principle of Optiprise, Inc. Dr. Liker has authored or co-authored over 75 articles and book chapters and nine books. He is author of the international best-seller, The Toyota Way: 14 Management Principles from the World's Greatest Manufacturer, McGraw-Hill, 2004 which speaks to the underlying philosophy and principles that drive Toyota's quality and efficiency-obsessed culture. The companion (with David Meier) The Toyota Way Fieldbook, McGraw Hill, 2005 details how companies can learn from the Toyota Way principles. His book with Jim Morgan, The Toyota Product Development System, Productivity Press, 2006, is the first that details the product development side of Toyota. He is doing a series of books focused on each of the 4Ps. The first books are (with David Meier), Toyota Talent: Developing exceptional people the Toyota Way (May, 2007) and (with Michael Hoseus) Toyota Culture: The Heart and Soul of the Toyota Way (January, 2008). His articles and books have won eight Shingo Prizes for Research Excellence and The Toyota Way also won the 2005 Institute of Industrial Engineers Book of the Year Award and 2007 Sloan Industry Studies Book of the Year. He is a frequent keynote speaker and consultant. Recent clients include Hertz, Caterpillar, AMD, Android, Areva, Rio Tinto Mining, Tenneco Automotive, Jacksonville Naval Air Depot, US Airforce Material Command, Johnson Controls, Harley Davidson, Eaton, and Fujitsu Technical Services.
Source: http://www-personal.umich.edu/~liker
Source: http://www-personal.umich.edu/~liker
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
January 17, 2020
A nice reminder that technology alone isn't the answer to improving productivity
March 26, 2022
This is a great book for people practicing Lean. I would say that it is not for absolute beginners, whom would benefit from rather reading the Toyota way (Liker) or This is Lean (Modig) which are much quicker reads and great as an introduction to the concept.
If you would like to Learn how the Toyota Production system works in practice, then this is a great book. I spent around six months reading it because for me in my Job was very relevant, and I took my time because I wanted to understand every concept and the wholeness of the book. (There are so many key points and lessons learned that I would still have to re-read the parts several times)
I definitely recommend the book if you are serious about implementing Lean principles (although Lean is a system and requires a long lasting commitment)
If you would like to Learn how the Toyota Production system works in practice, then this is a great book. I spent around six months reading it because for me in my Job was very relevant, and I took my time because I wanted to understand every concept and the wholeness of the book. (There are so many key points and lessons learned that I would still have to re-read the parts several times)
I definitely recommend the book if you are serious about implementing Lean principles (although Lean is a system and requires a long lasting commitment)
August 10, 2018
One of the best book I read in a long time. This is a good read for anyone interested in quality work and making sure the right processes are in place to achieve them. If you want to be a better leader this is a good book to read, I say a must read for leaders to make it better for the organization or the team.
February 28, 2020
A complete game changer. This book is a deeper dive of “The Toyota Way.” The concepts are taken down another level into more detail.
Standardize processes, innovate which results in new standards. Surface problems that force solving.
A manufacturing necessity. Even if you don’t agree with the entire concept, there’s too much other benefits to skip this book.
Standardize processes, innovate which results in new standards. Surface problems that force solving.
A manufacturing necessity. Even if you don’t agree with the entire concept, there’s too much other benefits to skip this book.
March 13, 2019
An adorable stuff for Industrial Engineering students. This book tell a lot of approach that focuses on continuous improvement in manufacturing sector by optimizing value added activity, reduce waste and build organisational culture (Toyota 4S).
January 6, 2018
Interesting but a bit repetative
April 20, 2020
Fantastic follow up to The Toyota Way. Adds a much deeper depth and expertise. It requires hard thought but definitely worth the read.
April 12, 2021
Very nice read after reading the Toyota Way. Some chapters towards the end are unnecessarily large and do not provide such useful information like the previous ones, hence 4 stars :)
May 13, 2021
It's a training book
January 28, 2017
This book is a must read if you are running a manufacturing operation.
After failing by being too focused on tools and process, I found the book to offer tremendous insight on how to build a lean organization (the Toyota Way) from someone who has a tremendous amount of experience (we should all learn from it).
From a process perspective, the high level value stream mapping step at the very beginning of the process is critical. This step highlights how much waste exists and provides the roadmap or game plan for the entire process. The advice to highlight pacesetters in the VSM keeps you on track for what capacity is even possible (the old bottleneck).
Other gold nuggets (there are many more):
To even start, you must have a stable process (think attendance and down time - fix these first)
Put a definitive timeline on being complete on 5S
1 piece flow will create disruption and reveal waste (must be ready)
Flow must be connected from beginning of the process to the end
Team leaders must be experts in standard work
You must schedule JI trainers to have time to train
"Stop to Fix" is a major change - have a plan
Technology - automate proven processes (don't automate to save money)
The most important advice is to have a change management plan (take a look at Kotter's Leading Change in conjunction with this book). The key to success of the lean transformation is growing team and group leaders who are unconsciously competent in lean (they just do it - every day). You also have to get your leaders out of the day to day (standard leader work is a must).
It is not often that you get a step by step guide from an expert on such a valuable topic. Take the time to read and implement it (and be patient).
After failing by being too focused on tools and process, I found the book to offer tremendous insight on how to build a lean organization (the Toyota Way) from someone who has a tremendous amount of experience (we should all learn from it).
From a process perspective, the high level value stream mapping step at the very beginning of the process is critical. This step highlights how much waste exists and provides the roadmap or game plan for the entire process. The advice to highlight pacesetters in the VSM keeps you on track for what capacity is even possible (the old bottleneck).
Other gold nuggets (there are many more):
To even start, you must have a stable process (think attendance and down time - fix these first)
Put a definitive timeline on being complete on 5S
1 piece flow will create disruption and reveal waste (must be ready)
Flow must be connected from beginning of the process to the end
Team leaders must be experts in standard work
You must schedule JI trainers to have time to train
"Stop to Fix" is a major change - have a plan
Technology - automate proven processes (don't automate to save money)
The most important advice is to have a change management plan (take a look at Kotter's Leading Change in conjunction with this book). The key to success of the lean transformation is growing team and group leaders who are unconsciously competent in lean (they just do it - every day). You also have to get your leaders out of the day to day (standard leader work is a must).
It is not often that you get a step by step guide from an expert on such a valuable topic. Take the time to read and implement it (and be patient).
August 30, 2021
I originally read the Toyota Way Fieldbook around 2005 prior to using Goodreads to track my thoughts about books so I do not remember what my reaction was.
The Toyota Way Fieldbook strongly compliments the Toyota Way first and second editions. While the Toyota Way provides much of the theory and structure (the "why") behind Toyotas means for achieving operational excellence, the Fieldbook provides support and examples from a more tactical view (the "how") of implementation.
I was excited to see that there was an audio version of the TW Fieldbook and I listened to it shortly after I listened to the audio version of the Toyota Way Second Edition. The Fieldbook is more the "inch wide and mile deep" into how the practices can be put to work for your industry.
What would be really cool is if the authors chose to combine both books into one "super book". Discuss the theory and then take the sections from the field book immediately and insert the tactical application immediately.
The PDF that comes along with the audiobook is helpful but is fairly extensive and is almost a separate book in itself. At the beginning of the audiobook, the authors ensure you that you will not need to reference this material but it is there in case you choose to. I found that to be true listening more for the practical application of the theory versus a step-by-step recipe that must be followed.
The chapters are bite-sized with the listening times being between 5 and 10 minutes long. They are short enough to provide food for thought but not too long to allow your mind to wander. The narrator selection for this audiobook was a good choice.
The Toyota Way Fieldbook strongly compliments the Toyota Way first and second editions. While the Toyota Way provides much of the theory and structure (the "why") behind Toyotas means for achieving operational excellence, the Fieldbook provides support and examples from a more tactical view (the "how") of implementation.
I was excited to see that there was an audio version of the TW Fieldbook and I listened to it shortly after I listened to the audio version of the Toyota Way Second Edition. The Fieldbook is more the "inch wide and mile deep" into how the practices can be put to work for your industry.
What would be really cool is if the authors chose to combine both books into one "super book". Discuss the theory and then take the sections from the field book immediately and insert the tactical application immediately.
The PDF that comes along with the audiobook is helpful but is fairly extensive and is almost a separate book in itself. At the beginning of the audiobook, the authors ensure you that you will not need to reference this material but it is there in case you choose to. I found that to be true listening more for the practical application of the theory versus a step-by-step recipe that must be followed.
The chapters are bite-sized with the listening times being between 5 and 10 minutes long. They are short enough to provide food for thought but not too long to allow your mind to wander. The narrator selection for this audiobook was a good choice.
May 10, 2013
You would have to be pretty dedicated to learning about lean stuff in order to really want to read this book. I read it because it was on my company's recommended reading list, but MAN! it was sooo hard to get through. And I STILL don't know how I would apply this book to my work, as much as I would like to. I guess I would have to be more on the production side of things to really see the benefits of lean. (Which may be the case in the future if I am ever a project manager, I guess?) At any rate, I think this kind of went hand-in-hand with the Steve Jobs book that I finished recently. It really offers the argument of taking a minimalistic approach to providing efficiency and stresses the importance of finding where waste is generated.
With all that said, I think I am taking a LOOONG break from any business books.
With all that said, I think I am taking a LOOONG break from any business books.
January 10, 2012
Got an interest in Lean Manufacturing and Continuous Improvement principles? This is the right book for you. Consist of some stories and methods of Toyota Production System (which have been adopted by most manufacturing companies worldwide), the book will give you some insights how to perform better in manufacturing business as well as how to develop continuous improvement culture. The Toyota Way has good information to share, and indeed a good book to read.
March 18, 2008
i read this when i made my individual term paper in operation management subject. this book is really helping. aside from its brother - the toyota way - this book is not so philosophy in style. it is more real and readable.
February 21, 2008
Must read for all those managers, who want to change the way they function and want to apply japanese concept of management in totality.
December 31, 2008
The holy grail for the auto industry. It's a filtered version of integrated work solutions (IWS) and seven step focused improvements in manufacturing (FI).
April 3, 2011
This book will demonstrate the actual templates needed to create a Toyota Way organization and explains each one of them in detail.
August 4, 2013
I'd recommend reading the first and original book, Toyota Way first, but I thought this is probably the best book of them all. I don't want to explain in detail about this book - buy it. Read.
January 2, 2015
A good working text if you can't get your hands on The Toyota Way.
January 28, 2016
READ JAN 2016
October 31, 2017
An excellent hands on guide to implementing the Toyota Production System. Mind you, it will still be better to get a good sensei to implement TPS in You factory, but this book is a brilliant start. The principles are clearly explained for a non Japanese audience. Many of the principles of TPS come from Japanese culture and the book does an excellent job of demystifying the roots and principles of TPS.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews