Press Releases

January 2003

TODAY’S LEAN MANUFACTURING "BLUEPRINT"

FOUND IN HENRY FORD’S 1926 BOOK

NEW YORK . . . Before Taiichi Ohno and Shigeo Shingo made concepts such as kaizen (continuous improvement), poka-yoke (error-proofing) and just-in-time famous, Henry Ford had already invented and systematized the key principles of "Lean Manufacturing". And for anyone interested in learning lean, Ford’s Today and Tomorrow – Commemorative Edition of Ford’s 1926 Classic should be required reading.

In honor of the Ford Motor Company’s Centennial, Productivity Press is proud to offer the updated 2003 printing of Today and Tomorrow -- Commemorative Edition of Ford’s 1926 Classic, featuring a new introduction by James Padilla, executive vice president and president for Ford North America.

The book was just awarded the 2003 Shingo Award Research Prize in the newly created "Classics" category.

While our fascination with contemporary business leaders continues, Today and Tomorrow deserves a fresh look. Time and again, lean manufacturing’s roots have been traced to Ford’s thinking about production systems. But learning this second-hand does not have the same impact as delving into Ford’s thinking and his experience by reading his own words first-hand.

Ford’s ideas have never ceased having an impact. In fact, Taiichi Ohno, creator of the Just-In-Time (JIT) manufacturing system, credits his close reading of Ford as a key stimulus to JIT, and we see the seeds of JIT first-hand in Today and Tomorrow:

"Our finished inventory is all in transit. So is most of our raw material inventory. When production stands at 8,000 a day, this means that our various factories manufacture and ship enough to make 8,000 complete cars. We know just how many machines and employees it will take to reach a given figure at a given time, and how to take care of seasonal demands without the danger of becoming overstocked. A thirty-day supply of any one material is the maximum carried by a department . . . The average department inventory is less than ten days’ supply."

In Today and Tomorrow’s 24 chapters, topics as relevant today as they were in 1926, at the pinnacle of Henry Ford’s success, are discussed, including:

· Money, power and big business

· Work standards, time and motion

· Learning from waste

· Wages, hours and employee motivation

· The power of education

It is remarkable that in 1926 Ford could report:

"We start with the blast furnace and end with a completed motor stacked in a freight car. The casting leaves the foundry on a moving platform or conveyor to one of the assembly lines, it is machined, the other parts are added as it moves along, and when it reaches the end of its line, it is a completed and tested motor – and all of this without a stop."

Henry Ford doubled wages, cut the price of a car in half and produced over two million units a year. "But beyond the specifics of any of Ford’s individual achievements or practices, today we find that time has not diminished the impact of his business philosophy or his profound influence on worldwide industry," says Maura May, publisher, Productivity Press.

Indeed, acknowledging that any particular methodology or solution is bound to become obsolete, Ford writes:

"Our own attitude is that we are charged with discovering the best way of doing everything, and that we must regard every process employed in manufacturing as purely experimental. If we reach a stage in production which seems remarkable as compared with what has gone before, then that is just a stage of production and nothing more . . . We know from the changes that have already been brought about that far greater changes are to come . . . Our invariable reply to ‘It can’t be done’ is, ‘Go do it.’ "

About Productivity Press

Founded to provide world-class guidance for every level of an organization, Productivity Press is unrivaled in publishing high-quality material on lean manufacturing and business improvement. Our books, learning tools and newsletter, Lean Manufacturing Advisor, are designed to help educate and support organizations in their efforts to implement the advanced management and manufacturing methodologies required to compete in today’s global business environment.

List price is $30.00. Complimentary review copies are available to media contacts by calling (212) 216-7865 or by e-mailing: leon.carter@taylorandfrancis.com.

For more information on Today and Tomorrow -- Commemorative Edition of Ford’s 1926 Classic, or any of Productivity’s other titles, call (888) 319-5852 or email info@productivitypress.com.