The Gold Mine: A Novel of Lean Turnaround by Michael Balle & Michael Balle

Author:Michael Balle & Michael Balle [Balle, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780974322568
Publisher: Lean Enterprise Institute, Inc.

Dad’s invitation had surprised me, and I did expect a lot of shop talk. Indeed, as I arrived, Phil was already in an animated discussion with a small rotund man with the thick, square glasses, tweed jacket, and the general manner of an academic. Stephen MacAllister was a business school professor somewhere in Michigan, and a specialist in what he called lean production. I had always thought of these ideas and phrases to be elements of what Dad called the Toyota Production System — but apparently here in the States, these principles, pioneered by Toyota after World War II, and which, in all fairness, had roots in the work of Henry Ford and others, fell under the term of lean production.

Dad had met Stephen during his first visit to Japan as part of a study group, and they had stayed friends ever since. MacAllister had researched just-in-time systems from an academic perspective while my Dad was conducting his own field work. They’d exchanged views and tips for most of their careers and, put together, probably knew more about lean production than anyone in their right mind would ever wish to. Steve accepted consultancy assignments on occasion, which had brought him to town. He usually came to dinner when he was around, to the dismay of my mother, who had to cope with endless discussions about production systems. Since Stephen was coming tonight, Dad thought that it would be a good opportunity to introduce him to Phil, which led to our impromptu dinner party.

“Do you remember the first time we went to Japan?” asked Steve, comfortably ensconced in his armchair, swirling his brandy. He was bald, paunchy, and tweedy — definitely an academic (I’m nothing like that, I swear). Unexpectedly, we had managed to go through a pleasant dinner without even touching upon production systems. As it happened, my mother and Charlene got on like a house on fire, and most of the dinner conversation revolved around the plight of women in the workplace, and then moved on animatedly to Mother’s film critique business. Charly certainly seemed in better spirits, and Phil seemed quite relaxed with her, so I surmised things were better between the two of them.

After we finished our desserts, mother and Charlene drifted off to the TV room, discussing some new Middle Eastern movie about women under the veil. It was time for the veterans to reminisce.

“Glory days!” Dad agreed with a fond smile.

“You remember those French engineers, who upon seeing kanban cards for the first time told us that ‘these Japanese were not very smart: they could have computerized their kanban card system in no time!’”

“Be fair, Steve, we didn’t know any better either.”

“You’re right. Those were the days!”

“D’you remember when I first got confronted with this lean approach?” reminisced my father, pouring himself a generous ration of the brandy Stephen had brought.

“Yes,” laughed MacAllister. “They might want to hear this.”

“I first got exposed to the Toyota system when I was running a parts plant for a large automotive supplier.

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