Book Description

VALUE STREAM MANAGEMENT FOR THE LEAN OFFICE: 8 Steps to Planning Mapping, and Sustaining Lean Improvements in Administrative Areas

Don Tapping and Tom Shuker

Administrative functions represent up to 80 percent of the cost of doing business. Eliminating costly waste from administrative and office functions is a great way to increase your profit margin and a vital part of creating a total lean enterprise.

Tapping and Shuker take their Value Stream Management Storyboard and apply its 8-step process in the context of case studies in order processing, customer service, and other administrative office applications of lean. This text will provide you with a complete system for lean implementation in the office.

Highlights include:

· Comprehensive case studies that highlight the applications of lean in an office environment
· A thorough overview of basic lean concepts
· Methods for identifying the administrative activities that need improvement
· The 8-step process for removing waste and reorganizing workflow for cost effective, efficient workflow
· Guidelines and checklists to help direct and maintain lean improvements ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Great Lean Office Workbook!
This book conveys the essence of how a Lean Office can be achieve. It does a superb job of introducing the concepts and provides practical approaches to solving administrative work flow problems utilizing Lean tools. Highly Recommended, best one out there!

What a welcome addition to the world of lean!
This book is such a welcome addition to my book shelf. I tried so hard last year to try to translate manufacturing value stream mapping to the transactional world and found it very difficult. This book simplifies the approach incredibly. There are some typos in the book as well as one figure that is missing some icons. The bad part about the book is that it does seem to spend a lot of time saying the same thing over and over and over again while skipping over some very important VSM concepts like dealing with multiple flows, etc. You need to have a good background in VSM and lean in order to absorb this book easily. I appreciate the fact though that the authors try to demonstrate the tools on three or four examples throughout the book, but why not put in a few other case studies all the way through???!!! I hate having just one complete case study like in the book Learning to See. Not all situations are the same so having several examples can be very helpful. ... Read more

Book Description

Never before in the history of the workplace has the concept of teamwork been more important to the functioning of successful organizations. Ken Blanchard bestselling coauthor of Raving Fans, The One Minute Manager, and Gung Ho! teams up with Donald Carew and Eunice Parisi-Carew to explain how all groups move through four stages of development on their way to becoming high performance teams -- orientation, dissatisfaction, integration, and production. The authors then show how a manager can help any group to become fully effective quickly and with hardly any stress.

The valuable addition to The One Minute Manager® Library is essential for anyone who works with groups and wants to build a high performing team.

This valuable addition to The One Minute Manager. Library is essential for anyone who works with groups and wants to build a high performing team. ... Read more

Reviews (8)

Simple, fun superficial read
Kenneth Blanchard turns his attention to small group dynamics and group performance in this, on of the stable of One Minute Manager books.

Academically, the two principal concepts that Blanchard and his co-authors use, are the stages of group development and Situational Leadership. The familiar stages of forming, storming, norming and performing are termed orientation, dissatisfaction, integration and production. Situational Leadership in this context refers to changing leadership styles according to the stage of the group, thereby filling in for process tasks that the group is unable to accomplish for itself.

Groups tend to start in a high-energy, high motivation but low skills and understanding mode of operation. In this stage, directive leadership provides the structure necessary to move forward. The second stage is one of dissatisfaction, questioning of leadership and clarification of roles. As unpleasant as this stage is, we are reminded that conflicts cannot be resolved if they are avoided. A resolving attitude on the part of the leader is exactly what is needed. As confidence and morale return to the group members, they pass hesitatingly into a third stage, termed integration. In this stage, commitment on goals, roles and tasks increases, as well as to the norms, values and processes of the group. A collaborating leadership style that allows control to be shared and facilitates the surfacing of disagreements is critical to the group's continued growth. Finally, the production stage is characterized by high levels of trust, morale, energy and empowerment. The team can pretty much function autonomously, without a leader whose primary purpose is to validate.

Blanchard's strength is his manner of presentation and clarity of relating ideas from disparate sources. The book is a quick read and yet it presents some fairly profound concepts, connecting the dots in a way that reading a collection of "Harvard Business Review" articles can never accomplish. Most of the book is a conversation between Dan Brockway, the director of training at a chemical company, and his mentor, The One Minute Manger. The coordinator of customer service programs, Maria Sanchez, disagrees with the presentation of material for The Essentials of Management course that Dan is coordinating.

Instead of helping Dan convince her that she is wrong, The One Minute Manger allows Dan to observe the functioning of four groups at different stages of development at his own company. The gradual, real-world exposition of the central issues of group dynamics leads into three-way discussions between Dan, Maria and the Manager about the practicalities, pitfalls and variations in group development. The goal is to produce what Blanchard and others have called "Highly-Effective Teams", effectively defined in the early pages.

The intent of the book is to teach and, with two educational doctorates as co-authors, the structure and style is simple to read and flows so logically that it is as easy to digest as Jello. A busy manager can read this book in a single New York commute and keep revisiting it as needed, while his teams evolve. Students can learn and integrate new concepts more fruitfully, as they learn how the pieces all fit together. Participants in teams can quickly get a sense of what they need to do to effectively contribute to the tasks at had, which inevitably include the processes that the group uses to get things done. Anyone reading this book is well advised to realize that this is a brief synopsis and oversimplification of group dynamics and leadership styles. Extended discussions of roles played by participants in dysfunctional groups and extensive elaboration of Situational leadership are found elsewhere and should be referenced when necessary. In the end, drawing on all our creativity and individual knowledge and experience is the path to generating value in a knowledge economy.

Wonderful book
I think this is a wonderful book. It belongs on the bookshelf over every manager and should be read by everyone who is or aspires to be a manager. We must learn to turn groups of individuals into teams. This book offers solid concepts and practical advice on how to do it.

Twenty Minute Bath
I read this while I was soaking in the bathtub last night. It reads a lot like The Tenth Insight series - easy to follow, pretty simplistic. I chose this book because I have been observing the group process in many different contexts and because I am currently struggling with managing a brand new membership committee at church, as well as a new team at work. This book provides a good hook on which to hang team-building concepts.
The team management principles are easy to apply to the church Membership Committee. I have a lot of autonomy in management at church. I can decide without going through the hierarchy (church board) how to conduct this committee. They are very happy for me to decide how leadership is provided and how group meetings will happen.
One Minute Manager's "Group Developmental Stage" concept includes the stages of Orientation, Dissatisfaction, Resolution and Production. These stages make sense to me and dovetail nicely with concepts of human developmental stages. The Membership Committee has only met once under my leadership and is obviously in the Orientation Stage. I wish I could jump over the next two stages and get right to the Production Stage. I am getting a lot of pressure from board members to produce all sorts of results. One Minute Manager has validated what I already knew about managing this team; we have to go through these stages, and I need to work on getting my style of leadership to match the team's developmental stage. It will take some time, and I will have to get some of the "production" done with little help from the team until this team growth happens.
However, management at work is a totally different situation. I am on several teams, but only have one leadership role so far. This is a newly organized group called the RAT (Rapid Assessment Team) charged with the initial emergency response at the District Public Health Level. I share responsibility for leadership of this group with my supervisor. So far we have had two organizational meetings and two training meetings. The One Minute Manager concepts will help me address a couple of issues I have been struggling with.
The first issue has to do with leadership of this group. In the Orientation Stage, a group needs clear messages from a clearly designated leader. I need to take responsibility for delivering these messages. I need to remember to observe the group interaction, including the content and process, so my leadership style can change with the group's changing needs.
I will also need to figure out how to balance my leadership style with my supervisor's leadership style. I tend to be more the "Low Supportive and Low Directive" type of leader. She tends to be a "High Supportive and Low Directive" type. In the Orientation Stage that this team is in, we need to provide High Directive and Low Supportive Behavior. Providing High Directive isn't a difficult change for me to make because as the trainer, I am responsible for teaching what and how to. As this group moves into the Dissatisfaction Stage, I need to encourage my supervisor to provide the High Supportive Behavior that she is good at. As we work together and make progress with this group, the One Minute Manager concepts will help us coordinate and balance our leadership.

Just in time
This book has come to my aid at the most appropriate time. I am in the midst of an exercise, as a leader of an internal task force entrusted with the responsibility of recommending a solution in a short time. This group is heterogeneous, drawn from different departments with a common problem on hand.

The four stages of group behavior (orientation, dissatisfaction, integration, and production) as described in this book, and the different styles of leadership appropriate at each stage is very essential understanding for any manager. More than this it is important to diagnose the stage at which the group is in and what action the leader needs to take to lead the team quickly to the Production stage.

This is a must read for all managers who wish to understand group behavior - for achieving optimal output.

Solid principles and reminders, though a little overcooked
This book, like its predecessors, is written in a story format. The basic storyline is Dan Brockway's series of visits with the One Minute Manager, in which he learns about team building and the "situational leadership" that team building requires. The One Minute Manager has him visit a team in each of four stages: Orientation, Dissatisfaction, Production, and Integration. The visits provide information about the unique characteristics of each stage, and the book provides discussion of these characteristics by a series of dialogues between Dan and the One Minute Manager. After the visits have concluded, some discussion of how to lead a team depending on its stage occurs.

This book reinforces the important concepts and major characteristics of each stage by including charts and outlines for each stage of team development, as well as reiterating key points throughout the book. The section on situational leadership is valuable also, and the book seeks to answer potential questions from real readers by having the characters ask them during the course of the sessions with the One Minute Manager.

Overall, this book is very insightful, and its tenets are presented in a very creative, though occasionally corny, manner. (It contains frequent subliminal messages: "Let's make an appointment for next week to talk this over" said Dan. "No," said the One Minute Manager, "let's do it right now.") The charts and diagrams are the real treasures in the book, and in spite of its brevity, the book manages to be a fairly good primer on the subject. ... Read more

Book Description

Here is Dr. Shingo's classic industrial engineering rationalefor the priority of process-based over operational improvements formanufacturing. He explains the basic mechanisms of the Toyotaproduction system in a practical and simple way so that you can applythem in your own plant. This book clarifies the fundamental principlesof JIT including leveling, standard work procedures, multi-machinehandling, and more. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Detailed engineering description of TPS
There are a lot of books about the Toyota Production System, but this is one of the most useful for those actually attempting to implement elements of this system. Most of the books on TPS by western authers are just superficial glosses written by MBA's who don't seem to have a clue how to make anything. This book is detailed, specific, clearly written, and very well translated. Some of the material is repetative, nevertheless this is the book to get on TPS.

Excellant book to understand how the TPS evolved.
I enjoyed it since it gave me insight on how TPS evolved and allowed me to better understand not how TPS works but more why. ... Read more

Book Description

Process industries have a particularly urgent need forcollaborative equipment management systems like TPM that can absolutelyguarantee safe, stable operation. In TPM in Process Industries, topconsultants from JIPM (Japan Institute of Plant Maintenance) documentapproaches to implementing TPM in process industries. They focus on theprocess environment and equipment issues such as process loss structureand calculation, autonomous maintenance, equipment and processimprovement, and quality maintenance. Must reading for any manager inthe process industry. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Poorly Developed Characters, Thin Plot
If you buy this book expecting a corporate thriller, filled with larger-than-life characters and exciting tales of industrial espionage, you will be disappointed. TPM Manager is a tiresome main character---imagine a dumbed-down, cliche-filled John Galt from "Atlas Shrugged." Many times I shouted: Shut the F--- up! as I read TPM Manager spew drivel on the wonders of TPM. Initially, I wondered if Suzuki's book was purely ironic. Alas, the author really believes this nonsense. Here's some free advice: save the money, skip the reorg, don't hire the consultant, refrain from making people "take ownership" over a language that no one really takes seriously and instead show re-runs of the "Love Boat" once a week. It is guaranteed to make your employees run back to their cubicles and do some work.

Simply the BIBLE of TPM
Three years ago I used to work for a corporation that used absorbed the TPM (Total Prodictive Maintenance) methodology and made it its own with certain in-house touches.

When we were at the beginning stages of implementing TPM, the officer (that's the name of the role) in charge of the rollout made sure all of management had a good grasp on the ideas captured by this book, and a few even had a chance to meet Mr. Suzuki, to ask him questions about it, only to receive a very concise "Read the book!" as the answer.

The truth is that almost all you need to know to kick off TPM in your industry is hereby contained, however there's one BIG issue I should make you aware of: the book lays down the principles, all of which need to be internalized at all levels within your culture. If that is not achieved (the "zero-loss mentality", for example) you will feel frustrated, and might even be tempted to drop the program altogether. DON'T! If you need to, get consultants, try again, try harder: it's a proven model, and it works, you just have to be (you and your people) very disciplined about it.

TPM in Process Industries
I have worked widely using TPM as a practitioner and a consultant. For me this work represents the "bible" that I use to base my work from. The tools apply equally well to high speed lines as well as to process equipment.

TPM for all industries
This book is the best I have read on the subject of TPM. Although it is titled for process industries it is relevant for production industries also, showing the differences betwwen the two. It is packed with ideas and shows how to start and run TPM within your industry. I showed it around at work and three of my collegues went out and bought it. ... Read more

Book Description

"Earned value" is a project management technique that is emerging as a valuable tool in the management of all projects, including and, in particular, software projects. In its most simple form, earned value equates to fundamental project management.

This is not a new book, but rather it is an updated book. Authors Quentin Fleming and Joel Koppelman have made some important additions. In many cases, there will be no changes to a given section. But in other sections, the authors have made substantial revisions to what they had described in the first edition.

Fleming and Koppelman’s goal remains the same with this update: describe earned value project management in its most fundamental form, for application to all projects, of any size or complexity. Writing in an easy-to-read, friendly, and humorous style characteristic of the best teachers, Fleming and Koppelman have identified the minimum requirements that they feel are necessary to use earned value as a simple tool for project managers. They have also witnessed the use of simple earned value on software projects, and find it particularly exciting. Realistically, a Cost Performance Index (CPI) is the same whether the project is a multibillion-dollar high-technology project, or a simple one hundred thousand-dollar software project. A CPI is a CPI … period. It is a solid metric that reflects the health of the project.

In every chapter, Fleming and Koppelman stick with using simple stories to define their central concept. Their project examples range from peeling potatoes to building a house. Examples are in round numbers, and most formulas get no more complicated than one number divided by another.

Earned Value Project Management—Second Edition may be the best-written, most easily understood project management book on the market today. Project managers will welcome this fresh translation of jargon into ordinary English. The authors have mastered a unique "early-warning" signal of impending cost problems in time for the project manager to react. ... Read more

Reviews (12)

Unique book about a powerful project management tool
This is the only book that I know of that is totally devoted to earned value project management. Before proceeding with a review I believe that a few facts about earned value project management are in order.

First, earned value project management has graduated from a tool that was little known outside of the Department of Defense contracting community to a mainstream project control tool. This milestone occurred when it became a part of the Project Management Institute's Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK).

Second, "earned value" is a misunderstood term. I have had clients who thought it was a consultant's trick to raise prices or hide the true costs of projects in a bunch of mumbo jumbo. Just the opposite is true - earned value is a proven, powerful tool with which to control project costs and schedules. If you use it any poor estimating from the project planning phase will become quickly apparent, allowing you to recalibrate the project before it gets out of control and cannot be salvaged. As an aside, I use a heuristic that boils down to: if you are 15% off cost or schedule by the time you are 15% into a project you will not recover using your original baseline. Earned value project management techniques will give you ample warning before you drift into an unrecoverable situation like that.

The authors have distilled thousands of pages of DoD instructions and guides and lessons learned from the inception of the Cost/Schedule Control Systems Criteria (C/SCSC)into a 141 page book that thoroughly covers the subject. The C/SCSC is where earned value was first defined in the late 1960s.

I like the way the book is structured. It starts with a brief overview of earned value, from where it came and how it finally managed to escape from the bureaucratic world of DoD to become an integral part of the PMBOK. This overview segues into a chapter titled Earned Value Body of Knowledge, which is where the book gets interesting. This is followed by seven chapters that step you through how to correctly plan, schedule and control projects based on earned value.

The key strength is the authors demonstrate how projects are traditionally planned and controlled, and the pitfalls of this approach. For example, using cost/funding where you get a budget, develop a spend plan and then attempt to determine a project's health by comparing the burn rate to the spending plan is like flying blind. Why? The cost components are not integrated with schedule components. This results in controls that will never reveal any relationship between budget and schedule, and is a big reason why projects too often have cost or schedule overruns.

By demonstrating problems with traditional approaches to project management the authors lay the groundwork for how to employ earned value to avoid these problems. They start by systematically stepping through a project, starting with scoping, followed by planning and scheduling. This material is excellent and on the mark. It introduces you to work breakdown structures, organizational breakdown structures, and how the two intersect to form control accounts (the authors use the term "cost account", but my background has instilled "control account" into my vocabulary).

Earned value really begins taking shape in chapter 7, Establish Project Baseline, where the book quickly picks up pace. While earned value is simple in concept, there are many subtle elements that usually become apparent only with experience. The authors highlight these subtle elements, such as examples of how to interpret interrelationships between planned vs. actuals of work, cost and schedule. They provide standard tools such as schedule and cost performance indices (SPI and CPI), and add new wrinkles, such as "to complete performance index" (TCPI), which is a powerful management tool that I only discovered a few years ago.

The best reason for reading this book is it will give you the tools and techniques with which to properly plan projects and prevent cost and schedule overruns. If you are pursuing the Project Management Professional certification this book is the best single source of information that I know of on earned value. Everything you need to know about earned value is packed into 141 pages of a book written by two renowned experts on this subject.

Earned Value Concepts you can use
This is one of the easiest to understand books on project management I have read! Quentin provides background and history for the Earned Value concepts and explains them in a simple and usable way. This book is a must read for project managers who need to really tell how their projects are doing! CSCS folks will learn how the system was supposed to work! Daniel Coza

One of the best books on Earned Value!
The reader that is familiar with Project Management Institute books will find it extremely useful and connected to real life. Presents Earned Value definition and how is possible to organize your projects based on Earned Value principles. If you're interested to have results oriented projects, or if you're interested in project performance, or project monitoring, this book is really helpful. I highly reccomend you to read and use it. If you like "not so academic" books, you might find it a little bit too condensed, and probably you'll need to search for something else. Microsoft Projects offers very good definitions of Earned Value, Cost Performance Index and Schedule Performance Index that you might learn as first steps.

Just Enough
Earned Value Project Management provides project managers with "just enough" to understand and begin using earned value analysis on projects. Koppelman and Fleming have distilled a complex and often intimidating subject and have made it immediately applicable to projects in any industry. I use this book to explain EVM concepts to my students and find it an invaluable tool in my own work as a project manager.

OVERLY COMPLICATED
IF YOU ENJOY READING DOCTORAL DISSERTATIONS THEN BUY THIS BOOK.

Microsoft Project 2002 calculates Earned Value and explains the concepts in PLAIN ENGLISH in the help menu.

This is a typical PMI publication:
POORLY WRITTEN, OVERLY COMPLICATED and BORING. ... Read more

Book Description

As we learned from New Coke, Pets.com, Apple's original handheld device, the Newton, and the reissued Ford Thunderbird, all the promotion in the world won't save a product that somehow isn't right. Robert Cooper is the world's leading expert on making sure your new-product introductions are more like Apple's iPods and less like Newton's.

Cooper invented what's called the "stage-gate" process of new-product development-a process used by 60% of all businesses today.

For this second edition Cooper has completed a major new study-the largest study of product development practices and results ever undertaken. He analyzed thousands of new success and failures from hundreds of companies, with a particular emphasis on high-technology products and services. Product Leadership won't just tell you what things are helpful to your company's success. Now it will tell you how and how much they help. ... Read more

Book Description

In today's information-rich environment, companies can no longer afford to rely entirely on their own ideas to advance their business, nor can they restrict their innovations to a single path to market. As a result, says Harvard Business School professor Henry W. Chesbrough, the traditional model for innovation--which has been largely internally focused, closed off from outside ideas and technologies--is becoming obsolete. Emerging in its place is a new paradigm, "open innovation," which strategically leverages internal and external sources of ideas and takes them to market through multiple paths.

This path-breaking analysis is based on extensive field research, academic study, and the author's own longtime experience working in Silicon Valley. Through rich descriptions of the innovation processes of Xerox, IBM, Lucent, Intel, Merck, and Millennium, and the many spin-offs that have emerged from these firms, Open Innovation shows how companies can use their business model to identify a more enlightened role for R&D in a world of abundant information, better manage and access intellectual property, advance their current business, and grow their future business.

Arguing that companies in all industries must transform the way they commercialize knowledge, Chesbrough convincingly shows how open innovation can unlock the latent economic value in a company's ideas and technologies. ... Read more

Reviews (8)

Interesting and well documented
Chesbrough's premise is that innovation is a technology company's wealth. That hasn't changed. What has changed since the 70s is how that wealth is use. Back then it was hoarded, now it is bought, sold, leased, borrowed, traded, and invested.

This book covers a wide range of business models, both good and bad, with case studies for each. Most samples are mentioned only briefly, like RCA's response to the transistor. (They invested more in vacuum tubes!) Three major case studies show three major strategies for the trade in ideas: Xerox, Intel, and IBM. The Xerox model never successfully opened itself to the marketplace of ideas, and Xerox suffered for it. Intel, by contrast, went for years with no formal R&D group of its own. accepting and improving others' technology. IBM showed how a company could transform itself from an innovation hermit to a gregarious buyer and seller of technology.

The book is very readable. It gives enough information to make each point clear, in terms of real companies in the recent past. The author avoids both MBA jargoneering and academic dryness, making this very accessible to any interested reader.

This is a quick and rewarding read. It lacks academic rigor, but it's at a good level for anyone wanting a practical perspective on innovation strategies, yesterday, today, and in the transition between.

Interesting, but incomplete and idealistic
There's a wonderful introduction to a variety of research and development styles, along with analyses of how they affect the company and its place in the industry. It also has a great discussion of why publicly traded companies that have made certain innovation-style choices are compelled to act they way they do, simply in order to maintain shareholder value.

Unfortunately, the suggestions are marginalized by what seems to be a complete omittance of today's patent laws and their effects on workers (i.e. most legal departments do NOT allow their technology workers to search or look at patents). There's also a whole proposal around rewarding for finding patents and finder's fees that just seems a bit preposterous, at least in the software field. I've never heard of a software patent that detailed something that was non-obvious; merely of ones that patented things that hadn't yet been patented. In any case, I'm no expert in that area, but without an analysis of IP laws and the usefulness of the licensing of patents, I'm hard-pressed to call this anything but a sort of reality-disconnected idealism.

Not a great book
Its not a very great book, apart from a few case studies there is no concrete model around which the book has been written such as Michael Cusumano's Platform leadership( a somewhat related are)

Open Innovation
Simply very good book exploring the new paradigm in the changing technological world.

The importance of embracing open business relationships
In the field of technology change appears to occur at an ever increasing rate. Through innovation in research and development new breakthroughs occur, new products are brought to market, sales brings in money to fund research and the cycle goes on and on. At least this is the way that it is generally thought to occur. In reality hostile takeovers, IPO bids and the like keep interrupting the cycle. Companies refuse to look outside of themselves for innovative ideas or the application of their technology to new ventures. So the system is actually a closed cycle within the company instead of an open one the embraces the value of processes, people, and others outside of the company.

Business innovations create potential but do not have value in and of themselves. It is the business model that turns innovation into profits. We have all seen inferior products bypass superior ones because of a better business model. Unfortunately for the consumer, it is not at all uncommon.

So, the business model itself defines the profit received from an innovation. Why? Because the business model is the single most important factor in determining a suitable market for the innovation, costs, profit margins, and competitive position. The business model determines whether the company will take advantage of all opportunities including those outside itself or just utilize those opportunities that they can produce internally. The authors detail several case studies that point out the difference between closed and open innovation and the results of each very clearly.

The finishing touch to the book is that it clearly details the path to open innovation and how to move a company from a closed mindset to an open one. This is a highly recommended read for anyone wanting to take advantage of technology to increase their profits. ... Read more

Book Description

This book addresses a growing demand for a brief treatment of operations management. At less than 500 pages, it comprehensively covers the essential topics for active learners.Chapter topics include competing with operations, process management, managing project processes, managing technology, quality, capacity, location and layout, supply chain management, forecasting, inventory management, aggregate planning and scheduling, resource planning, and lean systems.For project managers and other business personnel who need to manage and improve processes. ... Read more

Book Description

Uses primarily service examples instead of manufacturing.
* Contains realistic problems that real managers would encounter. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

An excellent, easy to read book
We used this book as one of our texts while working on my MBA. It is very good, especially for someone who has a technical, non-manufacturing background. I highly recommend it.

EXCELLENT INTRODUCTION TO A TECHNICALLY CHALLENGING SUBJECT.
This is an excellent introduction to understanding the process and management of transforming inputs into useful outputs. While the subject is technical, the presentation makes it highly accessible. Major topics covered are: the nature of operations; business strategy and global competitiveness; quality management; product/service design; transformation system design; capacity and location planning; schedule management; materials management; supply chain management and just-in-time systems; and project management. Each chapter concludes with cases and questions that are open-ended, an approach to learning that is applied and appropriate for higher levels of learning. Definitions of key terms are embedded in the text. Reviewed by Yvette Borcia, Managing Partner, Stern & Associates, co-author of Stern's Sourcefinder: The Master Directory to HR and Business Management Information & Resources, Stern's CyberSpace SourceFinder, and Stern's Compensation and Benefits SourceFinder. ... Read more

Book Description

The Lean Design Guidebook describes eighteen powerful and practical tools for product development teams that enable dramatic manufacturing cost reduction. The emphasis is on team activities that can create breakthroughs in material, labor, and overhead cost, while maintaining the highest quality and value for customers. An integrated approach to the application of these waste-eliminating tools is described, along with proven methods for training and deployment within a single team, or an entire organization. This is a highly readable book for practitioners in all fields related to product design and development, including design team members, team leaders, managers, and organizational improvement champions. The book makes extensive use of graphics (over 150 figures and diagrams) and is rich with real-world examples and step-by-step descriptions. A bibliography, a comprehensive glossary, and an index are provided. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Very useful
I was surprized how readable this book was, after the last book I bought on the subject.This book is very useful.I am only half way through, but I am very glad I bit the bullet... it has been worth the money. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Classify this itsy-bitsy book as a project management guide that isn't aproject to read but that distills all the basics for you into a quick thumbnailguide on everything from establishing objectives and keeping to schedules andbudgets to providing effective leadership and tackling problems efficiently.Along the way, simple checklists enable you to be fully prepared at every stage,from starting up to closing down, and accessible diagrams and flow chartsexplore different options for action and provide useful examples. Granted, ifyou're looking for very specific or in-depth guidance, you may find this booktoo cursory and general in its approach. But if you're looking for a thumbnailguide to the basics, it'll do you just fine.

It's worth mentioning that thebook is also part of reference publisher Dorling Kindersley's Essential Managersseries--20 itty-bitty li'l books on business and career topics ranging fromcommunication, leadership, and decision making to the management of time,budgets, change, meetings, people, projects, and teams. Combining the ForDummies book series's talent for breaking down a lot of information intobite-size bits and sidebars with Dorling Kindersley's signature design style ofcrisp, classy graphics on a gleaming white backdrop, they don't represent thecutting edge of business thinking and they don't necessarily reflect any uniqueindividual perspective. Instead, it's as though someone collated the bestgeneral thinking on these 20 topics and rolled them out into 72 brightlydesigned and easy-to-read pages, studded along the way with boxed tips, colorshots of a multiracial cast of "coworkers" animatedly hashing through theworkplace issues of the day, and a self-test of one's skills in the topic athand on the last few pages of each volume. Again, they're not for anyone lookingfor more in-depth or focused help on any of the subjects they cover, but they'reperfect as a quickie general-interest reference... and let's face it, they're so cute and look so smart in a neat little stack or row that you'll probably wantto buy a whole bunch to give to your entire staff or department. --TimothyMurphy ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Guiding Light!
The Book is a great 'Guiding Light' - I mention this because Project Management is a wide topic. Any good business needs to begin with a plan to blueprint for operating and building company eg. Establishing, Budget, Targetting market, Competition etc. This book provides check lists with diagrams, graphs and examples that focus on SWOT (Strength, weakness, Opportunities and Threat) analysis of business. There's expert advice on team work, communication and developing Leadership and the authors' co-experience brings to limelight the basics of understanding the Project with topics like:

1. Defining Project
2. Planning Projects
3. Implementing Plans
4. Monitoring Performance

Quickie tips and perfect gem picks, this book from Defining leads to non stop information through monitoring and tracking progress tips, overcoming probs, dealing with change and summarizing assessment on management skills too. Dorling Kindersley's reference books has been a classy pick and gem on book shelf, this book also stands a 'Sure Pick' for lovers of Management field.

Essential Managers: Project Management
An excellent, very portable, reference crammed cover-to-cover with easy to read information, including a multitude of diagrams and clear instructions that will allow managers and team players alike, to plan, monitor and control business projects to successful completion. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Not for OM majors
This books does a good job supporting a contemporary approach to Operations management. It does not assume everybody wants to major in Om nor does it assume everybody wants to go into manufacturing. It is very readable and does a good job helping the studetn understand the basic trade-offs of OM. ... Read more

Book Description

This book provides an excellent source for professionals preparing for professional certification examinations. This new edition has been significantly reorganizsed to reflect more closely the organisation of professional certification exams. Discussion follows the step-by-step decision-making process, including topics such as: establishment of management objectives, long-, medium-, and short-range planning, execution, and control. It also features increased emphasis on tactical and technological considerations. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Pretty Good Book
Has a lot of information to understand about de Production and Inventory Management

Planning, from global to very detailed
In 7 large steps the writers show the reader the basics of production planning. Master planning, inventory management, MRP, capacity management, production activity control, JIT and the theory of constraints are explained, not only as basic statements, but also including some standard calculation approaches. 1991, the first production computer systems were introduced, but this book stays at the basic. What to do if the current ERP-systems fail and the millennium bug strikes again? Step-by-step, with a calculator in the hand. ... Read more

Book Description

Business people around the world raved about The Disney Way and Fortune proclaimed it, "so useful you may whistle while you work." Now, authors Bill Capodagli and Lynn Jackson are back to deliver a comprehensive, step-by-step implementation plan based on Walt Disney's principles outlined in the best-selling The Disney Way.

The Disney Way Fieldbook provides action plans for instilling Disney's vision into any company, complete with diagnostic exercises, practice sessions, proven advice, and insightful questionnaires. Packed with universally applicable tools and techniques, the book also features inspiring quotes from Walt Disney himself and little known facts about his extraordinary empire.

Reviews (3)

Practical magic
This engaging and enlightening book is as much fun to read as it is profitable to use. Structured like a theater script and written with a dramatic verve, it casts teamwork as human drama, and taps and energizes team members' innate will to succeed not just as individuals but as members of a group. This book, and its companion volume "The Disney Way," really stand out from the business book pack in their passion, good humor, and advice on creating the practical magic that makes a team even greater than the sum of its parts. Authors Capodagli and Jackson are really onto something with their "Dream, Believe, Dare, Do" guiding principles, and their business-wise and human-wise insights make their work essential reading for leaders of all types.

Finally a book that's specific!
As a consultant myself that works with cross-functional teams, it is great to finally come across a book with proven activities that really work! This is a great tool to add to your repertoire. Individual activities are spelled out in terms of the benefits they provide, the materials required and specific guidelines on how to conduct them. This is a great contrast to the plethora of books on the market that promise great activities but provide nothing of value.

Extremely useful
An extremely useful collection of tools. I'll use this book in my teaching and training and recommend it to others. ... Read more

Book Description

Ron Ireland was one of the leaders in Wal-Mart’s effort to develop its supply chain processes for collaborative forecasting and replenishment execution using retail links for communicating point-of-sale, forecasts, and inventory information to its suppliers. As a result he helped pioneer the retail industry standard called Collaborative Planning, Forecasting and Replenishment (CPFR). This collaborative process, which involves sharing information with supply chain partners in real-time, enables substantially improved planning and financial results. Using his extensive knowledge and first-hand experience, Ireland, with Colleen Crum, demonstrates what is necessary to achieve successful win-win trading partner collaborations and describes what companies give up when they don’t collaborate.

Since an effective supply chain collaboration effort requires flexibility when adapting to each partner’s capabilities and the business environment, this book presents a blueprint that you can customize to fit your company’s and your company’s trading partners’ needs to achieve success. Supply Chain Collaboration shows you how to implement CPFR and other best collaborative practices quickly and successfully in almost any organization. Wal-Mart, Procter & Gamble and other highly successful companies are reaping huge competitive benefits from the CPFR process. Learn from the "visionary pioneer" of CPFR how your organization can as well.

Key Features:
• Delineates the steps for developing and implementing a CPFR process that can drive reductions in inventory, logistics costs and cost of goods sold, and increase revenue, profits, and customer satisfaction with minimized risk
• Describes how to effectively integrate trading partner data into the demand planning and sales and operations planning processes and the risks of not doing so
• Discusses how to assess a potential trading partner’s readiness, how to evaluate the effectiveness and financial results of a trading partner relationship, and how to collaborate for continuous improvement
• WAV offers free downloadable CPFR white papers, VICS CPFR roundtable discussion slides, and a CPFR readiness assessment grid — available from the Web Added Value Download Resource Center ... Read more

Book Description

Reach strategic goals with state-of-the-art project management.Expert David I. Cleland, a world leader in project management theory and practice, introduces the latest in state-of-the-art team design and project life-cycle evaluation in this edition of his best-selling Project Management: Strategic Design and Implementation. A standard among project management guides, this highly respected book is the only source of guidance on strategic management in both large and small industrial organizations. Dr. Cleland's focus on the use of flexible teams to implement organizational strategies-particularly changes in products, services, and processes--places this book at the forefront of project management design. The Fourth Edition gives you leading-edge information and practices in the latest techniques in self-managing teams, innovative organizational structuring, team composition, and alternative teams. Enhanced throughout with new diagrams, tables, checklists, and case studies, this book provides the knowledge that industry leaders need to be competitive in the twenty-first century. ... Read more

Book Description

Praise for Performance Management

" We are witnessing a convergence among advanced management concepts and practices.Performance management is a means to pull it all together, to understand the strengths and limitations of each management practice and leverage it for competitive advantage. Cokins’ book walks us through all this in a manner that makes something confusing much less so.
" There is no one right answer for any situation.The answer lies in a balance of concepts and the integration of them. Performance Management is the glue that holds them all together.
" This book helps the reader understand the breadth of PM.It’s not just about measuring!"
–– John F. Morrow, CPA, AICPA Vice President, The New Finance

"Gary Cokins has articulated the ‘411’ of performance management.His combination of personal anecdotes with fundamental cost and performance management theories provides business leaders at all levels, in any industry or profession, a solid resource for practicing their work.
"This book is not only an invaluable resource for those new to performance management but provides guidance, wisdom, support, and insight to all industry leaders and managers. Cokins has organized and simplified the many complex performance management theories, associated tools, and infrastructure for the reader.
"Buy it, read it, and give it to your colleagues–– then celebrate your successes!"
–– Sue Swertfeger, Senior Manager, Owens & Minor ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Great addition to ABC and Performance Improvement
From TQM to Balanced Score Cards - this is the book that provides a practical synthesis. Focus on cause and effect relationships and away from abstractions. Must have book.

Business performance in context of today's environment
If execution is the goal these days, then this book brings an interesting perspective -- it's both big picture AND 'how to do it' at the same time. Cokins does a great job of putting the execution imperative into the larger context of "why." A good read for a reminder of basic performance management tools and for exploring how they work best in the context of today's tough business environment.

Great Graphics in Performance Management
Gary's book, on Performance Management published by Wiley, does an excellent job of pointing out there are no "Silver Bullets" or management tools that solve all problems. Combinations of the right techniques is an art. Bold graphics and flow charts in the book do much to stimulate the thought process. Business failure is often a result of inadequate performance management systems. Survival in today's global economy requires many of the better performance management techniques described in Gary's new book. A great addition to any business library. Bill Hass, Certified Turnaround Professional, wjhass@aol.com

Gary made a complete view of Performance Management
This not a common book about Performance Management. It integrates several methodologies like Activity Based Management, Balanced Score carding, Value Management and Customer Profitability Management.

If you want to know more about Performance Management roots, this book can be a practical guide to understand several aspects involved when you are working to implement successfully a PM initiative. ... Read more

Book Description

The Handbook provides a step-by-step approach to reducing operating costs, enhancing inventory control, increasing profits, improving customer satisfaction, and controlling assets. In addition, the book fully examines and evaluates the array of practices, methods, equipment applications, and current technology that contribute to the effective operation of any type of warehouse--including industrial, mail order, and retail facilities. Whether remodeling an existing facility or building a new one, readers of Warehouse Distribution and Operations Handbook will explore a broad range of topics, including: logistical and strategic considerations affecting operating costs and customer service; layout and product flow options that affect productivity and handling costs; estimating costs, writing specifications, reviewing bids, and administering contracts; loss prevention, maintenance, and sanitation functions; employee standards, productivity programs, and annual expense budgets. In addition, the Handbook provides comprehensive information on carton handling. . .vertical and horizontal materials-handling systems. . .inventory control. . .site selection. . .private, public, and contract warehousing. . .receiving and shipping. . .stackables and unstackables. . .automated systems. . .and more. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Great warehousing and material handling book
This is the best book I've ever found on material handling and warehouse storage. Though a little pricey, this book has content that makes it well worth the cost. Extensive detail on material handling and storage equipment. Also has separate chapters dedicated to small item warehouses, case-pick warehouses, and pallet warehouses.
Anyone designing a new warehouse or redesigning an existing one should read this book. ... Read more

Book Description

Hayes is a founder of the Operations Strategy field, and all four authors are on the Harvard Business School faculty. In Operations, Strategy, and Technology: Pursuing the Competitive Edge--the long-awaited follow-up to the highly successful classic, Restoring Our Competitive Edge--Bob Hayes, Gary Pisano, Dave Upton, and Steve Wheelwright take a fresh look at the foundations of corporate success. This book addresses the basic principles that guide the development of a powerful operations organization, and describes how a company's operating and technological resources can be applied to create a sustainable competitive advantage in today's "new" (global and IT-intensive) economy. Achieving a competitive advantage through superior operations is what the authors refer to as the "operations edge." ... Read more