Andy & Me

In an era when automotive companies are being propped up instead of profiting, many firms are revisiting this award winning book and the wise approach it takes to improvement. The second edition of this bestselling text, one of the most popular ever written on Lean, facilitates the Lean implementation process by emphasizing practicality and a can do attitude in the face of all challenges, big and small. Winner of a 2006 Shingo Prize for Excellence in Manufacturing Research Based on the author's personal experience with Toyota's master teachers, Andy & Me is a business novel set in a failing New Jersey auto plant focusing on the tribulations of Tom Pappas, the plant manager. The situations, characters and plant politics will ring true with many readers. The book follows Tom's relationship with Andy Saito, a reclusive retired Toyota guru whom Tom persuades to help save his plant through the teaching of the legendary Toyota Production System (TPS). On this journey, the reader learns that TPS is more than just a collection of tools; it entails a new way of thinking and behaving. Though Tom finds success -- both in his plant and in his personal life -- he learns from Andy that successful improvement is endless and eternal. This edition adds end-of-chapter study questions that highlight critical Lean and leadership lessons. It also includes corresponding notes that provide up-front guidance. The author is a Toyota veteran with more than two decades of professional experience as a consultant in Lean management and manufacturing.