Book Reviewed: Designing the Future, by James M. Morgan and Jeffrey K. Liker

Lean Product Development as a System: A Case Study for Development at Ford

Lean product development is like just-in-time (JIT) process. Mass production emphasizes cost reduction within processes through economies of scale, while lean production emphasizes flexible response to the customer building in quality at every step of the value stream. In mass production, the principle of quantity is better. Each process builds to its own schedule and pushes inventory onto the next process resulting in large inventory buffers. The inventory buffers protect processes from each other; if one process shuts down or is slow it will not affect the next process until the buffer runs out. But lean production discussed in this book is based on the principle of just-in-time (JIT), building only the parts needed by the next process when they are needed based on a “pull” system. Processes are tightly coupled, and one process have an almost immediate impact on other processes in the linked chain. A system’s view of lean product development discussed in this book integrates people, process, and tools. The principles and methods based on this model of lean product development was applied to Toyota and Ford Motor Companies. This resulted in a record number of products leading to the financial success of these companies.

The principle of lean product development is also applicable to healthcare industry in the development of clinical processes. Readers interested in business management, medical technology and other diverse applications do appreciate this book.