The New Shop Floor Management: Empowering People for Continuous Improvement - Hardcover

Suzaki, Kiyoshi

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0029322650 ISBN 13: 9780029322659

Publisher: The Free Press, 1993

Synopsis

In this first comprehensive departure from the time-and-motion dictums of Frederick Taylor's "Shop Management" that have influenced management practices for most of this century, Kiyoshi Suzaki offers a framework for successfully conducting business at its most crucial point-the shop floor. Drawing on the principles of holistic management, where organizational boundaries are smashed and co-destiny is created, Suzaki demonstrates how modern shop floor management techniques -- focusing maximum energy on the front line -- can lead to dramatic improvements in productivity and valueadded-to-services. The role of management today, Suzaki argues, is to eliminate its own responsibilities by thinking of the organization from the "genba, " or shop floor, point of view. In this challenge, Suzaki claims, organizations need to collect the wisdom of people by practicing "Glass Wall Management," where organizations become transparent, enabling employees to contribute maximum creativity as opposed to blocking their potential with what he calls "Brick Wall Management." Further, to empower individuals to selfmanage their work and satisfy their customers, Suzaki asserts that they all should learn to manage their own "mini-company," where everybody is considered president of his or her area of responsibility. Front-line supervisors, Suzaki shows, must develop a mission and goals and share them both up and downstream. He cites examples of the "shop floor point of view" -- McDonald's Corporation's legal staff learning how to sell hamburgers and fix milkshake machines; Honda's human resource staff training on the assembly line -- that narrow the gap between top management and the shop floor. By upgrading people's skills, focusing on empowerment, and streamlining processes, Suzaki illustrates that an organization will realize concrete improvements in quality, cost, delivery, safety, morale, and ultimately, its competitive position.

About this title

Review:

Fujio ChoPresident, CEO, Toyota Motor Manufacturing, U.S.A., Inc.As the world of business becomes more and more competitive, it is imperative that every company offer consumers the highest quality product at the lowest cost...this book is an extremely useful resource in offering a variety of ideas and suggestions for accomplishing our goals.

About the Author:

Kiyoshi Suzaki, president of Suzaki & Company, is an internationally recognized consultant and educator on manufacturing competitiveness, having worked with hundreds of companies in over 20 nations around the world. He is the author of The New Manufacturing Challenge (The Free Press, 1987).

About this edition

• Publisher: The Free Press
• Publication date: 1993
• ISBN 10: 0029322650
• ISBN 13: 9780029322659
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 256