Dain M. Hancock, President, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company
"A must-read for leaders that demands excellence in the development of new products."
John H. Weber, President and Chief Executive Officer, Eagle-Picher Industries, Inc.
"...product development is a key to winning...a great roadmap and some tools to speed you on your way."
Richard Pearson, President, National Center for Manufacturing Sciences (NCMS)
...great insight into the Toyota product development process and how the principles can be adapted to any business environment.
Patricia E. Moody, CMC, author of Breakthrough Partnering, Powered by Honda, The Kaizen Blitz, The Technology Machine, The Purchasing Machine, The Perfect Engine, and The Incredible Payback
"This is the secret weapon we've been waiting for, the opportunity to ratchet up design and development..."
Stephen N. Douthit (Retired), Vice President, Global Operations, Vickers
"This book provides the silver bullet required to achieve the desired results -- great product design."
Emery Powell, New Product Development Manager, Texas Instruments
"It leads you through the application of the principles step by step...it is even entertaining and fun to read."
Book Description
If you're in new product development, or simply work in management and depend on new products for your livelihood, this is definitely the must-read of the decade. You're going to love the increased productivity and the freedom to be creative of this new product development system. Where do you suppose it originated? Toyota, wouldn't you know. If familiar with what's going on in industry today, you're already aware that the Toyota Production System is the envy of Western manufacturing. Companies like Dell Computers and Pella Windows are using it to sock it to their competition. But did you know that Toyota's new product development system is just as important to the ongoing success of Toyota? Consider this. Toyota's new product engineers are 400 percent more productive than those employed by most companies. Talk about productivity. It's enough to make top management want to dance a jig. This book explains that system and how it can be implemented. Hold on. Before you click the order button, or surf to another site, let us make you aware of one more very important thing. The Toyota new product development system this book explains has very little if anything to do with the Toyota Production System. The former is how Toyota develops new products. The latter is how Toyota manufactures them. Both systems deliver extremely high productivity, both free people to do their best, but beyond that, there really aren't many similarities. You need to read this book to find out why. Believe us when we say, no company that depends on an ongoing flow of new and improved products can afford to ignore the revelations it contains or the potential advantages in terms of productivity and creativity that can accrue from following the method outlined in Product Development for the Lean Enterprise. Rating 5.0
The Right Stuff for Productive Product DevelopmentThis book lays out the "right stuff" for productive product development: the right culture, the right tools, the right process, etc. With all the current focus on centralization, controls, and program management offices what a refreshing look at what is really necessary to be successful in product development. Having worked 15 years in this field making this change happen and improving productivity (no really improve it), I can tell you that Michael Kennedy is on target. And, no, it isn't complex centralized task management processes and detailed centralized resource planning systems that require small armies of program management office bureaucrats put in place to control people. It is the people themselves. It is their knowledge and the use of the right process and tools that enables that knowledge that really counts. Personally, with all the junk out there today on controls systems, centralized project management, resource management and other approaches, and after being at another conference preaching this junk in the Pharmaceuctical industry (and where is their productivity at?) And recognizing that this junk really doesn't work, it is great to read a book that shows what does work. If you want your organization to really be successful in product development (no really successful in product development), don't read and listen to the junk coming out of PMI and the related consultants that purport to have the solution, which has no proof that it works in product development (only in the construction industry), read this instead. And, then work hard to make it happen in your company, with patience and perseverance - the right stuff!An easy read that will cause long term mental gymnasticsWhat a wonderful read! I actually felt excited while reading it; it kept me up until 2:30am to finish in a single sitting. The format alternates between a chapter of fictional story, and a chapter of the author's commentary on the story and how it applies to the broader picture.
This is one of the few emerging practical books that discusses solutions to the productivity of knowledge workers. Drucker would be proud, I think. Businesses that manage engineers, artists, or product designers tend to be based on the original theory of management: Frederick Taylor's. This approach is largely based on manual labour -- making and moving things. Knowledge work isn't like that. You can't make knowledge workers productive by directing them, because by definition they will have more specialized knowledge about their contribution than you, as a manager, ever will!
Lean thinking really is about recognizing this "third wave" of management: first, there was task analysis. Then, we focused on business process engineering. Now, we look specifically at knowledge and value creation.
Lean thinking at its core is only 4 principles: add nothing but value (eliminate waste), center on the people who add value, flow value from demand (defer decisions), and optimize across the organization.
This book explains these principles as applied to product development -- which is quite different than lean production.
It really should have the same business impact that Goldratt's THE GOAL had back in the 1980's, if more would take notice.Thought Provoking Mental NourishmentMichael Kennedy's book, Product Development for the Lean Enterprise, gives an experienced insight into the dilemma faced by some of North America's largest organizations, those who have embraced management science in all of its complexity to win national awards, only to find they are unable to compete successfully at the customer level. Using an engaging fictional narrative, Kennedy provides a fresh insight into product development; this book will challenge your beliefs and understanding and likely intrigue you sufficiently to investigate how aspects of the process can be made applicable in your enterprise. It is a treasure trove of information on, not just its principal topic, Toyota's unique product development process, but details on establishing and operating "a process renewal team" and "large group interventions for organizational change". In Michael Kennedy's very readable book, one is introduced to Toyota's design concepts, unconventional to the majority of us in corporate North America. Imagine your product development process stipulating:
*explore not one, but multiple design solutions at the same time;
*delay the design's narrowing process to as late as possible in the process;
*demand the building and testing of multiple design models and prototypes for performance conformity;
*have the development, retention and reuse of engineering knowledge and skills a top priority for the company;
*eliminate the use of complex integrated task based program and plans by delegating each program designer to prepare his/her own time-lines to meet fixed review dates and performance levels; and
*have functional engineering managers focus on teaching and mentoring engineering talent, not administration. In addition to product development, Kennedy's book gives the reader an overview of change management issues from strategy, to personal and political conflict, to presentation and implementation tactics. The book stimulates thought; it proposes possibilities; it gives a glimpse into the future of an enlightened company's product development process. It is beyond a wake-up-call; it is mental nourishment to everyone whose enterprise relies on engineered products. |
