Book Description
Learn how the hard-style karate that became shotokan took shape in 19th century Okinawa as an embattled king with an unarmed force of bodyguards faced an armed invasion from overseas. In this new 328-page book, author Bruce D. Clayton, Ph.D., uses rare sketches, footnoted historical research, archival lithographs, period photographs and contemporary technique demonstrations to reveal shotokan's deadly intent and propose modern practical applications of such knowledge. Achieve a new level of theoretical understanding and fighting ability by learning Shotokan's Secret for yourself!
Customer Reviews:
Poorly researchered amateur effort.......2007-08-10
This author of this book admittedly rented or bought a number of videos on Okinawa karate, supposedly watched the videos and then wrote a book based on his limited experience in Shotokan ryu, a Japanese off-shoot of the original Okinawan arts. The author make some fairly outrageous claims that he attempts to pass off as historically correct without one shred of primary research or evidence. It is outrageous that a publishing house would even bother putting this diatribe in print.
Readers interested in Shotokan should immerse themselves in Harry Cook's book, The History of Shotokan. For more information on what Shotokan is missing as a martial art, I highly suggest the Gennosuke Higaki book: Hidden Karate, the true bunkai for the Heian Katas and Naihanchi.
The Best Book on the roots & history Shotokan Karate & More!.......2007-07-22
The Best Book on the Origins & History Shotokan Karate & More!
A radical book yes, but it's not controversial OR contradictory at all IMHO. Easy to read & packed full of information about the true origins & history of Shotokan & budo, not just the normal couple of paragraphs that you get in most books on the subject.
I agree wholeheartedly with all the other "POSITIVE" reviews written here below, as for the negative one about "serious injury", the only serious injury to anyone following the many applications (bunkai) described in here would be to the opponent - and you don't have to change the moves in the kata to fit the bunkai (Oyo Bunkai). See Injury-free Karate by Paul Perry.
If you're a serious student of Shotokan Karate (or any of its derivatives or styles) then you ought to read this one FIRST, it'll save you a lot of money. It really is a breath of fresh air compared to the myriad of humdrum copycat books on karate.
If you're looking for a broader & deeper history of karate (& Martial Arts) in general then also look at "Okinawan Karate" by Mark Bishop.
Shotokan Secrets.......2007-04-02
Probably the best book I've read as far as the true history of not only of the Shotokan style but karate itself. Very detail in the history and the applications of the Shotokan style. I highly recomend this book to karate practioners.
A Great Read.......2007-04-02
A good insight with some interesting ideas on how this great art came about. It goes hand in hand with what I have been teaching for years, when others come up with siliar concepts it validates what you have been doing all your life.
A Complete Farce!.......2007-03-19
Having trained on Okinawa several times throughout the last thirty years I am confident that this book was written without a single visit to the island. Grossly inaccurate, racist, and recklessly missing easily researched information, I can't believe anyone with any experience on the island would find value in this book. The failure to even mention the martial art of the royal family (Udun ti- palace hand) is mind blowing since the royal art is strictly a soft art and this book is trying to justify the development of hard styles. All the author would have to do is walk into a Undun ti dojo and he would have been given all the documentation he needed. Of course, he wouldn't have been able to write this book after that since his theories would have been blown out the window.
This is a fairy tale, new "legends" that some will cling to and pass off as history.
Book Description
"Toyota is becoming a double threat: the world's finest manufacturer and a truly great innovator . . . that formula, a combination of production prowess and technical innovation, is an unbeatable recipe for success."
-- Fortune, February 2006
For the first time, an insider reveals the formula behind Toyota's unceasing quest to innovate and do more with less, a philosophy that has made it one of the ten most profitable companies in the world (and worth more than GM, Ford, DaimlerChrysler, and Honda combined). In a rare look into Toyota's ability to consistently achieve breakthroughs that outperform the competition, The Elegant Solution explains what Toyota associates have known all along: it's not about the cars. Rather, Toyota's astounding success is just the visible result of a hidden creative process that begins with a seven-digit number.
One million. That's how many new ideas the Toyota organization implements every year. These ideas come from every level of the organization -- from the factory floors to the corporate suites. And organizations all over the world want to learn how it's done. Now senior University of Toyota advisor Matthew May shows how any company can achieve an environment of everyday innovation and discover the kinds of elegant solutions that hold the power to change the game forever. World-class benchmarks like Lexus, Prius, Scion -- even Toyota's vaunted production system -- are simply shining examples of elegant solutions.
A tactical playbook for team-based innovation, The Elegant Solution delivers powerful lessons in breakthrough thinking in a provocative yet practical guide to the three core principles and ten key practices that shape successful business innovation. Innovation isn't just about technology -- it's about value, opportunity, and impact. When a company embeds a real discipline around tapping ingenuity in the pursuit of perfection, the sky is the limit. Dozens of case studies (from Toyota and other companies) illustrate the universal power and applicability of these concepts. A unique "clamshell strategy" prepares managers to successfully lead and sustain the innovation effort.
At once a thought-starter and a taskmaster, The Elegant Solution is a vital prescription for anyone wanting to truly master business innovation.
Customer Reviews:
Nice stories, little new content.......2007-08-27
I excepted a lot from the elegant solution. It has been recommended by a lot of persons as a must read. Honestly, I was dissapointed. It's still an good book, but didn't find it as "classic" as people had suggested to me.
"The elegant solution" is about tools for creating innovation on your job. These tools are based on Toyota's tools and practices. The book is devided in three parts. The first part sets three general principles. The second part, by far the largest, provides the tools for innovation, the practices. The last part talks about implementing these practices.
The three principles are "the art of ingenuity", "pursuit of perfection" and "rhythm of fit". They were interesting principles, but not really new or shocking. Sometimes I found them even a little too vague.
The practices range from "thinking in pictures" to "master the tension". Each chapter shortly states the practice and explains the key ideas. After that it uses stories to clarify the practice. Lot's of stories are from inside Toyota. Some stories related to Lance Armstrong, a little too many in my opinion and they were somewhat boring. Anyways, in general, the stories were what made the book interesting.
The third part didn't provide very much content.
In summary, I enjoyed the book, for the stories. I didn't find the practices new and the book didn't provided me with any new insight that other lean books did not provide. The book was written a little bit too much in a "popular style" which annoyed me.
Worth reading for the stories. When wanting to know more on lean or toyota I'd recommend other books like "Toyota way" or "Lean product and process development".
Good nuggets, lots of fluff, some really sloppy thinking.......2007-08-22
I came to this book via the Shampoo Problem that's been floating around the internet these past couple of weeks (which he published in his Change This manifesto). The puzzle is this - a high-end health club puts nice shampoo in their showers, but customers keep stealing it. How do you implement a solution that takes no time to implement, doesn't inconvenience customers at all, and doesn't require any money? That's a lot of constrictions, but the author claims it can be done! (you can search for the answer yourself, I don't want to spoil your fun.)
The question itself reminded me of so many bad professors who would ask totally subjective questions and disregard legitimate answers until they found someone who agreed with them. "Who can give me an example of an apple that's tasty? Macintosh? No too sweet. Granny smith? No too bitter. Golden delicious? Why yes Bobby, you get a star."
This is the tone in my head while I read the book - condescending. Maybe he didn't write it that way, but that's how I'm reading it, and honestly, it fits. On page 21 he chides psychologists for loving "to explain our uniquely hardwired capabilities in hugely complex terms. Sixteen types, thirty-four strengths, etc." and then goes on to give his "easier, more elegant" (but no less arbitrary "four basic buckets of natural ability." (Four because the ancient Greeks loved the number four.) Of course, what he fails to mention is that the psychologists he's referring to all write for pop magazines like Cosmopolitan and their articles appear alongside such classics as "10 ways to improve your sex life" and "5 ways to tell if your man is cheating on you." He also never mentions the "four basic buckets of natural ability" again and they have absolutely no bearing on the rest of the book. (The book is filled with useless random made up facts like those.)
He also throws out sentences that have huge presumptions built in to them, but have absolutely no evidence to back them up. Stuff that, in a seminar you wouldn't want to question him on because "there is no right answer" or the facts are obscure enough that he could bluster his way though most arguments that weren't from an expert on the subject. In book form, though, and knowing better myself, I read this stuff and think "well there's a very poor and inaccurate description." Luckily there's an only 50% chance that even the next sentence will depend on you agreeing with that statement, much less the next page.
In a later section he rehashes "the scientific method" (I put it in quotes because he botched his basic characterization of it) and compares it to other four step iterative processes, mostly those developed by the military - Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA), Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA), Observe-Orient-Decide-Act (OODA), Scan-Analyze-Respond-Assess (SARA), etc. and comes up with his own version, cleverly called IDEA - Investigate, Design, Execute, Adjust. It's not much different than the others, but it's his and he can teach it in seminars as his own. FWIW, "While Toyota officially recognizes only PDCA (not IDEA), they actually use all of these (methodologies) to some degree." (page 73-4)
Well of course they use all of the methodologies to some degree - they all describe the same basic thing, and very few organizations are so button-down that they actually only use a single methodology and follow it to the letter each time.
The very next sentence is "Let's look closer at the process." But that's pretty much the last time PDCA is mentioned in the book, the next section is about process in general and why it's good to "Insist on a common approach."
Another example of sloppy leaps in logic and condescending attitude is the Edsel. (page 93) Ford did their research and designed a car that people would want - except nobody wanted it. Why? "The problem was, all the research was based on a forty-year-old market belief... that buyers fell into one of four income segments: low, low-middle, upper-middle, and upper... Except markets don't think that way. When it comes to cars, consumers were thinking `lifestyle,' not income."
I like how he swaps an old marketing tool for a modern one as if that's the answer to all the world's problems. Lifestyle marketing was originated in the 70's and 80's as a result of - surprise surprise - new market research techniques developed by psychologists who were using statistical analysis more and more in their psychological research. (I wonder if he thinks those psychologists are too complex now.)
He also utterly fails to get into the concept of lifestyle marketing - he tells you why the Edsel failed, and what they should have done, (or his completely arbitrary and baseless versions of them) but what they should have done is literally one word. "lifestyle." Shame on Ford in the 1950's for not using an 80's marketing concept to understand how the market thinks. Why didn't they use the word "lifestyle" instead - then the Edsel would have been a huge success.
Hansei is another example of this sloppy, condescending thinking. "Hansei is the rigorous review conducted after action has been taken. It's a huge and absolutely vital part of learning. And with few exceptions, our Western culture is just plain miserable at it." Of course there's not one mention of the term "post-mortem" which is a western term and performs the exact same function. Sure most businesses don't do it (most businesses don't follow a lot of best practices), but don't pretend that Toyota or "Eastern culture" somehow invented the concept and that nobody in the west does it. If there's an existing best practice that we understand, then why not just tell us about it rather than pretending that it came from the fount of the Toyota godhead?
"Ford hadn't gone to the field to see what was actually happening. They remained in the office and believed the data. Big mistake. The Edsel was dead on arrival, a complete and utter failure."
Of course the next chapter is about how Toyota did the same basic thing, but managed to succeed. Their data told them that the youth of today would be the car buyers of tomorrow (startling, I know). The case study for the Scion reveals absolutely nothing about the techniques they used to study the market - it's the after report.
"Where are these kids going to buy the car? There's no time or money for new stores. That's a problem. That means they go to a Toyota store. Okay, so they'll know it's a Toyota. How do we get around that? Think? We don't. It's not the ugly stepchild. It's legit, but different. It's Scion, offspring of Toyota. Don't ignore the Toyota link, it's got cred...."
Note the use of the magical word "Think" in that paragraph. He totally neglects to address what "Think" means. Think is the Elegant part of the solution (he also likes the word "Intuitive" and uses it liberally), yet he doesn't describe it at all.
"Think" is where all the magic happens. Katie Lucas calls this the "Run really, really fast" step for "how to win a marathon" methodologies. It's the step where all the real difficult, nitty-gritty stuff magically happens. South Park summarizes it "Step 1: Steal underpants. Step 2...... Step 3: Profit."
Ostensibly the whole book is about that one word "Think" but the tools he provides - the IDEA loop, mind mapping, story boarding are nothing new, and the book is utterly lacking a cohesive whole. They're just scattered ideas, praised one second, and then dropped in the next chapter. He even mentions the Toyota "dashboard" which is a tool for getting a quick overview of a problem - except he (again) utterly fails in to a dashboard. "Dashboard" doesn't even appear in the index of the book, and if it did, the only occurrence would be on page 113.
Here's all the text on page 113. "Creative Visual Control - Visual control is an integral part of Toyota's methodology. The Project Management Office of Toyota's North American Parts Operation (NAPO) used creative visual `dashboards' to track performance in their Stretch Goals Initiative (see Chapter 9)."
Chapter 9 is on how to stretch goals, not about dashboards. He clearly states "Visual control is an integral part of Toyota's methodology" yet it's explained nowhere in the book in any depth.
In fairness, Toyota did do something Ford didn't do (or at least something he claims Ford didn't do) - they got to know their market. Really engage them and have a conversation with them. Learn about them, and let those learnings drive their product, and he does get into that in the book.
The main thrust of the book - if I can understand it all because it's couched in so many superlatives and it jumps from topic to topic so fast that it's really difficult to tease core themes out - seems to be something like: Move forward by getting hands-on experience with your product and your customers. Don't dictate strategy based on numbers alone, or build bureaucracies - get down and dirty and get to know the product you're selling and get to know the marketplace. Come up with grand "elegant" visions for the future, but innovate little by little - tiniest bit by tiniest bit. Listen to everyone and implement every good idea, then standardize it so that the whole company benefits. Don't let the numbers do all the talking; learn the context, the story behind the numbers. Which is a pretty good message, and he does give you some tools to do that, but the tools are often vague, and you feel that the real tools are mentioned only in passing.
The subtitle of the book is "Toyota's Formula for Mastering Innovation." If this book was about the "formula" for Coca-Cola, it would say something like "cola syrup and seltzer" and go on about the intuitive and elegant way they matched cola syrup to the bubbling process and created a dynamic new soft drink and how the other soft drink companies of the day - lemonade, sugar-water and apple-juice - failed to really understand the problem, which is why they didn't come up with the cola + seltzer combination first and why they lost so much market share. (If only apple juice had thought "lifestyle" instead of "income segment!")
Overall, it's an okay read and a decent introduction to the subject of business innovation, though for a book that's supposedly written by a guy who's on the ground floor with this stuff, I would expect a *lot* more meat and a lot less fluff. Get it if you think you'll like it, but don't expect as much as the other reviewers seem to be hinting at.
"Keep it lean. Scale it back, make it simple, and let it flow.".......2007-05-22
The subtitle of this book ("Toyota's Formula for Mastering Innovation") is not inaccurate but somewhat misleading. Although, yes, Matthew E. May has much of interest and value to say about the Toyota Production System, his attention is by no means limited to it and to the remarkable organization within which it was developed and within which it continues to flourish. Today, Toyota is one of the ten most profitable companies in the world and worth more than General Motors, Ford, DaimlerChrysler, and Honda...combined. Obviously there are reasons for such extraordinary success but it would be incorrect to assume that other organizations can achieve the same success once they know what Toyota's "formula for mastering innovation" is.
What about this book's title? According to May, "Elegance isn't about being hoity-toity. It's not about lofty concepts and grand designs. It's not about beauty or grace, or anything to do with aesthetics - ugly is okay. Elegance is about something much more profound. It's about finding the `aha' solution to a problem with the greatest parsimony of effort and expense. Creativity plays a part. Simplicity plays a part. Intelligence plays a part. Add in subtlety, economy, and quality, and you get elegance...Elegant solutions relieve creative tension by solving the problem in finito as it's been defined, in a way that avoids creating other problems that then need to be solved. Elegant solutions render only new possibilities to chase and exploit. Finally, elegant solutions aren't obvious, except, of course, in retrospect."
Elegant solutions include library, paper money, pencil, wallet, wristwatch, icebox, mortgage, Social Security, credit card, cell phone, and auto leasing. These and other elegant solutions, as May correctly points out, "universally change the world's attitudes, beliefs, behaviors, and habits." Efforts to formulate elegant solutions are guided and informed by three principles: ingenuity in craft, pursuit of perfection, and fit with society. "They're the raison d'etre at Toyota, and nonnegotiable."
Earlier, I suggested that this book takes a close look at the mindset and the process by which Toyota continues to formulate elegant solutions. In fact, the Toyota organization implements a million ideas a year. May also includes within his narrative dozens of non-Toyota cases that indicate that none of the individual concepts are new, or even unique to Toyota. All organizations that formulate elegant solutions have people at all levels and in all areas of operation who possess both an ability and a determination to collectively and completely master all of the concepts as "a way of life, not a program centered on select teams led by specialists with artificial agendas."
But what about much smaller organizations, especially those with severely limited resources? Decision-makers in those organizations will be delighted (and perhaps surprised) to find that May provides a wealth of material that they can immediately put to use, once they understand the "deeper principles" that he discusses in Part I and the "ten key practices supported by tools and techniques" that he discusses in Part II. Then in Part III, May explains "how to put the practices and tools together well to achieve a [desired] result." He helps his reader to track the course of an exemplary team through a day of searching for the elegant solution.
For me, some of the most interesting and valuable material is provided in Chapter 12, "Make Kaizen Mandatory," as May poses again (as he does in other chapters) a combination of Problem, Cause, and Solution:
Problem: Innovation is hit or miss.
Cause: Creativity is misdirected and mismanaged.
Solution: Embed the kaizen ethic.
After a brief review of the factors that came together to help embed the kaizen ethic in Japanese business ethic during the decade or so following World War Two, he goes on to explain that at companies such as Toyota, the key issue is that they view kaizen in terms of standards that are created by the individuals performing the work, and, that standards are dynamic, and not everything gets standardized. These companies establish a best practice, document the standard, and train accordingly. Then in the next chapter, May shares his thoughts about "the power of lean" thinking and execution that reduce (if not eliminate) inconsistency, overload, and (most important) waste. Here is another combination:
Problem: Too many, too much - of everything.
Cause: Assumption that more is better.
Solution: Start thinking lean.
Once again, when it comes to innovation and designing solutions, the emphasis remains the same: "whatever you do, keep it lean. Scale it back, make it simple, and let it flow."
And that is what elegance really is all about.
Easy Reading.......2007-03-25
A must read for learning how to implement and sustain continuous improvement enabking lean to become part of the compny's culture
Interesting but little new insights.......2007-03-14
If you're trying to learn how to develop great products, this is not the book that you need to read. However if you're looking for a relatively entertaining book that has a lot of anecdotes of how Toyota and other world-class product developers have approached product development, this will suit you fine.
Book Description
This is the updated third edition of an atlas first published in 1998. During the past six years, the transportation network of the metropolitan area of Tokyo has changed a good deal. In the case of the subway system, lines have been extended, and some rapid-transit lines have been added, so
code numbers for each station are given in our atlas for foreign travelers to identify them easily. In addition, as a result of urban development in areas such as Roppongi, Shinagawa, and Shiodome, quite a few new company buildings, stores, and hotels have appeared. These developments are also
covered in this updated edition.
- 21 area maps of Metropolitan Tokyo (42 pages) showing not only chome numbers but also block numbers (banchi).
- 18 detailed maps of Central Tokyo (30 pages) to guide the reader even to numbered subway station entrances.
- An additional 7 maps of central Yokohama and Kawasaki and access maps to 3 U.S. military bases (Yokosuka, Yokota and Zama).
- Comprehensive index: More than 3,600 entries of town and station names, as well as major organizations and buildings, provide the user with easy access to all destinations.
Customer Reviews:
At the advice of others.......2007-08-24
I recently went to Tokyo. Before I got there I thought I'd be lost if there was no way to figure out the somewhat strange addressing system in use there. Well, as it happened, you can get lost just the same (especially if you're looking for an establishment that closed two years ago!). I think the map is quite good but one has to keep in mind that if one is lost with the map, it's as good as not having a map if you can't speak Japanese.
Don't even think about going to Tokyo without it. .......2007-08-16
Quite simply, this atlas is worth its weight in gold. There are few street address systems more confusing than the Japanese variety, streets are rarely labeled (and even then, if you don't read Japanese, you're usually sunk), and guidebook maps, as I know from rueful experience, look precise and then require half an hour circling several look-alike blocks in confusion.
To all these problems, the Bilingual Atlas is the solution. Streets are labeled in Japanese and in romaji, block numbers are clearly designated, shrines, temples, hotels, stores and almost every conceivable point of interest are clearly labled, and the maps even mark where the various subway station exits deposit commuters. The subway and train maps are comprehensive and as easy to understand as anything you'll find.
My only complaint? The pages aren't completely waterproof, as I found out the hard way one night in Shinjuku.
thank god we bought this book.......2007-08-12
this is an indispensible guide for tokyo. do yourself a favor and buy this book if you plan to be in tokyo longer than a week. we would be lost without it. hell is coming back as a tokyo mailman!!!!!
Good Maps, but heavy to carry........2007-07-16
While I did use this book a lot (I had the paperback version), I found it heavy to carry. What I did most days was refer to it and cross referance with my paper map, plan our days travels and then leave it back at our apt. I brought my paper map everywhere.
I like to tear out the sections of the travel book that I will need for the day to cut down on weight and bulk. Since we needed umbrellas(it rains a lot in Tokyo), Jackets and water bottles, camara, hats and maps it was all a bit cumbersom.
Never Lost In Tokyo.......2007-07-04
This atlas is very light-weighted and handy in size. All location names are written in both romaji (English characters) and Japanese/Kanji characters. In addition to enclosing Metropolitan Tokyo Rail System and Tokyo Subway System, it provides detailed maps of Central Tokyo such as Ginza, Shinjuku, Asakusa, Ikenukuro, Harajuku, and Ueno, etc. All maps show the chome numbers and block numbers so that readers can easily identify the physical address location in Tokyo. The maps also show underground passage, park, subway, hospital, hotels, and so on. For all the subway stations on the maps, it indicates all the exits' numbers of the station, readers can locate which exist they should go to for getting closer to their destination.
Besides the Central Tokyo maps, it covers all 23 wards in Tokyo including: Adachi-ku, Arakawa-ku, Bunkyo-ku, Chiyoda-ku, Chuo-ku, Edogawa-ku, Itabashi-ku, Katsushika-ku, Kita-ku, Koto-ku, Meguro-ku, Minato-ku, Nakano-ku, Nerima-ku, Ota-ku, Setagaya-ku, Shibuya-ku, Shinagawa-ku, Shinjuku-ku, Suginami-ku, Sumida-ku, Taito-ku, and Toshima-ku. The atlas also inlcudes helpful supplemental indexes for looking up Hotels and Inns, Embassies, and Airlines locations. Overall, this is a MUST-HAVE for tourists walking & shopping around in Tokyo.
(Reviewed by Otto Yuen, 03-July-2007)
Book Description
Unlock the secrets of an ancient charting tool
The most ancient form of charting, the Japanese candlestick method has become an extremely popular analytical tool among the new generation of traders. However, because of the aura of mysticism surrounding candlesticks and the arcane terminology typically used to describe them, many traders in the West never really learn how to use them properly and exploit their full potential. Profitable Candlestick Trading demystifies candlesticks for today's traders. With the help of numerous real-world examples, Bigalow clearly explains how candlesticks work, how to read them, and how to maximize profits with them. Bigalow shares some of his original candlestick-based trading programs, the same programs which have yielded impressive results for his clients at leading financial firms in the United States and abroad.
Customer Reviews:
Great Information But..............2007-08-17
I'm very pleased with the information contained in the book. However, most of the information contained in the book can be found on the authors website for free. Just google Stephen Bigalow and check it out for yourself, lots of info in the forum at that site as well. I read some other reviews (at another site) that recommended his second book over this one as the basics can be found at his website (and several others) and you can get more into the theory in the other book. With that said I still recommend it and would say its a 5 star rating based on the information. I use it every night while doing my research for the next trading day. Anyway, just something to know. Seems most days you can find just about anything on the net if you look hard enough. May all your days be bullish kickers!
Excellent CandleStick Trading Book.......2007-05-05
I am a beginner Commodities/Futures Trader, and am in the process of learning everything I can about all the various trading tools and charting methods. My expectations after having read a lot of books now, is that the book should contain a focused look at the 'topic' followed by primary, secondary and tertiary examples of how the methodology of the subject can work effectively AND when it doesnt work well. Stephen Bigalow did an excellent job. The only weakness? The vast amount of analysis provided was for Stock Traders, even though the CandleStick methodology was invented for commodities/futures trading. There is a 3 page section that covered how effective the Candlestick charting method is for commodities trading, but in those 3 pages, he basically says that Candlesticks were invented for Commodities Trading and all the examples that are in the book apply BETTER for commodites as the underlying factors of price in Commodities are not as variant as they are with stocks. Bingo. So why all the analysis based on Stock Trading? I guess he had to play to the larger market of buyers. Anyway, he covers every kind of pattern, and his explanations are clear, succinct, and understandable. I highly recommend this book if you want to understand CandleStick's.
Good fundamentals.......2007-01-12
This book is an excellent introduction into Candlestick Trading. The author shows how to gauge market sentiment in an unusual way. Highly recommended!
Candlestick patterns work -- regardless of whether the market rises or falls !!.......2006-09-09
I attended Steve's seminar 2 years ago, and have been using candlestick patterns ever since. This is an excellent book which provides an easy-to-read introduction to candlestick charts. Steve's approach is a major element of my trading plan.
Great Reading.......2006-05-29
This is an excellant written book,simple step by step explanation of the candlestick methodology. I was impressed with the ease in which I learned the 12 Major candlestick patterns.This book has taken the mistry out of candlestick reading,
and it will place a wealth of knowledge in the hands of newbee traders like myself.Excellent book.
Average customer rating:
- Improving the improvements
- Future of the American Auto Industry revealed
- Excellent Introduction to Lean Production
- Great book, but now dated and perhaps a bit too fawning
- A paradigm shift, and now I understand "Lean" a whole lot better
|
The Machine That Changed the World : The Story of Lean Production
James P. Womack ,
Daniel T. Jones , and
Daniel Roos
Manufacturer: Harper Perennial
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ASIN: 0060974176 |
Book Description
Based on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's five-million-dollar, five-year study on the future of the automobile, a groundbreaking analysis of the worldwide move from mass production to lean production.
Japanese companies are sweeping the world, and the Japanese auto industry soars above the competition. Drawing on their in-depth study of the practices of ninety auto assembly plants in seventeen countries and their interviews with individual employees, scholars, and union and government officials, the authors of this compelling study uncover the specific manufacturing techniques behind Japan's success and show how Western industry can implement these innovative methods. The Machine That Changed the World tells the fascinating story of "lean production," a manufacturing system that results in a better, more cost-efficient product, higher productivity, and greater customer loyalty. The hallmarks of lean production are teamwork, communication, and efficient use of resources. And the results are remarkable: cars with one-third the defects, built in half the factory space, using half the man-hours. The Machine That Changed the World explains in concrete terms what lean production is, how it really works, and--as it inevitably spreads beyond the auto industry--its significant global impact.
Customer Reviews:
Improving the improvements.......2007-05-20
Lean production started with Henry Ford's car for the masses. Toyota took the old idea of customization combined with mass production to create their mass customization model. Quality is important in the product and focus on what is important to the client allows us to know what qualities make the most difference."If it aint broke don't fix it." Providing an affordable product was 20th century sales. Improving the improvements that are critically important to the client is 21st century marketing. The book proves it through the automotive manufacturing model.
Future of the American Auto Industry revealed.......2007-02-07
If this this book had been required reading for everyone employed at Chrysler, Ford & GM, the US auto industry may not be in the dire position it is today.
Excellent Introduction to Lean Production.......2007-02-01
This book provides an excellent introduction to lean techniques. I am college student majoring in mechanical engineering and needed something that could give me an overview of lean production and help me understand how it differs from mass production. The book certainly meets that criteria. While it does not give many case studies of how companies can convert to lean production, "Lean Thinking" by the same authors does do that and is also an excellent book.
The authors performed many years of research before publishing their data and can provide hard numbers to back up their claims that lean production is simply a better method. If you're looking for something to introduce you to lean production, this is the book to get.
Great book, but now dated and perhaps a bit too fawning.......2007-01-23
The title sets the tone the authors carry throughout the book. A little too much glorifying. A little too much hype. Yes, what Toyota and others did was impressive. But no, they did not change the world. In my opinion, not even close.
And this book is dated. In fact, though written in the early '90s, it reads more like many of the books written about Japanese management in the early '80s. Books like "Japan As Number One." Or "Trading Places." At the time, the Japanese were thought to be able to do no wrong.
Now, of course, we know that Japanese executives and managers are mere mortals too. Toyota has certainly done better than most Japanese companies over the last 15 years. And part of the reason -- a big part probably -- has been the effectiveness of their management in areas like lean production. But even without the benefit of the hindsight we now have, the authors of this book should have realized that their unstinted praise was not warranted. Even for the brains behind Toyota.
Still, this book is the best I have found on the history of the "Industry of Industries." It traces the history of the automobile industry from craft production to mass production to lean production. No other book I have read has done that so well.
And for an academic book, The Machine That Changed the World is easy to read. It keeps a careful balance between informing the reader and keeping the reader's interest. Most writers, particularly of works like this, tilt too much one way or the other. Either too dry and pedantic or too light and entertaining. A happy medium is hard to achieve.
Where does the auto industry go from here? Lean production is no longer exceptional. It has become the rule. But it seems to have run its course.
The future of the automobile industry may lie in "collaborative production." Major automakers concentrate on sales and service, not production. Suppliers develop specialized skills in technologies from hybrid power trains to drive-by-wire control systems. And everyone sells to everyone else. Technology becomes less important than brand.
If that is the case, Toyota may still lead the pack. In Business Week's list of the top 100 global brands, Toyota leads all carmakers at number 7. No one has caught Toyota napping on the increasing importance of brand.
Even so, Toyota fiercely defends the idea that is a motor company, not a sales company. Innovative technology and excellent manufacturing have been much more of a focus than sales. Will it be able to adapt if the industry does change?
An interesting question that we should see answered in the next few years. Like many good history books, The Machine That Changed the World gives us hints as to what that future will be.
A paradigm shift, and now I understand "Lean" a whole lot better.......2006-10-24
_The Machine the Changed the World_ by Womack, Jones & Roos is nominally about how Japanese carmakers came up with new ways to meet some difficult challenges. But really, it is about lean manufacturing and why lean manufacturing should be successor to current mass-production methods.
The authors did much of their research for the book while working at the International Motor Vehicle Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. That program was sponsored by a large number of car companies who wanted to understand why the Japanese way of manufacturing (especially as practiced by Toyota) had had such different results from older American & European car companies.
Consequently, the book does focus entirely on the automotive industry. Originally, the first automobiles were custom-made (and often handmade) to the exact specifications of individual buyers, who were usually quite wealthy. Henry Ford wanted to get beyond that and create an automobile that did not need hand-fitting and hand-crafting of every single piece, and that could be built by people who had not already spent ten years in an apprenticeship for a very specific and specialized craft. In his efforts to get beyond the craftsman era, Ford developed a lot of the concepts and attitudes that still define mass-production today.
For decades, manufacturers and especially car assemblers from all over the world would make a pilgrimage to Ford Motor Co. to better understand what wondrous thing this was that Ford had created. Among those was Eiji Toyoda, a member of the family that had founded Toyota Motor Company. While he found much of Ford's work interesting, he also saw a lot of wasted time & effort. Furthermore, Toyota was faced with some challenges that neither Ford (Ford Motor Co.) or Alfred Sloan (General Motors) had ever had to deal with, such as a work force that they almost could not fire, and a severe lack of investment funds.
In dealing with those challenges and in trying to eliminate waste, Toyota Motor Company (and many other Japanese companies) developed what it today known as "lean" manufacturing.
Unfortunately, most presentations of "lean" in the U.S. seem to focus on some of the surface features, such as smaller batch runs, a focus on a neat & orderly work space, and not carrying a lot of inventory.
This is where _The Machine That Changed the World_ really shines, because it explores the thought processes behind the surface features, and explains how lean thinking affects every department of a company, not just manufacturing. The requirements & results of a lean mentality in purchasing, product design, and marketing are all examined as well.
The book was published in 1991, and is therefore a bit dated in some respects. The authors look very favorably towards the Japanese banking & finance system, yet that same system has been having ongoing problems since the mid-1990s. The authors predicted a number of problems -- in marketing, market share, and labor relations -- for GM, Chrysler, and Ford, as well as many of the European auto makers. While I know some of those predictions have come to pass, I would dearly love to see a second edition of this book that goes into more detail about what has happened in the automotive industry during the last 15 years.
Finally, I would have liked to have seen some discussion about implementing a company-wide lean structure in an American company. I have seen references in numerous books to Americans having atypical attitudes regarding individuality vs. other cultures that stress a conformance with society, and while I do believe the lean mentality could (and probably should) be implemented almost anywhere, I think there will be some specific aspects of American culture that will force a slightly different implementation than was done in Japan.
Amazon.com
In a time when educators and politicians in the United States are fumbling for a fix--from vouchers to smaller class sizes--for ailing public schools, it's refreshing to read the more sophisticated take on what can be done to improve American education found in The Teaching Gap, a straightforward analysis of approaches towards teaching around the world. James W. Stigler, a UCLA psychology professor, and James Hiebert, an education professor at the University of Delaware, argue that America's culture of teaching needs to be changed before we see any real change in student achievement--and they're not simply talking about higher pay and more respect.
The bulk of The Teaching Gap examines the cultural differences among teaching methods, with detailed accounts of video observations of eighth-grade math teachers that were part of the Third International Mathematics and Science Study, or TIMSS (which Stigler directed). American teachers in the videos tend to emphasize terms and procedures, thinking of math as a set of tedious skills. They try to interest students with praise and real-life problems. In contrast, Japanese teachers are more likely to emphasize ideas, expecting the concepts alone to stir students' natural curiosity. They weave together lessons that have a distinct beginning, middle, and end. Teachers in the other countries are more likely to share lessons on what works in the classroom and receive more sophisticated training, the authors found. Only seven out of 41 nations scored lower than the U.S. in TIMSS, placing American eighth-graders with those from Cyprus, Portugal, South Africa, Kuwait, Iran, and Colombia. Without falling into teacher-bashing mode, Stigler and Hiebert insist that reform efforts need to originate with teachers, not university researchers. They call for overhauling the teaching profession with stricter requirements, better peer review, and more demanding academic standards, as well as improved interaction between teachers. Their detailed examination of the study's video observations gets to the heart of the matter and should be worthwhile reading for educators, policymakers, and anyone interested in the condition of today's education system. --Jodi Mailander Farrell
Book Description
Comparing math teaching practices in Japan and Germany with those in the United States, two leading researchers offer a surprising new view of teaching and a bold action plan for improving education inside the American classroom.
For years our schools and children have lagged behind international standards in reading, arithmetic, and most other areas of academic achievement. It is no secret that American schools are in dire need of improvement, and that education has become our nation's number-one priority. But even though almost every state in the country is working to develop higher standards for what students should be learning, along with the means for assessing their progress, the quick-fix solutions implemented so far haven't had a noticeable impact.
The problem, as James Stigler and James Hiebert explain, is that most efforts to improve education fail because they simply don't have any impact on the quality of teaching inside classrooms. Teaching, they argue, is cultural. American teachers aren't incompetent, but the methods they use are severely limited, and American teaching has no system in place for getting better. It is teaching, not teachers, that must be changed.
In The Teaching Gap, the authors draw on the conclusions of the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) -- an innovative new study of teaching in several cultures -- to refocus educational reform efforts. Using videotaped lessons from dozens of randomly selected eighth-grade classrooms in the United States, Japan, and Germany, the authors reveal the rich, yet unfulfilled promise of American teaching and document exactly how other countries have consistently stayed ahead of us in the rate their children learn. Our schools can be restructured as places where teachers can engage in career-long learning and classrooms can become laboratories for developing new, teaching-centered ideas. If provided the time they need during the school day for collaborative lesson study and plan building, teachers will change the way our students learn.
James Stigler and James Hiebert have given us nothing less than a "best practices" for teachers -- one that offers proof that how teachers teach is far more important than increased spending, state-of-the-art facilities, mandatory homework, or special education -- and a plan for change that educators, teachers, and parents can implement together.
Customer Reviews:
This is how it should be done. .......2007-06-08
Why is American Schools being out performed by schools in other countries? It couldn't be the teaching methods taught in today's Teacher Prep colleges, could it? It is not a thick book. Read it and think. then read related materials.
Can it be done? It is being done, just not hear. This is a research book worth reading in an easy reading format.
Do The Easy Things First!.......2006-09-12
American middle-school and high-school pupils continually lag their peers in other developed countries - especially in mathematics - despite years of decreasing class size, building ornate new structures, "new" math, etc. However, these efforts are bound to fail if what goes on inside the classrooms is poorly structured.
The "bad news" is that we are often blind to the most familiar aspects of our everyday environment; the "good news" is that looking across cultures is one of the best ways to sharpen our view of ourselves. In "The Teaching Gap" the German and Japanese 8th-grade classes studied were comparable to the American classes - yet, substantive differences were noted.
Content in the U.S. was less advanced and presented in a more piecemeal and prescriptive way - there were twice the number of definitions presented in the U.S., and more concepts were simply given/stated vs. developed/derived. There was also more topic switching in the U.S., more interruptions (0% in Japan, 13% in Germany, and 31% in the U.S.), less coherence of U.S. lessons, less student involvement in doing the work (9% in the U.S., 19% in Germany, 40% in Japan).
Another difference is that Japanese teachers do not use overhead projectors - instead, they work their way around the room on chalkboards, leaving a record of the entire lesson for the pupils. Still another is that Japanese teachers focus on joint efforts at continuous improvement - a concept probably taken from Toyota's much vaunted "Toyota Production System."
"The Teaching Gap" concludes that most popular U.S. reform efforts have avoided a direct focus on teaching. The evidence presented within the book indicates that it is time we did.
It may not be correct, but..........2005-12-29
After reading the book and the previous posters, even if the Japanese mathematics classes were not representative of the education system as a whole, the implications of this study and the ideas that the authors came up with are what we should be focusing on.
The question "why?" is asked far too little in all mathematics classes. If only we would take some time to teach the methods and reasons of mathematics, rather than just the process, I am sure that all students will benefit and be able to truly understand the concepts that are currently being taught with a "learn it for the test" attitude.
The book brings up these vital points, so that teachers may question their styles, regardless of the authenticity of some of their claims.
Interesting for a Education Student.......2004-02-17
I am in a program to become a High School math teacher. Our professor recommended this book. I found it to be pretty interesting. The authors do a detailed analysis of a video study from the TIMSS study. Their analysis compares how math is taught in the US, Germany and Japan. Their conclusion is that the US approach focuses on teaching terms and procedures where as the other countries emphasize understanding concepts. They go onto to propose a system of "lesson planning" to improve teaching in the US. Lesson planning calls for teachers to work in teams and develop a single lesson plan (maybe one per semester). The process of developing the lesson plan and refining it imparts to the teachers involved a kind of "best practices" that they can then use in their everyday planning. I am not sure if this is practical, but it sure sounds reasonable to me.
Inaccurate.......2002-06-30
I read the part of this book regarding Japan. I've taught in a Japanese public junior high school and found lots of inaccuracies in the text. The conclusions they came to are outdated and in places in accurate.
For example, the authors state that there is no widespread reforms in Japanese education, that teachers constantly strive for improvement. This year the Ministry of Education has instituted widespread reform and there has been a lot in the Japanese media about the preparations for this. Japanese people are very dissatisfied with the schools and some wish they'd adopt a few Western style practices.
However, there is little or no accountability in Japanese instruction. Teachers can blythely ignore any required changes and a few have told me that they've been teaching their way for years and don't want to change. None of this is in the book.
While there are a lot of teachers' meetings in Japan, improving one's performance is optional. Often the teachers who do strive for excellence are ostrasized.The book didn't mention this.
Japanese schools are in crisis. There's rampant absenteeism and classroom violence and breakdown. It's not a system we should emulate. Buy another book.
Average customer rating:
- Very tiny book
- Handy Reference, Perfect for Training Seminar
- The Lean Manufacturing Handbook
- Lean
- Fantastic Little Book
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The Lean Manufacturing Pocket Handbook
Kenneth W. Dailey
Manufacturer: DW Publishing
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The Lean Pocket Guide
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Lean Thinking : Banish Waste and Create Wealth in Your Corporation, Revised and Updated
ASIN: 0974722103 |
Product Description
Speak the Language - Understand the Concepts - Know the Techniques
The Lean Manufacturing Pocket Handbook is intended as a reference guide covering the terms, concepts and techniques involved in Lean Manufacturing. It is written in an easy to understand fashion making it useful to both the seasoned Professional and the Novice.
Paper Back - .125" x 3 ¾" x 5 ½" - 44 Pages - 27 Visuals - 34 Definitions - 16 Examples
Customer Reviews:
Very tiny book.......2007-05-10
Very tiny book. I was not expecting such a small book. Very expensive item for its size.
Book arrived with a grease stain on the cover!
Handy Reference, Perfect for Training Seminar.......2007-01-13
If I had to give a 1-2 day seminar on the subject, this would be a handy handbook. For that purpose, it should be used, not as a general reference on lean manufacturing.
If this review was helpful, please add your vote. Thanks.
The Lean Manufacturing Handbook.......2007-01-09
I purchased this handbook to be used as a quick reference guide and as part training aid when I talk to my Clients in the manufacturing sector. It has completely satisfied these requirements and the other factor that appealed was its true "pocket" size.
Lean .......2006-08-28
Delighted with this book. Firstly it's size is great as when you are on the Gemba (Floor) you can have this in your back pocket and referance it when needed. It goes through the various concepts of Lean in an easy format and then explains the techniques. As a Lean BlackBelt myself, it's a great tool to use in every day situations.
Fantastic Little Book.......2006-06-13
This is a fantastic little book on lean manufacturing written by an experienced and knowledgeable industrial engineer. The author's in-depth knowledge on the subject enabled him to distill the critical and important elements of lean manufacturing and convey it in an easy to understand and follow format.
The book has clear definitions and explanations of concepts like JIT, lean manufacturing, waste (over-production, wait time, transportation, processing, inventory, motion and defect waste), value stream mapping, quality at source, cellular manufacturing, production leveling, Kanban and Kaizen, among other useful and interesting concepts.
The book is excellent value for money. It is recommended that one buys it for the whole company if involved in manufacturing operations.
Book Description
Genki outlines in 23 structured lessons all the fundamentals of the Japanese language. Abundantly illustrated and containing a wide variety of exercises, Genki is sure to bring vigor to your classroom! Though primarily meant for use in college-level classes, it is also a good guide for independent learners and is a nice resource book for teachers of Japanese. Genki's authors teach at Kansai Gaidai University, which hosts the largest number of North American students spending their junior year in Japan.
Customer Reviews:
Mediocre for adults.......2007-09-26
This book may be good for young students who anticipate homestays (and I'm skeptical even about that, for reasons below), but if you're an adult you may find this book excruciating. I recently moved to Japan, and finally determined to take some private lessons to get a more systematic grasp on the language than I have had hitherto. My school uses this text. I can't compare it with other college-style textbooks, which may mostly suffer from the same problems, but among the issues I have with it are:
@ The framing scenario is of foreign students living in homestays and interacting with their homestay families and with each other; there is also a lot of school-related vocabluary. This is largely irrelevant for an adult's experience. It is useless for business, BTW (though in my own case, I was looking more for daily life vocabulary and situations than business).
@ Even within this scenario, the book doesn't teach you how to really have conversation -- all classmates address each other with polite "-masu" form verbs. In real life, this would be distant or even rude with your pals. (Moreover, on the accompanying tapes female gaijin characters like "Mary" and "Sue" address their classmates and homestay parents in that saccharine, squeaky little-girl voice that is normally used by shop staff and female announcers on infomercials, not people talking to friends or family.)
@ In Japan, it is very rare for people to mirror back to you what you say, or for it to be appropriate for you to mirror back to them. This is especially true if your main interactions are with people in shops, where they will use a lot of "keigo" (honorific speech) or other specialized formulas. Simple example: A waitress will bring stuff to your table and ask "Yoroshii desu ka?" (Is that OK?), you don't answer back "Hai, yoroshii desu." Even saying goodbye is highly context dependent; e.g. when someone says "Sorry I'm being so rude as to leave before you," even if you can catch the Japanese phrase you will look like an idiot if you reply symmetrically (been there, done that). This book doesn't give you a clue about dealing with such situations, nor help you to unravel what Japanese people are saying to you when they respond to your questions or remarks. All dialogues and exercises are based on the mirroring principle (as well as indiscriminate use of "wa", the topic particle). So it's pretty useless for practical purposes -- unless you plan to use Japanese in class only.
@ While it's a plus that reading & writing practice are integrated into the text, the reading selections in early chapters are devoid of imagination. After several chapters of reading stuff like "Are you OK? I am fine. It's cold here in Japan. I took some pictures, studied Japanese and took a bath. My father is nice, but very busy," and so on, you just want to scream.
@ Although the publication date is 1999, at which time a dot-com boom was beginning even in Japan, this book is snail-mail all the way: you spend time learning about stamps and postcards, but there isn't anything about email, the Internet or texting. (Forget also about DVDs -- people watch videos.)
@ Japanese verb conjugation has a wonderful regularity, in that almost every verb has a set of stems that are based variously on -A-, -I-, -U-, -E- and -O- (e.g., negative, polite, dictionary, causative and "let's" forms, respectively). This tracks the order of Japanese vowels in the kana writing systems, so it's easy to remember. However, "Genki"'s presentation of verbs obliterates this useful pattern (see, e.g. conjugation chart @ 344 of Vol. I).
Like most students of Japanese, I've stocked up on a shelfload of other books of varying usefulness. (Two of the best, Rita Lampkin's "Japanese: Verbs and Essentials of Grammar" and Jay Rubin's "Making Sense of Japanese", unfortunately are exclusively in Roman characters, or nearly so.) You will definitely need to to the same (or at least half a shelfload) if you use this book. But not getting bored by the boook will be a bigger challenge if you're older than 22. One possible tip might be to look for a book that has at least one gaijin co-author. This one is written entirely by Japanese authors; it could have benefitted from the perspective of a formerly-puzzled foreigner.
Genki 1.......2007-08-21
I am teaching myself Japanese and I really like this text. This book has a good collection of vocabulary and is very easy to follow. I recommend this book to everyone. It is excellent! My Japanese friend is very impressed with what I was able to teach myself. I feel very confident in what I have learned. The student CD that accompanies is a little lacking, though. It only covers dialogue and vocab for the book (and workbook), when I really wish the CD included more from the textbook. I also recommend getting the workbook for more practice. You should know that you need the student CD to use the workbook. Genki 1 has to be the best text out there for learning Japanese!
Well Thought-Out Beginners' Course for English Speakers.......2007-05-23
Japanese is a very difficult language for English speakers to learn. If you've learned some French or Spanish (as I have), forget about it! Japanese is many times more difficult. That being said, Japanese is also more interesting, in that it has a completely different structure and forces you to think differently.
Genki does a good job of presenting Japanese is an orderly fashion. The authors are all native Japanese speakers, and there are a few places where they make mistakes in English, but those small errors do not take away from the text.
Genki could use a few more sample Japanese sentences, though. For example, when they present a new pattern, they often provide just a couple of examples when ten or twelve would be better. I suppose they assume (correctly) that this book will mostly be used in a classroom setting, and that the teacher will provide additional material.
In the end, Genki is a good textbook, but you will need more help if you are going to learn to speak Japanese. That is not the fault of the authors, it is just the way it is.
Read this is you are concerned with the JLPT Tests.......2007-04-30
I am writing this review as a person who is concerned with passing the JLPT tests and finding study materials. Of ocurse as everyone else wants, I also want to learn Japanese as well. After having passed all the exams and having an understanding of what each requires and being a State university (college) student I can say this book si great. Challenging but great.
THE Genki 1 IS NOT SUFFICIENT TO PASS JLPT TEST 4 or 3!!!
Let me repeat that again
THE Genki 1 IS NOT SUFFICIENT TO PASS JLPT TEST 4 or 3!!!
While it can be a help, it simply does not go over enough information to insure passing.
THE GENKI BOOK 1 and THE GENKI BOOK 2 DO NOT INSURE PASSING LEVEL 3 or 4!!!
let me repeat tht again
THE GENKI BOOK 1 and THE GENKI BOOK 2 DO NOT INSURE PASSING LEVEL 3 or 4!!!
The other reviewers who write that it does would have needed other knowledge NOT included in these books or with the cds. You simply need more information. about it. The best book for passing the JLPT levels 3 and 4 do not exist. you need a thorough understanding which school can provide or multiple resources for the home study fanatic.
I normally do not review. but would hate to see people just buying this and then getting to the examinations and not knowing a thing that was going on. Be careful what you read.
THe book is great but if one of your goals is passing JLPT 4 or 3 this is not sufficuent alone.
Thank you and good luck to you!
I've purchased all the rest this one is the best........2007-03-26
Ok, I've spent hundreds and hundreds of dollars on Japanaese language learning materials. Books, software, CDs etc. Some of them good some of them bad. Genki is the only one that has really put it all together for me. It explains the concepts and explains them well. When you are done reading the grammar sections it just starts to make sense.
This is a great stepping stone for those that are wanting to learn Japanese as part of a fuller understanding of the language. If you are looking for a quick read for a weekend in Tokyo this book isn't for you.
Pick up the workbook and CD if you are going to be doing this solo. It'll help out like you wouldn't believe.
Book Description
The heart of JIT is quick changeover methods. Dr. Shingo, inventor of the Single-Minute Exchange of Die (SMED) system for Toyota, shows you how to reduce your changeovers by an average of 98 percent! By applying Shingo's techniques, you'll see rapid improvements (lead time reduced from weeks to days, lower inventory and warehousing costs) that will improve quality, productivity, and profits.
Customer Reviews:
Very Good Book.......2006-06-04
I highly recommend this book and it is a must read for all manufacturing personnel in the USA. This book will make you re-think all aspects of fixture design and manufacturing processes. It provides many excellent verbal & illustrated examples of SMED concepts.
Very good book on Set Up Time Reduction.......2005-10-22
Very good book if your interested to reduce setup / changeover times. The book is very easy to read although in some cases it keeps repeating itself. When you think logical you could already figure out 75% on how to improve changeover before reading the book, but for the last 25% this book is an absolute must. A lot of the examples are car manufacturing related, but this I not a problem because the writer tries to give you the tools on how SMED can be reached, regardless which industry you are working in.
Best Set Up Time Reduction Manual.......2003-10-12
This book does an excellent job of explaining how manufacturing setup times can be drastically reduced, including many useful examples. Reducing setup times is critical in the effort to implement the extraordinarily efficient Toyota Production System.
The text is much clearer than "Kaizen For Quick Changeover" by Sekine and Arai. This book deals with setup time reductions for loosely toleranced components or assemblies, and does not deal specifically with tightly toleranced parts.
A really USEFUL book..........1999-11-09
Before reading this book, i had no certain opinions about SMED system. There was a lack of knowledge and i could not apply this technique properly in the factory which I am working for. Now, i am applying SMED technique and decreasing setup times sharply even not under ten minutes. This book opens doors for its reader. Pay money and take it. !
Average customer rating:
- A Great Book!
- A classic!
- Easy to Read - Difficult to Apply
- What many overlook
- Hagakure
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Hagakure: The Book of the Samauri
Tsunetomo Yamamoto
Manufacturer: Kodansha International
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The Code of the Samurai: A Modern Translation of the Bushido Shoshinshu of Taira Shigesuke
ASIN: 4770011067 |
Book Description
|Hagakure ("In the Shadow of Leaves"') is a manual for the samurai classes consisting of a series of short anecdotes and reflections that give both insight and instruction-in the philosophy and code of behavior that foster the true spirit of Bushido-the Way of the Warrior. It is not a book of
philosophy as most would understand the word: it is a collection of thoughts and sayings recorded over a period of seven years, and as such covers a wide variety of subjects, often in no particular sequence.
The work represents an attitude far removed from our modern pragmatism and materialism, and posesses an intuitive rather than rational appeal in its assertion that Bushido is a Way of Dying, and that only a samurai retainer prepared and willing to die at any moment can be totally true to his lord.
While Hagakure was for many years a secret text known only to the warrior vassals of the Hizen fief to which the author belonged, it later came to be recognized as a classic exposition of samurai thought and came to influence many subsequent generations, including Yukio Mishima.
This translation offers 300 selections that constitute the core texts of the 1,300 present in the original.
Customer Reviews:
A Great Book!.......2007-09-30
I loved it. It's an enjoyable read, full of great stories and full of insights. When I first read this book back in 1998, it had a tremendous impact on my life. It allowed me to view things from a different perspective. I will continue to recommend it to everyone. I also highly recommend the modern day version Understanding: Train of Thought.
A classic!.......2007-09-26
This is one of the best historical texts available on the subject of Japanese warrior philosophy. While many of its practices seem alien to the 21st century reader, there is still much wisdom to be found here. I have read this book many times over the years. I will very likely continue to read it again and again.Bushido: A Modern Adaptation of the Ancient Code of the SamuraiMeditations (Penguin Classics)
Easy to Read - Difficult
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