Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 46-50 of 51
 USE LEARN THINKING TO FIND 2,000 PERCENT SOLUTIONS April 1, 1999
Mark(mdm@princeton.edu)
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
My sister was fortunate last week to visit the Pratt & Whitney plant described in Lean Thinking. She was in awe of the changes they made, their ability to integrate kaizen for five years into the way they run the business and the comparison between the Chaku Chaku line (the new grinding machines and flow) and the older Boehm machines. As she told me about it, the book came to life. These stories are real and lean thinking does make a difference. Lining up the value creating activities into a value stream focusing on what the customer really wants has many benefits. One that Lean Thinking approaches in described in "The 2,000 Percent Solution" by Mitchell, Coles and Metz as the Ideal or Theoretical Best Practice. This is one of the steps in The Master Eight-Step Problem Solving Process described in their book. It allows you to think about the best way to do a task or reach a goal, with no resource constraints or old baggage, knowing what you know now. People report that once they develop their Ideal Best Practice, they can find a way to get there, rapidly, with greater benefits and at less cost. Lean thinking is clearly part of the 2,000 percent solution many activities. These two books should be read together to create greater success and get you there faster.
Excellent book for all companies - breaks paradigms! October 29, 1998
bobk@sbbsl.com (Minneapolis, MN)
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
If you are interested in learning how to really make significant breakthroughs in the value chain, this book is a must. The book has many great examples and then goes on to give you a process to follow for improving your own company and its value chain. The book gives practical advances that can be made in reducing buffer sizes (if you're into Drum-Buffer-Rope - if not you should read The Race by Goldratt). Inventory turns of over 100 times are available if you stick with the program and make it really work. Quick gains are readily available as well. We have combined this with Constraint Management and Drum Buffer Rope for a highly effective manufacturing process.
This is the business bible! September 21, 1998
Bcreative@worldnet.att.net, Pam Mitchell of Strategic Pathways (Dayton, OH)
8 out of 9 found this review helpful
As a strategic planning consultant, I recommend 'Lean Thinking' to all of my clients. Some mistakenly view this book as a 'how to' for manufacturing companies. While it is, it is also much more. It is an attitude about business strategy. Waste, in any type of company, drains profits in one of two ways: as direct costs that they can see today, and as indirect costs when waste discourages repeat business. For any business manager worth his or her six figure income, this book is a must read.
 Applies system thinking to the plethora of techniques April 13, 1998
5 out of 8 found this review helpful
There is a plethora of useful techniques available to organsations today in the quest for improvement. What is needed is the systems thinking that enables the tools to make a difference. Lean Thinking is a significant contribution to the quest. Whilst the system thinking expounded in Lean Thinking is still located in the process, rather than the organisation, the book needs to be part of a wider perspective, eg Theory of Constraints, to make the maximum impact. One interesting observation in the book is that benchmarking is a waste of time. This is particularly pertinant coming from authors who made their reputation as benchmarkers! By bouncing many of the accepted wisdoms of manufacturing, and demonstrating that the thinking can be applied widely, they offer a very worthwhile read.
Excellent real world application source of Lean Production March 26, 1998
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
Principles and "How To Guides" are beneficial, but do not meet the needs of most action oriented business managers. Application and implementation success stories is what is really needed. "Lean Thinking" truely addresses these two business manager needs.
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