Taiichi Ohno is known as the father of the Toyota Production System (TPS), also called lean manufacturing. Taichi Ohno dictated the text for Workplace Management to the Japan Management Association (in a series of interviews in 1982), which gives the book a sense of listening to him talk about the ideas. I found the conversational tone made it very easy to read and reminiscent of Dr. Deming's tone in many places. This new translation does a great job of conveying an understanding of TPS. One idea covered in the book is the whole concept of one piece flow (with quick changeovers of equipment, just in time, small lot production...). This is one of the true innovations within the Toyota Production System. I don't think this book alone can convey how it works and why it is important but this book does a good job of giving another take on these ideas from the person most responsible for making it work at Toyota. John Miller's blog includes a series of posts the he wrote while translating the book that give you a great sense for what the book offers. His blog also is a great resource for learning much more about all aspects of lean manufacturing. Read the rest of the review of Workplace Management