Atul Gawande’s book The Checklist Manifesto is fast becoming a classic and for good reason. He lays out his own journey to using checklists in the medical world to save lives and prevent errors. This book has been used widely since it’s publication and for one, in Boeing for developing training and flight manuals for pilots. I see it as the very foundation of Standard Work and design, implementing, and improving checklists in a variety of processes, not just critical to safety ones, can make or break a process and an organization. I recommend this book for all leaders, managers, continuous improvement professionals, entrepreneurs, and especially for people in the healthcare professions as one of the simplest intro’s to Lean and standard work without being overtly about those subjects.
Training Within Industry: The Foundation of Lean
This book is in the Top 10 Books of Continuous Improvement but most Lean, Six Sigma, Theory of Constraints, Agile, or whatever other flavor you want to pick, even among Industrial & Systems Engineers, wouldn’t know it! This book is rich in the history of continuous improvement, job methods and training, and program development, but also delivers practical, clear, concise, and proven methods. Training Within Industry is a little known organization that grew after World War I but was essential to the Allie’s winning World War II. It’s fundamental purpose was to design training and continuous improvement methods to ramp up the US production capacity and throughput to deliver much needs armament and supplies to the war fighters. What they did was nothing short of amazing, on the order of the Manhattan Project in my opinion, as it set the trajectory of the US to become the sole powerhouse of manufacturing in the world for decades to come. They trained millions of workers, across every conceivable industry, to design better work processes, train people in them, and improve them but also build sustainable programs in their organizations to continue on. I recommend this book for every Industrial and Systems Engineer, Continuous Improvement Expert, Manufacturing and Operations Managers, and Trainers of all kinds. You won’t be disappointed.
Factory Physics for Managers
Factory Physics for Managers is a clear, cohesive, and coherent summary of the fundamental nature of factory’s and productive systems in general. Ed Pound et. al do a great job in 1) Convincing the aspiring manager that while the book contains technical content and underpinnings, the investment in reading and digesting the material will pay immense dividends to their understanding of effective operations as well as provide them with the firepower to truly manage their systems in a strategic and effective way. If you understand these principles, apply them in your business, and continuously improve with them, you’ll find your profitability as well as the shear enjoyment of your work increase immensely. I’ve met and worked with Ed Pound on the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineering Work Systems Division Board of Directors and I know his understanding of this material and the science of factory management is deep, comprehensive, and tested time and again across almost every area of manufacturing. I recommend this book for Operations Managers, Industrial Engineers, Continuous Improvement Experts, Senior Leadership (C Suite), Supply Chain Experts, and anyone interested in the science underlying the production of goods and services.