The Toyota Way to Continuous Improvement, Liker teams up with former Toyota production engineer James Franz to explain the underlying thinking behind continuous improvement and why any company needs a disciplined approach to process improvement in every part of the organization. Liker and Franz outline the common mistakes in thinking that limit results, and they reveal how Toyota achieves its dual objectives of improving business performance and developing its people through following Dr. W. Edwards Deming’s teachings of Plan-Do-Check-Adjust (PDCA). Through detailed case examples in many industries, you’ll learn how to: • Determine why your processes aren’t achieving anticipated results • Build a sustainable lean process with a well-defined purpose • Create a system that reveals problems • Teach every leader and team member at every level the art of PDCA for process improvement

Table of Contents:
Section One The Journey to Continuous Improvement 1 Chapter 1 Continuous Improvement toward Excellence Chapter 2 PDCA and Striving for Excellence Chapter 3 How Process Improvement Can Develop Exceptional People Chapter 4 Lean Processes Start with a Purpose Chapter 5 Lean Out Processes or Build Lean Systems? Section Two Case Studies of Lean Transformation through PDCA 97 Chapter 6 When Organic Meets Mechanistic: Lean Overhaul and Repair of Ships (with Robert Kucner) Chapter 7 An Australian Sensei Teaches a Proud Japanese Company New Tricks: Bringing TPS to a Complex Equipment Manufacturer (with Tony McNaughton) Chapter 8 Lean Iron-Ore Mining in the Pilbara Region of Western Australia Chapter 9 Bringing Ford’s Ideas Alive at Henry Ford Health System Labs through PDCA Leadership (with Dr. Richard Zarbo) Chapter 10 Teaching Individuals to Fly by the Numbers: Transforming Health-Care Processes (with Steve Hoeft) Chapter 11 Transforming How Products Are Engineered at North American Automotive Supplier (with Charlie Baker) Chapter 12 Going Nuclear with Lean (with John Drogosz) Section Three Making Your Vision a Reality 343 Chapter 13 One Time around the Plan–Do–Check–Adjust (PDCA) Loop: A Lean Short Story at Alte Schule Chapter 14 Sustaining, Spreading, Deepening: Continuing Turns of the PDCA Wheel Chapter 15 Continuous Improvement as a Way of Life