The Elegant Solution: Toyota's Formula for Mastering Innovation

The subtitle of this book ("Toyota's Formula for Mastering Innovation") is not inaccurate but somewhat misleading. Although, yes, Matthew E. May has much of interest and value to say about the Toyota Production System, his attention is by no means limited to it and to the remarkable organization within which it was developed and within which it continues to flourish. Today, Toyota is one of the ten most profitable companies in the world and worth more than General Motors, Ford, DaimlerChrysler, and Honda...combined. Obviously there are reasons for such extraordinary success but it would be incorrect to assume that other organizations can achieve the same success once they know what Toyota's "formula for mastering innovation" is. What about this book's title? According to May, "Elegance isn't about being hoity-toity. It's not about lofty concepts and grand designs. It's not about beauty or grace, or anything to do with aesthetics - ugly is okay. Elegance is about something much more profound. It's about finding the `aha' solution to a problem with the greatest parsimony of effort and expense. Creativity plays a part. Simplicity plays a part. Intelligence plays a part. Add in subtlety, economy, and quality, and you get elegance...Elegant solutions relieve creative tension by solving the problem in finito as it's been defined, in a way that avoids creating other problems that then need to be solved. Elegant solutions render only new possibilities to chase and exploit. Finally, elegant solutions aren't obvious, except, of course, in retrospect." Elegant solutions include library, paper money, pencil, wallet, wristwatch, icebox, mortgage, Social Security, credit card, cell phone, and auto leasing. These and other elegant solutions, as May correctly points out, "universally change the world's attitudes, beliefs, behaviors, and habits." Efforts to formulate elegant solutions are guided and informed by three principles: ingenuity in craft, pursuit of perfection, and fit with society. "They're the raison d'etre at Toyota, and nonnegotiable." Earlier, I suggested that this book takes a close look at the mindset and the process by which Toyota continues to formulate elegant solutions. In fact, the Toyota organization implements a million ideas a year. May also includes within his narrative dozens of non-Toyota cases that indicate that none of the individual concepts are new, or even unique to Toyota. All organizations that formulate elegant solutions have people at all levels and in all areas of operation who possess both an ability and a determination to collectively and completely master all of the concepts as "a way of life, not a program centered on select teams led by specialists with artificial agendas." But what about much smaller organizations, especially those with severely limited resources? Decision-makers in those organizations will be delighted (and perhaps surprised) to find that May provides a wealth of material that they can immediatel

I highly recommend his book to all who want to practice innovation as a way of doing business. In the foreword, Kevin Roberts writes that Toyota is "the quintessential postindustrial organization" which has "a highly structured and systematized culture that is also a hotbed of individual creativity." Matthew May was hired by Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. to design and deliver education for the University of Toyota that would translate the innovative methods of the Toyota Production System into something that could be used by knowledge workers. It took May five years to accomplish the process. According to May, at Toyota it is the quest for the elegant solution the shapes true innovation. In his book, May not only defines the elegant solution but also tells the reader how to achieve innovation in his or her own work. In addition to Kevin Roberts' foreword The Elegant Solution contains the following chapter divisions: Backstory: One Million Ideas Introduction: In Search of Elegance Part 1: Principles 1. The Art of Ingenuity 2. The Pursuit of Perfection 3. The Rhythm of Fit Part 2: Practices 4. Let Learning Lead 5. Learn to See 6. Design for Today 7. Think in Pictures 8. Capture the Intangible 9. Leverage the Limits 10. Master the Tension 11. Run the Numbers 12. Make Kaizen Mandatory 13. Keep it Lean Part 3. Protocol 14. The Clamshell Strategy 15. The Elegant Solution Afterword: Word of Encouragement In his Backstory: One Million Ideas, May writes that the world needs his book on innovation because it needs a book that is different, that looks at innovation in a new way and that helps with us with our daily work. May tells us that Toyota "implements a million ideas a year." In May's opinion the one million business ideas implemented each year is why Toyota's market value is larger than GM, Ford, Daimler-Chrysler, Honda and Volkswagen combined. May's basic proposition is that the "quest for the elegant solution shapes true innovation." He says that the "formula for the solution is an amalgam of principles, practices and protocol." But the individual parts are not new. It is "Toyota's remarkable ability to collectively and completely master all of them as a way of life" that makes Toyota unique. Introduction: In Search of Elegance In his introduction May tells the story of Sakichi Toyoda, the founder of Toyoda Automatic Loom Works, the precursor of the Toyota Motor Company. Toyoda's story is "about one man's nearly spiritual quest to solve a very real problem facing the world around him." The underlying principals that Toyoda followed were Ingenuity in Craft, Pursuit of Perfection and Fit with Society. It is these principles that "fuel the engine of innovation at Toyota." May says that simple solutions are better, and elegant solutions are better still. He describes the elegant solution as "finding the aha solution to a problem with the greatest parsimony of effort and expense." Chapter 1: The Art of Ingenuity May tells us that even though som

Toyota certainly deserves its high reputation for manufacturing excellence. When I was studying for my MBA we looked at some Toyota cases and processes and they compared favorably to those of the once highly regarded American manufacturers. What happened? How did a company rise from the ashes of World War II to become what will be the largest manufacturer of automobiles in the world? Not only will Toyota lead in volume, but in consistently high quality as well. The Toyota Production System has been studied in detail. Some have tried to copy it in whole or in part with varying degrees of success. Others have rejected it as hype. In this book, Matthew May shares with readers the core of this powerful system and what makes it work for Toyota. Mr. May has worked within Toyota and has been a senior advisor at Toyota University. He has found a way to explain the essence of the system in a way that can be beneficial to everyone who is interested in understanding the principles that make TPS work. However, while this book teaches many principles it is not a book about making cars. It is about making things better by becoming simpler and, well, more elegant. While I certainly cannot recount everything in this book here, the opening quote the author supplies from Thomas Edison encapsulates things quite well, "There's a way to do it better - find it". The whole notion of elegance is to find a better way to do things than you are today. Standards aren't for saying what is good enough and for creating a kind of going through the motions. No. They are for summarizing the best known way for doing things today so one can begin thinking about how to improve things. The author notes that Toyota receives over a million new ideas each year and their system considers them all. Nothing is settled because everything is in play for improvement. Everything is focused on finding a better way. It is quite impressive that an organization as large as Toyota can still embody such an ethos. The book is organized in three parts. The first lays out the three core principles of ingenuity, perfection, and fit (with society). The second section discusses the ten practices that implement those principles (one chapter for each). I really like the way the author lays out these chapters with problem - cause - solution and then illustrative anecdotes, quotations, and some useful diagrams. The third part consists of two summarizing chapters on what management must do. There are also an introduction and an afterword that lay out and tie things up nicely. And there is a useful index as well notes, credits, and acknowledgements. This is a book that you will have to engage in an active way in order to get the most from it. A casual dash through it isn't going to give you what the author has to offer. The material summarized in this book was gained with much work and effort by some very brilliant and dedicated people from all over the globe. Your effort to dig

Matthew May has delivered a message that is clear, easy to understand and teaches you how to look at management through a different lens. American managers and workers face unique challenges that require new visions. This book takes the mystery out of what we need to do see things differently. If I ran a company I would make it my employee handbook and mandatory reading for every manager. Then I would do everything I could to make it happen. Enjoyable and enlightening on all levels.

Since first learning of W. Edwards Deming in a Japanese Society class I took in college, I've been an eager student of Japanese culture and management practices. In my job interview with Canon executives in Tokyo back in 1992, I expressed my view that America had much to learn from Japan in this regard. The experience proved to be extraordinarily enlightening for me. Unfortunately, after all these years it seems that I am still among only a hand-full eager young American "Samurai," as the majority of companies in my homeland seem to stubbornly continue down their determined "Lemming's March" to extinction. On occasion, my hope is rekindled when a book like this comes out. Toyota has proven itself to be a world leader in both quality and innovation. As an instructor at Toyota University, Matthew May was provided a rare insider's perspective into the management principles and practices that have consistently enabled Toyota to remain at the cutting-edge of the world's automotive industry. Thankfully, Mr. May is sharing this "profound knowledge" in his new book "The Elegant Solution: Toyota's Formula for Mastering Innovation." In the book, Mr. May outlines a number of management principles and practices employed at Toyota to leverage the creative knowledge assets of its workforce, leading to "delighted" customers and ever-higher benchmarks for the industry. A bonus is provided by way of Mr. May's own "IDEA" methodology for promoting innovation within any organization. I believe it was the late Peter F. Drucker who said that the mantra of the new age in business is "Innovate or Die." If you want for your company to survive in the Darwinian business world of today, you would do well to take up the student's seat, get this book, and set a course of innovation for the future.