"'Success is Assured' was born from a pair using those design practices over a century ago: The Wright Brothers. They set about methodically learning the causal relationships between the different design decisions they needed to make and the performance of the airplane. The Wright Brothers fundamentally transformed the front end of into a sharply focused learning and decision-making process, and thereby eliminated the late - process rework in which their competition was stuck."

"In 2003 Michael Kennedy's Product Development for the Lean Enterprise was published and promptly turned product development in major corporations on its head. Now, five years later, comes a continuation of that book, including case histories that identify the pitfalls and lessons learned in implementing Toyota's product development system. The authors also show how Toyota's set-based learning system can be adapted and adopted by other areas of a business in order to produce major advantages over the competition. Whether a group of engineers is developing new cars, software applications, aerospace equipment, kitchen appliances, controls, sensors, or any of hundreds of different items, the process they follow is pretty much the same, except in one company - Toyota, perhaps the most innovative and highly respected car company on the planet. Companies that are early adopters of the Toyota system are certain to realize tremendous advantages over their competitors. This is a change that is coming to businesses everywhere and this book shows the way. It is a must-read for anyone in management."

"This is the must-read of the decade for anyone whose livelihood depends on new products. Those familiar with industry today know western companies are scrambling to emulate the Toyota Production System. But most don't realize that Toyota's new product development system is every bit as important to Toyota's ongoing success. If they've heard that Toyota's development engineers are four times more productive than their western counterparts, they probably chalk it up to Toyota Production System techniques. But they're wrong in doing so. While both systems deliver extremely high productivity, and both free people to do their best, there really aren't many similarities in how the systems work. Such techniques as concurrent engineering and parallel development are used to increase options and creative possibilities while at the same time lowering the risk of failure. No company that depends on an ongoing flow of new and improved products can afford to ignore the revelations this book contains or the potential advantages in terms of productivity and creativity that can accrue from the Toyota method."

"Visible knowledge is a tool nearly lost in the West, but it has been used to great effect by Toyota in its 50-year march from noncompetitiveness to its current status as the second largest automobile company in the world. It is key for the 50% growth in market share Toyota plans for this decade despite worldwide overcapacity in the auto business. This book presents the reader with a systematic approach to create, capture, and display knowledge in a way that allows development teams to optimize the design of their products and production processes. Visible knowledge not only applies to knowledge management, but provides a means of collaboration to facilitate better decision-making in the development process."

"The P-51 Mustang—perhaps the finest piston engine fighter ever built—was designed and put into flight in just a few months. Specifications were finalized on March 15, 1940; the airfoil prototype was complete on September 9; and the aircraft made its maiden flight on October 26. Now that is a lean development process!" —Allen Ward and Durward Sobek, commenting on the development of the P-51 Mustang and its exemplary use of trade-off curves. Shingo Research and Professional Publication Award recipient, 2008. Despite attempts to interpret and apply lean product development techniques, companies still struggle with design quality problems, long lead times, and high development costs. In a truly groundbreaking first edition of Lean Product and Process Development, Ward delivered -- with passion and penetrating insights that cannot be found elsewhere -- a comprehensive view of lean principles for developing"

"As understanding of lean and its application to the entire enterprise has deepened, organizations find that they need resources to help them perform core business tasks in new, more effective ways. One of the most critical of these tasks is new product development. The Lean Enterprise Institute is honored to publish Lean Product and Process Development, by Allen Ward, one of the pioneers in the study and practice of lean product development. In this breakthrough text, Ward asks basic questions that drive at the fundamentals of product development, and observes the sources (a.k.a. wastes) of the most common maladies that plague many product development organizations. He distills what might be termed cornerstones from the practices of lean product developers, which differ remarkably from conventional practice. Ward uniquely melds observations of effective teamwork from his military background, engineering fundamentals from his education and personal experience, design methodology from his research, and theories about management, cognition, and learning from his understanding of history and interactions with clients. With Lean Product and Process Development, Ward carries the implications of his theories into specific, practical recommendations, and employs systems thinking in all aspects of thought and investigation."