My Life and Work

About the Book

Henry Ford invented lean manufacturing in 1909 and spent the next 20 years developing it. Lean manufacturing allowed Ford to produce the most successful car of all time, the Model T. More importantly, it allowed him to continuously reduce the price of the car from over $900 in 1908 to under $300 20 years later. This book fully describes his methods and philosophy. Ford shows that the concepts apply not only to cars but shows how he applied them equally well to apply to a hospital, school and a railroad.

It is a terrible indictment of American industry that this book, never out of print in Japan, has been out of print in English. Most Americans think we have borrowed the whole idea of lean manufacturing from the Japanese and to some degree they are right. However, few people realize that the famed Toyota Production System (TPS) derives directly from this book.

I have read over 100 books on lean manufacturing and related topics over the years. This book is so far beyond anything else that is available, I felt it had to be republished.

John Henry CPP

About the Author

John Henry has been working in industry for 30 years as a manager and as a consultant. He is internationally known for his work in lean manufacturing and particularly in lean changeover. He also has 25 years experience teaching operations management, packaging technology and other subjects at the post-graduate level. He has an MBA from InterAmerican University with dual concentrations in Operations Management and in Human Resource Management. He has a MS in Business Education from Southern New Hampshire University. John may be contacted through his website at www.changeover.com or by e-mail at johnhenry@changeover.com