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THE GOLD MINE
a Novel of Lean Turnaround, published by LEI
A growing number of successful companies are turning to lean
thinking to maintain a competitive edge in a global economy of
falling prices, rising quality, and relentless competition. Yet
while there are many excellent resources that teach both the tools
and principles, no single book addresses what might be the most
important lean discipline of all—the human challenge of creating
and sustaining the commitment of the people doing the work.
The Gold Mine deftly weaves together the technical and
human pieces of implementing lean manufacturing in an engaging
story that readers will find both compelling and instructive.
Authors Freddy and Michael Ballé have produced the first integrated
and systematic approach to a set of ideas that have maximized value
and minimized waste throughout the world.
At the heart of The Gold Mine is Bob Woods, a
curmudgeonly sensei coaxed out of retirement by his son Mike to
help boyhood friend Phil Jenkinson save his struggling company.
Despite terrific products and a backlog of orders, Phil's company
cannot generate enough cash from its operations to pay its bills.
And so Mike enlists Bob to help his pal fix this crisis.
“You're trying to deal with your mess as if it was a technical
problem,” Bob tells Phil. “Move this machine here, change this
design there, which it is to some extent, but … it's all about
people. You have a leadership problem not just a production or
business problem.” As Phil begins to tackle the key challenges
necessary to improve his company's operations, he comes to
understand the deeper points of lean. Readers will also draw
powerful insights from his journey.
The Gold Mine presents all the key lean principles,
ranging from well-known ideas such as pull and flow, to
lesser-known yet equally important principles such as jidoka and
heijunka. The book also reveals lean as a system—using a realistic
story to show how the principles are interrelated and how they lead
to useful tools such as kanban or 5S. Freddy Ballé draws
from his authority of one of Europe's preeminent lean veterans,
bringing his knowledge to life in the context of a dramatic human
story of managers and employees struggling to apply these tools and
ideas in a successful turnaround.
“Mastery of the technical details of lean thinking is never
enough. A transformation will fail without the most important
element: the engagement of the people doing the work,” says
publisher James Womack. “The Gold Mine is the first book to
comprehensively introduce all the lean tools by means of a vivid
personal story showing how hearts and minds are won over. It will
spark ah-ha's from everyone who has been there and provide profound
insight for those who are just getting started. I can't recommend
it highly enough as a way to teach your people the key lean tools
that always lead to success while also teaching, in the words of
Bob Woods, that 'it's all about people.”
“Reading The Gold Mine is like eavesdropping on a sensei
dispensing gems to a client,” says co-publisher Daniel Jones. “The
Ballés draw from a remarkable perspective of wisdom and experience.
Readers, especially those individuals working on the shop floor,
will gain revelation and inspiration by living through the
experiences of the hero. This is an experiential novel that will
resonate deeply with people who relate it to their own lives.
Managers and executives just beginning a lean transformation will
learn valuable insights about how to sidestep the technical and
people problems that lay ahead. And experienced lean thinkers will
discover fresh insights about overcoming resistance to change.”
While The Gold Mine represents LEI's first book of
fiction, Womack envisions it as a natural complement to the
workbooks that have established themselves as the leading guides
for learning lean. “The Gold Mine was created on the premise
that people have different learning styles, and that a set of ideas
based on the shop floor—where the action takes place—can be grasped
intuitively by illustrating how one particular company responds,”
he says. “It complements our established products by presenting a
different but equally vital method of sharing knowledge.”
For more than 30 years, Freddy Ballé worked as a manufacturing
and engineering manager or executive at Renault and auto suppliers
in Europe. He started visiting Toyota plants in Japan in the
mid-1970s to study the Toyota Production System. In recent years
Freddy founded ESG Consultants to help industrial clients make the
lean transformation described in The Gold Mine.
Michael Ballé, business consultant and author, is associate
professor (adjunct) at the American University of Paris and the
co-founder of the Project Lean Entreprise in France. He is Freddy's
son.
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To purchase as an e-book for Kindle click the following link: The
Gold Mine: A Novel of Lean Turnaround
