The Machine That Changed the World (book)

Not to be confused with The Machine That Changed the World (miniseries).

The Machine That Changed the World is a 1990 book about automobile production, written by James P. Womack, Daniel T. Jones, and Daniel Roos.

It is the result of five-years research by the International Motor Vehicle Program (IMVP) at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), aimed at finding success factors in the global automobile industry.[1]

The book traces the history of "craft" and "mass" production methods, and notes how Toyota found flaws and wastage with these systems, eventually developing lean production. The dissemination of lean methods from Japan to the wider world is discussed.

This book made the term lean production known worldwide, and is described as a classic[2][3] or a "mainstay".[4] Business Week described it as "the most readable book on the changes reshaping manufacturing".[5]

A revised edition was published in 2007.

  1. ^ Harvey, Fred Walker (1994). "The Machine That Changed the World". doi:10.21061/jte.v5i2.a.7. hdl:10919/8562. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  2. ^ "The Machine that Changed the World". Lean Enterprise Institute.
  3. ^ Berggren, Christian (June 1993). "Lean Production—The End of History?". Work, Employment and Society. 7 (2): 163–188. doi:10.1177/095001709372001. S2CID 153396180. Retrieved 2023-06-30.
  4. ^ Bryan, Will (2021-12-08). "Book Review — The Machine That Changed The World". Retrieved 2023-06-30.
  5. ^ Delos Santos, Jose Maria (2022-08-18). "The Machine That Changed the World".