Manufacturing-related books for CEOs

◗ The 12 Principles of Manufacturing Excellence: A Leader’s Guide to Achieving and Sustaining Excellence
Larry E. Fast
Productivity Press, 266 pages
“The 12 Principles of Manufacturing Excellence” provides a practical approach for implementing and sustaining business strategies that promote manufacturing excellence. The author explains how to inspire top-notch performance while creating an atmosphere that encourages leadership and mentoring.
He provides examples that illustrate how companies have achieved vertical and horizontal alignment, he explains how to instill a culture that sustains high-quality and world-class performance via 12 principles of manufacturing excellence, and he provides methods to track progress by plant and by function, emphasizing lean manufacturing and Six Sigma tools to improve manufacturing operations.
◗ The Toyota Way to Lean Leadership: Achieving and Sustaining Excellence through Leadership Development
Jeffrey Liker, Gary Convis
McGraw-Hill, 272 pages
Many companies across the globe have adopted lean manufacturing practices but few have attained or maintained the levels of excellence that Toyota has. “The Toyota Way to Lean Leadership” sheds light on some of the reasons for this.
Liker and Convis (the former is the author of the popular “Toyota Way” series, the latter a former executive VP and managing officer of Toyota) offer practical ways for executives to spur their employees to focus their efforts on collaborating with co-workers to drive continuous improvement throughout the organization. Case studies demonstrate the methods Toyota uses to produce powerful, capable lean leadership.
◗ Supply Chain Transformation: Building and Executing an Integrated Supply Chain Strategy
J. Paul Dittmann
McGraw-Hill, 256 pages
As manufacturers expand their offerings and look for new ways to lower their cost structures, the complexity of their supply chain naturally increases. “Supply Chain Transformation” tackles this issue head-on, introducing a strategic framework aimed at helping manufacturers develop a first-class supply chain strategy.
Dittmann presents nine clear, concise steps for manufacturing executives to follow as they retool to improve their company’s management of supply chain dynamics. The book contains numerous real-world examples that illustrate the difficulties inherent in gaining organizational support for the major investments involved in reworking a company’s supply chain strategy. <<