About the Author
Allen C. Ward, PhD
Al, an original pioneer into lean product development and how Toyota practiced it, was a leading U.S. researcher, practitioner, and thinker about lean product development. He developed a new design theory called set-based design that simultaneously explored multiple solutions for every subsystem of both product and manufacturing systems. He found engineers at Toyota practicing a form of set-based design and began years of researching the company’s development practices with Durward Sobek, PhD. Later, as assistant professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Michigan, Al’s paper on Toyota's development processes received a Shingo Research and Professional Publication Awardas did his breakthrough book, Lean Product and Process Development.
He was the president of Ward Synthesis, Inc., a company that designed and built electro-mechanical systems, design automation software; and provided training product and process design methods. He was a member of the executive committee of the National Academies of Science and Engineering's Board on Army Science and Technology. Al served for 10 years in the U.S. Army, reaching the rank of Captain, completing airborne and combat leadership training at the Army’s Ranger school in Ft. Benning, GA.
Al held bachelors’ degrees from the University of Oregon and University of Hawaii in history and mechanical engineering, respectively. He also held master’s and doctorate degrees from MIT. Sadly we lost Al in May of 2004.
Durward K. Sobek II, PhD
Durward is a professor and program coordinator of industrial engineering at Montana State University and co-founder of the nonprofit Lean Product and Process Development Exchange, Inc.
He is co-author with Allen C. Ward of Lean Product and Process Development, 2nd edition, and co-author of Understanding A3 Thinking: A Critical Component of Toyota's PDCA Management System, which received a Shingo Research and Professional Publication Award. For over a decade, Durward has researched lean product development and lean principles, focusing on how organizations can use them to increase performance capacity. A frequent conference presenter, he also has published numerous articles in publications such as Harvard Business Review, Sloan Management Review, and IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management.
He holds a doctor's and master's degree in Industrial and Operations Engineering from the University of Michigan, and a bachelor's degree in Engineering Sciences from Dartmouth College.
Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review
(5 Reviews)
By Steve Bell
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March 31, 2014
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Format: Book
The second edition is well worth the investment of your time to read, even if you have read the first edition. Especially helpful are the case studies, including one that looks inside Ford's remarkable turnaround, through the eyes of one of its leaders, Jim Morgan.
Many people think that Lean is primarily for production operations, but the same Lean thinking can be applied effectively to knowledge work such as product development. Though originally written for a traditional manufacturing product development context, this book contains many insights for rapid, breakthrough product development in high technology environments as well. In an era when rapid innovation is key to survival in many industries, this book is a must-read.
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By Kimio Inagaki
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March 25, 2014
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Format: Book
Reading the first edition of the book really helped me understand Lean Product Development, which led me to reading all other materials available on the subject. Despite my search far and wide, this book remains the number one book on my list by a wide margin. The second edition does absolute wonders in resolving some of the problems with the fist edition. The addition of case studies really helps in convincing the reader that it really works in the real world. The case on Scania was revealing especially on the very seldom revealed aspects of modular design. The Ford case shows a huge transformation of a gigantic organization. The Ping story reveals details on the power of causal maps and tradeoff curves in developing extremely competitive products. And the Menlo case shows the finest example of Lean concepts applied to the software industry.There have been significant additions in the main text as well. I am delighted to see more concrete examples of causal diagrams and tradeoff curves. Addition of the LAMDA is also a big contribution to making this book up to date. All in all I consider the second edition as an entirely new book so those who have the first edition would benefit hugely by buying and reading the second edition.A word of caution though. This book is not only long, it has a very high idea density. Don't expect to browse through this book or to read it in one sitting. This book condenses the content of 3 books into one. You have to reflect after reading every chapter to let the new and often counter-intuitive ideas sink in. This book is great for group reading and discussion. I would recommend that readers try to read this during the course of a few months to really absorb all the ideas.Being a Japanese, I am amazed that an American has been able to put the arcane practices of Toyota product developers so well. It is a big tribute to Dr Allen Ward's conceptual understanding capabilities. I have spoken to several Toyota development managers who seems not to understand that they are doing anything unique. To them, lean product development is like 'air". They consider it common sense. And yet most Japanese companies outside the auto industry are not practicing Lean Product Development. I hope that publication of this book in Japanese will help rectify the problem.
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By Rene Aernoudts
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March 12, 2014
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Format: Book
Great update of the original work by al ward. It's a bit easier to grasp, with 5 great case stories in it as well. It's almost a new book, absolutely worth buying even though I have the 1st edition... Thanks for the great book!
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