The Machine That Changed the World Book Summary - The Machine That Changed the World Book explained in key points

The Machine That Changed the World summary

James P. Womack

The Story of Lean Production: Toyota’s Secret Weapon in the Global Car Wars That Is Now Revolutionizing World Industry

Listen to the first key idea

Key idea 1 of 9
00:00
4.5 (52 ratings)
18 mins
9 key ideas
Audio & text

What is The Machine That Changed the World about?

The Machine That Changed the World (1990) reveals the secret that propelled Japanese car manufacturer Toyota to the forefront of the global automobile industry, a process called lean production. These blinks give you an inside look at the industry’s early history and show how Toyota’s innovative process allowed the company to dominate the market.

About the Author

James P. Womack is the founder of the Lean Enterprise Institute, a nonprofit management resource organization that promotes the values of lean production. Daniel T. Jones is the founder of the Lean Enterprise Academy, and co-authored several books with Womack. Daniel Roos was the founding director of the International Motor Vehicle Program (IMVP) and of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Engineering Systems Division. All three were researchers at IMVP when this book was published in 1990.

Table of Contents
    Key idea 1 of 9

    From the “horseless carriage” to the modern assembly line, the automobile industry has evolved.

    The automobile industry has grown tremendously since the early days of the “horseless carriage,” first patented by Karl Benz in 1886.

    There’s good reason the automobile industry is often called the “industry of industries.” In 2014 alone, some 90 million cars and commercial vehicles were produced. The automobile industry as a whole represents the world’s largest manufacturing activity. Let’s look at how this came to be.

    In its early days, the auto industry was defined by craft production, meaning that highly skilled engineers and manufacturers tailored each individual car to a customer’s taste. This was slow and expensive, thus few people could afford cars – and only some 1,000 vehicles were produced yearly.

    Only luxury cars are produced via craft production today. In general, the industry has moved to mass production. Inspired by Henry Ford, this change came about at the end of the twentieth century.

    Henry Ford simply sought to produce more cars in less time. He realized he could achieve this by designing cars with the same, interchangeable parts and producing the parts separately, instead of working on a whole car at once.

    The development of the assembly line further accelerated the manufacturing process. An early assembly line was a moving belt with workers stationed at different spots along it; each worker performed one or two simple tasks, over and over again. These basic tasks didn’t require highly specialized skills, and in fact, many assembly-line workers were immigrants who spoke little English.

    The automatization of the production process meant that cars were no longer customized (or were customized very little), but instead offered a great advantage: any person could drive or even repair them, just by following a standard 150-page manual!

    Want to see all full key ideas from The Machine That Changed the World?

    Key ideas in The Machine That Changed the World

    More knowledge in less time
    Read or listen
    Read or listen
    Get the key ideas from nonfiction bestsellers in minutes, not hours.
    Find your next read
    Find your next read
    Get book lists curated by experts and personalized recommendations.
    Shortcasts
    Shortcasts New
    We’ve teamed up with podcast creators to bring you key insights from podcasts.

    Who should read The Machine That Changed the World

    • Anyone interested in manufacturing, engineering or management
    • Managers and employees in the automobile industry

    Categories with The Machine That Changed the World

    What our members say

    Sven O.

    It's highly addictive to get core insights on personally relevant topics without repetition or triviality. Added to that the apps ability to suggest kindred interests opens up a foundation of knowledge.

    Thi Viet Quynh N.

    Great app. Good selection of book summaries you can read or listen to while commuting. Instead of scrolling through your social media news feed, this is a much better way to spend your spare time in my opinion.

    Jonathan A.

    Life changing. The concept of being able to grasp a book's main point in such a short time truly opens multiple opportunities to grow every area of your life at a faster rate.

    Renee D.

    Great app. Addicting. Perfect for wait times, morning coffee, evening before bed. Extremely well written, thorough, easy to use.

    Start growing with Blinkist now
    25 Million
    Downloads on all platforms
    4.7 Stars
    Average ratings on iOS and Google Play
    91%
    Of Blinkist members create a better reading habit*
    *Based on survey data from Blinkist customers
    Powerful ideas from top nonfiction

    Try Blinkist to get the key ideas from 5,500+ bestselling nonfiction titles and podcasts. Listen or read in just 15 minutes.

    Start your free trial