Product Description

Hitchhikers do not travel a fixed path. They intentionally wander so they can learn and grow along the way. Embarking on the lean journey is similar, there are many roads on which to wander and no single one is right for all. "The Hitchhiker's Guide to Lean: Lessons from the Road" reveals the most critical lessons learned over the authors' combined 30-plus years of exploring the lean highways. One of the book's lessons from the road is you need to pay attention to where you are and where you are going, just as you do when driving a car. Lean leaders add value by changing things, moving them forward, and producing different results than the day before. To lead, you must go beyond creating a vision. You must develop the vehicle that will deliver it. "The Hitchhiker's Guide to Lean" is the vehicle that will help you move beyond the tools and take lean to a self-sustaining and continuously improving level. The book's 10 chapters cover lean principles and thinking, lean leadership moves, the roadmap for lean transformation, common pitfalls of lean journeys, building an operating system, lean accounting, lean material management, lean in service organizations, and how individuals can apply lean to improve themselves. The book concludes with interviews of lean practitioners on the front lines of change at Chrysler, Ross Controls, DTE Energy, RSR Corporation, and Nemak.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #102800 in Books
• Published on: 2005-12-01
• Released on: 2005-12-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 216 pages

Customer Reviews

What a great common sense look at Lean
This book drives home some very critical thoughts around "Leadership"...a word that I feel is used too lightly...as it relates to Lean Implementation. In my opinion and based on what I take from this book, leadership is probably the most important aspect of the implementation. Without it you will fail!
"It is ideal to have senior leadership actively engaged in the lean journey, not just sitting in a seat, but also driving the vehicle. Unfortunately, senior leadership typically delegates the responsibility of guiding the lean journey to others of lessor authority." This sets up a fall guy rather than forcing leadership to look in the mirror to determine why they are not getting what they expected from lean. Challenge your leasdership to join the journey!
The book asks questions like; "Is leadership actively engaged?". This is such a good question but the answer may not be what you want to hear. Being engaged does not mean attending meetings!!
"Leaders can not lead if they can not teach." Wow...this is great...and to teach you must know the subject and to know it you must live it. If leaders are not hands on engaged they can't possibly "know" how to drive lean.
I could go on and on about the great material in this book but suffice to say...READ IT!! You will absolutely get more than your money's worth.

The Hitchhiker's Guide: Don't leave home without it
The Lean Hitchhiker's Guide to Lean is one of very few books on lean enterprise on the market today that really, really "gets it". Authors Flinchbaugh and Carlino focus on the essential truth of lean enterprise, which is organizational learning. This is why your CEO, and not the "lean department," should be leading your lean transformation. Throughout the book, the authors make the point that lean is not just about manufacturing, it is way of managing continuous, evolutionary change in all conceivable dimensions: manufacturing, materials management, accounting, service--even personal life!

At core of the book is Flinchbaugh's and Carlino's important concept of a lean business operating system, which--much more than Just-In-Time production--makes lean tick. Why don't more lean gurus write about this?

In addition to getting it all right, the authors have wrapped their message in a highly readable, practical package.

Don't leave home on your lean journey without the Hitchhiker's Guide to Lean.

Readable LEAN!
The really nice thing about this book is that it is incredibly "user friendly" and organized in such a way as to almost anticipate the questions you might be asking if considering a LEAN approach in your organization. I found my yellow highlighter flying across the pages and my head nodding, "yep, yep, yep," as I read. The authors emphasis on learning to see, leadership, and the so-called soft skills for implementing LEAN (or any change) really help set a tone and foundation for taking LEAN into your processes and work. This is the kind of book that will not gather dust on your shelf, that you will encourage others to buy, and that you will come back to over and over - each time discovering new "truths," new nuances, new learnings. It is great to be able to listen to those with 30 years experience share their lessons learned and be able to "leap frog" SOME of the pain they experienced as I work to "evangelize" LEAN in my company. I am a big reader. This is one of those books, after reading, I wished I could meet the authors in person to say, "THANK YOU!"

You will enjoy it, be challenged by it, and be motivated to TRY IT!