The Gold Mine: A Novel of Lean Turnaround weaves together the technical and human pieces of implementing lean manufacturing in an engaging story that readers will find both compelling and instructive.

Paperback, 348pp

Lean Enterprises Institute, Inc., May 2005

ISBN-13: 9780974322568

Barnes & Noble online price: $24.95

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SYNOPSIS

FROM THE PUBLISHER
“The Gold Mine: A Novel of Lean Turnaround” deftly weaves together the technical and human pieces of implementing lean manufacturing in an engaging story that readers will find both compelling and instructive. Authors Freddy and Michael Ballé have produced the first integrated and systematic approach to a set of ideas that have maximized value and minimized waste throughout the world. At the heart of “The Gold Mine” is Bob Woods, a curmudgeonly sensei coaxed out of retirement by his son Mike to help boyhood friend Phil Jenkinson save his struggling company. Despite terrific products and a backlog of orders, Phil’s company cannot generate enough cash from its operations to pay its bills. And so Mike enlists Bob to help his pal fix this crisis.

“You’re trying to deal with your mess as if it was a technical problem,” Bob tells Phil. “Move this machine here, change this design there, which it is to some extent, but … it’s all about people. You have a leadership problem not just a production or business problem.” As Phil begins to tackle the key challenges necessary to improve his company’s operations, he comes to understand the deeper points of lean. Readers will also draw powerful insights from his journey.

“The Gold Mine” presents all the key lean principles, ranging from well-known ideas such as pull and flow, to lesser-known yet equally important principles such as jidoka and heijunka. The book also reveals lean as a system — using a realistic story to show how the principles are interrelated and how they lead to useful tools such as kanban or 5S.

FROM THE AUTHORS
Our novelistic approach addresses one of the reasons that it’s so hard to find any workable lean “recipe,” which is that the tools, or at least their level of implementation, must be linked to the management’s lean maturity. For instance, we would argue that lean is fundamentally about rigorous problem solving and involving operators in kaizen. Fine. But in most working environments, if you start there, as most TQM or six sigma programs do, you will end up with disappointing results. People will get confused about which problems to solve, how to go about change, and what kind of attitude to adopt when dealing with resistance or recurring problems. In a factory it’s usually easier to start a lean program with the basics, such as seven wastes, 5S, red bins for quality, reducing batch sizes by increasing tool changeover, and moving progressively to eliminating variation in the operators’ work cycle. -Amazon.com

FROM THE BACK COVER
Tools are not enough.

This engaging novel — “The Gold Mine” — shares the human side of implementing lean principles. While offering the technical knowhow to get lean done, it also shows the messy human dynamics that occur when the workplace, people, and practices clash.

“The Gold Mine” is a gold mine for those who really want to create lean enterprise. It does what no other book — fiction or nonfiction — has done, by comprehensively tackling both the human and the technical dimension of a lean transformation progresses. -James P. Womack, President and Founder, Lean Enterprise Institute

This gripping companion to your lean journey comes from a unique team. Freddy Ballé is one of the very first gaijen to figure out the Toyota system. He was taught by Toyota, built the Valeo Production System, and has personally led dozens of lean turnarounds. Michael Ballé, his son, is a cognitive sociologist who has taught more than anyone about how we learn to think lean, both cognitively and emotionally. This is the organizational prescription you will turn to again and again on your way to lean. -Daniel T. Jones, Chairman and Founder, Lean Enterprise Academy