Read up on how henry Ford applied 'Lean'

Although the concept of 'lean' manufacturing is associated with the Japanese, this book will tell you that Henry Ford was applying lean manufacturing long before they did out East.

The latest publication from Productivity Press is Henry Ford's Lean Vision: Enduring Principles from the First Ford Motor Plant.

This book shows how the lean manufacturing techniques made famous by Japanese manufacturers found their root in the techniques developed by Henry Ford.

The author, William A.

Levinson, draws from Ford's writings, the procedures in his factory, and historical anecdotes about the birth of lean in Japan to provide the reader with proven principles and methods that can be applied in any business or service enterprise.

Henry Ford's Lean Vision covers all aspects of building and running a successful enterprise, including Ford's principles for human relationships and the management of physical resources.

This book is unique in that it consolidates into a single reference the manufacturing principles Ford developed more than eighty years ago.

The reader will learn to look at any job or business system, even a complete industry, from a new perspective.

They will gain the ability to identify improvement opportunities that most people would overlook, and they'll be able to seek out the waste and inefficiency hiding in their own job.

The reader will develop the mindset of being unwilling to take any aspect of a job or activity for granted.

This book begins by covering Henry Ford's basic principles for management, quality, and production methods.

It also explains his thoughts on labor relations, economics, government, and health care.

Levinson describes in detail Ford's factory and his principles for customer and supplier relations.

The idea of the book is not for readers to imitate Ford but to see what he did and then apply the underlying methods and principles appropriately to one's own situation.

Anyone who is trying to implement lean manufacturing or other improvement methodologies will benefit from reading this book.

Henry Ford's Lean Vision is available from American Technical Publishers at www.ameritech.co.uk/productivity.

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