Andy & Me: Crisis and Transformation on the Lean Journey

2006 SHINGO PRIZE for EXCELLENCE in MANUFACTURING RESEARCH

Based on the author's personal experience with Toyota’s master teachers and with companies in the midst of great change, Andy & Me is a business novel set in a failing New Jersey auto plant focusing on the tribulations of Tom Pappas, the plant manager. The situations, characters and plant politics will ring true with many readers.

In a cool, readable style, Andy & Me follows Tom's relationship with Andy Saito, a reclusive, retired Toyota guru whom Tom persuades to help save his plant through the teaching of the legendary Toyota Production System (TPS).

On this journey, the reader learns that TPS is more than just a collection of tools; it entails a new way of thinking and behaving. Though Tom finds success ― both in his plant and in his personal life ― he learns from Andy that successful improvement is "endless and eternal."

Pascal Dennis is President of Lean Pathways, an international coaching team. He is the author of four previous books on Lean management, all of which have won the prestigious Shingo Prize for outstanding research in the field of operational excellence. Pascal and his team have worked with major healthcare systems like Inova Health System, Baptist Memorial Healthcare Corporation, Health Sciences North and Salem Health, as well as Fortune 100 companies like Kimberly Clark and Lockheed Martin.

Pascal learned the Toyota business system in leadership positions at Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada, one of Toyota’s best plants, and has worked with leading senseis in North America and Japan.

Pascal lives in Toronto with his wife and three children.

For more information please visit www.leansystems.org.