James Franz – författare

A lean blueprint for creating long-term sustainability the Toyota way!

Winner of the 2012 Shingo Research and Professional Publications Award

During Toyota’s highly publicized recalls of 2009 and 2010, the legendary carmaker’s 60-year-old reputation for operational excellence was put under the microscope. Business pundits wondered out loud if Toyota’s quality levels had decreased dramatically, while the harshest critics predicted the end of the company as we know it. For the most part, the government’s findings absolved Toyota of serious defects and accidents, and Toyota recovered rapidly—but mistakes were made, which showed that Toyota is not perfect. In fact, there is always opportunity for improvement in every process.

In his bestselling business management classic The Toyota Way, Jeffrey Liker introduced the world to the foundational principles that have made Toyota the envy of companies around the world. Now, in The Toyota Way to Continuous Improvement, Liker teams up with former Toyota production engineer James Franz to explain the underlying thinking behind continuous improvement and why any company needs a disciplined approach to process improvement in every part of the organization.

Liker and Franz outline the common mistakes in thinking that limit results, and they reveal how Toyota achieves its dual objectives of improving business performance and developing its people through following Dr. W. Edwards Deming’s teachings of Plan-Do-Check-Adjust (PDCA). Through detailed case examples in many industries, you’ll learn how to:

Determine why your processes aren’t achieving anticipated resultsBuild a sustainable lean process with a well-defined purposeCreate a system that reveals problemsTeach every leader and team member at every level the art of PDCA for process improvement

With The Toyota Way to Continuous Improvement, you have the foundation you need to develop a vision of continuous improvement specific to your organization and plot a path to turn your vision into a measurable reality.

Praise for The Toyota Way to Continuous Improvement:

“I have found inspiration and lessons in these real stories from real people who try, sometimes fail, and yet find creative ways to succeed in adapting the principles of Deming and Toyota. Despite the diversity of applications revealed here, the commonality in vision, values, and desired outcomes unifies these leaders. You won’t be able to put this book down.”RICHARD ZARBO, MD, DMD, Senior Vice President and Chairman of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Henry Ford Health System

“Lean is no longer an idea, a hypothesis, or a theory—it is a proven set of principles and practices that more and more people are using to achieve substantial, sustainable continuous improvement in a variety of enterprises. This book details the practices and case studies to help you bring Lean transformation to your enterprise!”CHARLES BAKER, former Chief Engineer and former Vice President, Honda R&D Americas

How can we understand the design of interior spaces in prisons, forensic psychiatric hospital and special residential youth homes? These spaces are unfamiliar to most people, though we have “visited” prison cells and patient rooms through documentaries and films. For some reason we tend to take the design of them for granted, but how come they are designed the way they are? Living these spaces means living an everyday lifeworld in the tension between heavy security measures and rehabilitation —between incarceration and care. Yet, what meanings do these environments create for the individuals who inhabit them day and night? This dissertation explores the relationship between individuals and the physical environment within Institutions of Care and Incarceration (ICI). Given the limited existing research on the meaning of interior design and objects in ICIs, one of the primary objectives of this dissertation is to contribute to the design research field and the broader discourse on ICIs. The analytical process is guided by a phenomenological approach, focusing on the lived experiences of individuals incarcerated in instructional care settings. It is worth noting, however, that both the methodological and theoretical approaches may hold relevance for fields beyond design. The interest in designing for compulsory care environments originates from the author's practical experience in creating interior objects for these institutions. This experience has subsequently driven academic research parallel with his practice, and a vast amount of hours has been spent in the field. The primary emphasis has been on developing ethnographic design research methods, specifically the Sketch and Talk, customized for high-security care environments. An essential tool of this methodology involves on-site sketching with pen and paper, capturing the lived experiences of participants within cells, patient rooms, and social areas. Several of these sketches, illustrating these environments, are presented in the dissertation. Undoubtedly, there are significant opportunities to implement the potential for designing for well-being, and this dissertation proposes new approaches through the Sketch and Talk method. It posits that by ‘restraining’ ourselves and adopting a perspective that allows us to see 'what is actually going on,' we can build knowledge by 'borrowing' lived experiences and understanding the connections between people, interior design, and 'stuff,' both ontologically and epistemologically. The author's intention is that this dissertation can provide support to governmental agencies, architects, designers, clients, patients, youths, and other stakeholders involved in designing or contributing knowledge to the process of creating new institutions. The aim is to encourage an approach to design in which interior design and objects are not solely considered in relation to economy and traditional methods of designing for care but are also regarded as ethical and existential considerations. This perspective presents an opportunity to foster new horizons of change and hope. Bio: Franz James holds the position of associate professor in furniture design at Campus Steneby, University of Gothenburg. In addition to his academic role, he is a practicing designer and partner at Healsafe Interior. He specializes in designing therapeutic environments and self-harm resistant products for care settings such as prisons, psychiatric hospitals, and youth homes.