Book excerpt: COMMEMORATING THE 100th BIRTHDAY OF TAIICHI OHNO Businesses worldwide are successfully implementing the Toyota Production System to speed up processes, reduce waste, improve quality, and cut costs. While there is widespread adoption of TPS, there is still much to be learned about its fundamental principles. This unique volume delivers a clear, concise overview of the Toyota Production System and kaizen in the very words of the architect of both of these movements, Taiicho Ohno, published to mark what would have been his 100th birthday. Filled with insightful new commentary from global quality visionaries, Taiichi Ohno’s Workplace Management is a classic that shows how Toyota managers were taught to think. Based on a series of interviews with Ohno himself, this timeless work is a tribute to his genius and to the core values that have made, and continue to make, Toyota one of the most successful manufacturers in the world. "Whatever name you may give our system, there are parts of it that are so far removed from generally accepted ideas (common sense) that if you do it only half way, it can actually make things worse." "If you are going to do TPS you must do it all the way. You also need to change the way you think. You need to change how you look at things." -- Taiichi Ohno "This book brings to us Taiichi Ohno's philosophy of workplace management--the thinking behind the Toyota Production System. I personally get a thrill down my spine to read these thoughts in Ohno’s own words." -- Dr. Jeffrey Liker, Director, Japan Technology Management Program, University of Michigan, and Author, The Toyota Way Based on a series of interviews with Taiicho Ohno, this unique volume delivers a clear, concise overview of the Toyota Production System and kaizen in the very words of the architect of both of these movements, published to mark what would have been his 100th birthday. INCLUDES INSIGHTFUL NEW COMMENTARY FROM: Fujio Cho, Chairman of Toyota Corporation Masaaki Imai, Founder of the Kaizen Institute Dr. Jeffrey Liker, Director, Japan Technology Management Program, University of Michigan, and author John Shook, Chairman and CEO of the Lean Enterprise Institute Bob Emiliani, Professor, School of Engineering and Technology, Connecticut State University Jon Miller, CEO of the Kaizen Institute