The Machine That Changed the World (text only) by J.P.Womack.D.T.Jones.D.Roos

by J.P.Womack.D.T.Jones.D.Roos

The Machine That Changed the The Story of Lean Production-- Toyota's Secret Weapon in the Global Car Wars That Is Now Revolutionizing World Industry [Paperback]James P. Womack (Author) Daniel Roos (Author)

Paperback

Published January 1, 2007

Reviews

[Andreas Petrou-Zeniou · Rating 4 out of 5]

Extremely interesting book - can be a bit dense in parts, while others I felt received too little attention. It is likely worth skipping the more data-analytic parts of most chapters if just reading for ideas. The notions of applying mass / lean production to e.g. marketing and sales divisions felt underdiscussed, and I would have appreciated discussion of lean production diffusion between 1990-2007 in the afterword. These admittedly small gripes aside, the book is excellent, contains many interesting ideas, is generally quite carefully-written and precise, and argues quite effectively in favor of lean production.

[Piet Vandaele · Rating 3 out of 5]

the book does a decent job in explaining lean production by comparing it to mass production and, to a lesser extent, to craft production.
nevertheless, i have given it only 3 stars because:
1. some of the content feels somewhat dated in 2025
2. the book covers too many topics and does not provide enough depth.
i enjoyed the Toyota way much more

[Christopher · Rating 3 out of 5]

The audiobook narrator sounds as if he’s reading a crime scene investigation. Very melodramatic and hard to get through.