New Book Shows Route to Industry Domination Any Company Can Follow

A major reason Toyota is able to dominate the auto industry is a product development system that is four times more productive than the average system used in the West. Many have tried to duplicate it without success. Now, a new book called READY, SET, DOMINATE relates what has been learned by a consulting firm over a five year period working with dozens of companies around the world to implement Toyota's system. The authors show and tell how following the right path can lead to at least a two-time improvement in product development productivity in two years or less.

Michael Kennedy and his team have done what many thought to be impossible. They have provided an answer to what companies have been trying to achieve for years: achievable and significant product development improvements presented in a way anyone can understand.

Richmond, VA (PRWEB) May 6, 2008 -- Oaklea Press today released a new book by Michael Kennedy called READY, SET, DOMINATE that draws on five years of experience working with companies around the world to implement the Toyota product development system. Kennedy's new book is much more than a sequel to his best-selling PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT FOR THE LEAN ENTERPRISE (Oaklea Press, 2003). That book explained the Toyota development system and why it is four times more productive, according the the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences, than the system normally employed in western companies.

New Book Shows Route to Industry Domination Any Business Can Follow.

Kennedy's new release boils down the lessons -- including the pitfalls often encountered and how to overcome them -- that he and his team have benefited from while working with companies in efforts to implement Toyota's development system. Two actual case histories of successful implementations are presented as well a continuation of the story line of the novel contained in Kennedy's first book. A fictional company caught up in the implementation of the Toyota system gives Kennedy and his coauthors a vehicle to show and tell what they have learned in their work with dozens of real life companies. The authors conclude that a two-time improvement in product development productivity in only two years is achievable by virtually any company.

According to Thane Hathaway, President and CEO of EAC Product Development Solutions, "Michael Kennedy and his team have done what many thought to be impossible. They have provided an answer to what companies have been trying to achieve for years: achievable and significant product development improvements presented in a way anyone can understand."

The authors also show how Toyota's set-based learning system can be adapted and adopted by other areas of a business in order to produce major advantages over the completion. Whether a group of engineers is developing new cars, software applications, aerospace equipment, kitchen appliances, controls, sensors, or any of hundreds of different items, the process they follow is pretty much the same, except in one company -- Toyota, perhaps the most innovative and highly respected car company on the planet. The authors maintain that companies that are early adopters of the Toyota system are certain to realize tremendous advantages over their competitors.

Stephen Hawley Martin, the book's publisher said, "This is a change that is coming to businesses everywhere and this book shows the way. It is a must-read for anyone in management."

"READY, SET, DOMINATE: Implement Toyota's Set-Based Learning for Developing Products and Nobody Can Catch You" is published by The Oaklea Press in hardcover and retails for $27.95. More information can be found online at http://www.LeanTransformation.com.

The Oaklea Press was founded in 1995 and is headquartered in Richmond, Virginia. The firm's books are distributed by Midpoint Trade Books.

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