A new book
Like many of us, the author thought:
“Before I went, I was probably a typical American, thinking their work system was far superior to ours,” he said. He admired the idea of respecting the workers and producing high-quality vehicles
But, he became disillusioned.
“Throughout the book, Mehri traces his growing concern with the company methods, including what he says are too-fast assembly lines and too much machinery crammed into too little space.
Although he worked as an engineer, Mehri said he interviewed several factory workers for his book. He said some workers completed 36-hour shifts.”
I guess what he was seeing was an example of poor lean implementation, even though it was a Toyota supplier and in Japan. I guess neither of those things are indicators that lean would be done properly. We learned, even as far back as the book The Machine That Changed The World, that not all Japanese companies are as good as Toyota.
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