Ford must copy Toyota, which copied Ford

Excellent commentary here from columnist Tom Walsh. He says, in part:

GM and Ford butchered the lean-production system in subsequent decades and lost their zeal for rooting out waste. When Toyota and Honda and other carmakers set up shop on American shores in the 1980s, Detroit responded with denial and excuses for its loss of market share to foreign-owned rivals. But even after conceding the merits of Toyota’s system, the Detroit Three have found it difficult to duplicate.

Wonder why?

Walsh has some quotes from Jim Womack and makes reference to an upcoming republication of the seminal book, The Machine That Changed the World: The Story of Lean Production– Toyota’s Secret Weapon in the Global Car Wars That Is Now Revolutionizing World Industry (which deserves an award for it’s long non-lean title!).

About LeanBlog.org: Mark Graban is a consultant, author, and speaker in the “lean healthcare” methodology, focused on improving quality and patient safety, improving access, reducing costs, and fully engaging healthcare professionals. He is also the Chief Improvement Officer for KaiNexus.