The Second Century: Reconnecting Customer and Value Chain through Build-to-Order; Moving beyond Mass and Lean Production in the Auto Industry

Book Description

As the auto industry moves into its second century, it suffers from low margins and a sclerotic value chain that cannot evolve with customer desires. Inventories of many weeks pile up on dealer lots and at distribution centers around the world while executives applaud marginal improvements in factory efficiency.

Value streams based on Henry Ford's mass-production model from the early 1900s do not deliver the strategic flexibility that is needed in today's increasingly competitive and demanding market. With billions of potential product variations, customers still compromise by selecting from a limited number of products sitting at dealerships or at distribution centers. Those customers who dare insist on a specific variation not only wait weeks but also pay extra for the privilege of telling vehicle manufacturers what they actually want.

In The Second Century, Matthias Holweg and Frits Pil provide a comprehensive look at today's dysfunctional value-chain strategies, then systematically discuss the changes in products and in processes that are needed to bring about responsiveness to customer needs through build-to-order. They look beyond the dealer, the factory and the design studio to examine the web of relationships and dynamics that have brought the auto industry to its current low point.

Holweg and Pil argue that in this century the winners will not be those firms that search for larger and larger scale or those who run efficient factories, or those that squeeze the last drop of profitability from their suppliers. The winners, they say, will be those who build products as if customers mattered.

Customer Reviews:

A thoughtful book, but needs some editing and polishing.......2007-02-18

The Second Century provides a valuable, and rare, look at how the huge auto industry can be made profitable again. Very thoughtful book. And the authors did their homework.

Both authors are part of the MIT International Motor Vehicle Project. Their work updates and expands on The Machine That Changed the World, which is a great book but now dated. Given that the topic of The Machine That Changed the World -- lean production -- has become fairly widespread in the industry, this new look at "building to order" may be a pathway to profitability for carmakers.

But I expected The MIT Press to do a better job of editing. Parts of the book have a convoluted organization that makes it hard, sometimes even impossible, to figure out what the authors are saying. Typographical errors abound. Some lines, sentences, and even paragraphs appear to be missing. And some references to the figures were wrong, rarely but still often enough to be noticed. Perhaps authors and publishers do not bother with much editing and proofreading anymore.

Still, I have been looking for insightful books on the auto industry to match those of the 1990s. Few books do. The Second Century does. Highly recommended.

Outbound auto logistics leadership will come of age!.......2005-10-28

Reading Holwegs' and Pil's book gives a good oversight and easy-to-digest intro not only on challenges but also the market opportunities with BTO (build-to-order), and the importance of being truly customer-driven. Sam Walton's saying goes a long way: "There is only one boss - the customer..."

Just having completed an automotive outbound SCM industry analysis for a 2006 MBA 2005 I can see how the authors of this book provides a broad-brush state-of-the-industry. That's good. What's less good and what I would recommend each and every reader to do after turning the last page is to look around the corner into the near-future - because the industry's days as a trailblazer are not over.

However, in a single chapter the book provides for an excellent intro to drivers for BTO shifting from forecast to demand model, leading into chapters on flexibility with regards to process, product, and volume. In their closing section the authors note that the automotive industry includes quite a lot of cases of excellency, a few of which I have seen from a closer range.

What's not captured on these pages is today's exciting industry development of partnerships with independent logistics providers. These will help to connect with customers through dealers. The successful solutions will add capabilities through sophistication on the "inside" but need to come in "a package" of less complexity/more visibility for the industry's logistics co-ordinators that use them daily.

Other instructive books will surely target this, maybe another five years into the future compared to now. But for the avid reader this is a quick read to provide some fast industry insights.

Carl Sommerholt, Wallenius Wilhelmsen, Global

A fascinating read about a fascinating industry.......2005-08-04

As a person who does research in the automotive industry I found the book to be an invaluable companion to "The machine that changed the world". The authors provide compelling analysis of the automotive supply chain and manufacturing process and its evolution in the recent years. The book is full of specific numbers, evidence and case studies which differentiate it from a number of other more anecdotal accounts of the automotive industry. This is a must read for researchers and anyone interested in knowing what is wrong with the current state of Big 3 US automotive companies.

A vital follow-up to the "Machine that Changed the World"!.......2004-06-26

Holweg and Pil provide a comprehensive analysis of the drivers - and inhibitors - of the performance of entire value chains. They show that in increasingly demanding and dynamic markets, the forecast-driven systems currently in place cannot cope, and the current incentive crisis in the auto sector marks just a case in point. Drawing on over a decade of research with the MIT International Motor Vehicle Program, they demonstrate that well-intentioned lean manufacturing programs, implemented in isolation, can create 'islands of excellence' - but may do so at the expense of the responsiveness and profitability of the whole value chain.
A great follow-up to 'The Machine that Changed the World' that demonsrates the need of, and road towards, a responsive build-to-order system that reconnects lean factories to the customer!

Excellent analysis of the automotive industry.......2004-06-24

Highly recommendable book for anyone interested in production management or current trends in automotive industry. Holweg and Pil describe the challenges of car manufacturers and the challenges they are facing. Although, "Built-to-last and made-to-stock" seems the way many companies are still heading, something new is required. The key points seem to be demand for build-to-order type of process and increasing product variety. Responding to this requires different types of flexibility.

This phenomenon has many parallels to other industry sectors such as fast moving consumer goods and especially electronics products. "The Second Centrury" is a continuum to "Machine that Changed the World". This is a great book for MBA or MSc courses in industrial management and it gives a critical perspective on many current practices.

Customer Reviews:

A formal meeting will never quite be good enough ever again.......2007-03-02

I really enjoyed this book. It is very readable and very practical. I have a Masters Degree in Complexity Theory and this book beautifully complimented my understanding of the power of conversations to get to the deeper complexity of issues and the limitations of our traditional workplace meetings. I have been pushing for a conversational structure to my meetings at work (I work in organisational development), discussion and development groups that I run outside work and in my interpersonal relationships.

Customer Reviews:

well worth the read.......2001-03-11

This beautifully-produced historical account of the tobacco industry in the Pee Dee region of SC stayed in the pile of books on my bedside table for about a month before it finally cycled to the top. Having received the book as a present, I was mildly curious when I picked it up. "OK," I thought, as I began what I believed would be, at best, a cursory examination, "it's a history book." What a pleasant surprise I received! I was immediately drawn in to the story by the eloquent writing style of the authors and the appropriate use of southern expressions. I felt as if I was experiencing the frustration and the joy of the tobacco farmers as they labored to bring in the crop in this unique region of the country. I found each of the illustrations in the book to be clearly presented and to closely fit the part of the story being told. Within a short period of time after beginning my reading, I began going to bed early to allow myself more reading time. Since I only adopt that reading behavior for the page-turners, I knew then I was hooked! My interest continued right on through the cogent explanation of the structure of the tobacco-subsidy system and finally to the conclusion and the insightful comments of the authors regarding the future of the tobacco industry. I wish to thank Prince & Simpson for their intelligent coverage of a complex part of American culture. I strongly recommend this book for anyone interested in real southern culture, and not that fake, hick Hollywood version so often portrayed in movies, and for anyone interested in really knowing what the tobacco industry is about.

Long Green: The Rise and Fall of Tobacco in South Carolina.(Brief Article): An article from: Journal of Southern History

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Long Green: The Rise and Fall of Tobacco in South Carolina.(Brief Article): An article from: Journal of Southern History
Tracy Campbell
Manufacturer: Southern Historical Association
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Journal of Southern History, published by Southern Historical Association on May 1, 2002. The length of the article is 454 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Long Green: The Rise and Fall of Tobacco in South Carolina.(Brief Article)
Author: Tracy Campbell
Publication: Journal of Southern History (Refereed)
Date: May 1, 2002
Publisher: Southern Historical Association
Volume: 68 Issue: 2 Page: 434(2)

Article Type: Book Review, Brief Article

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Customer Reviews:

a spotty but valuable supplement to the general introduction.......2005-03-09

In these seven lectures, written in 1932, Freud supplements the "Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis" (also called the General Introduction to Psychoanalysis) delivered in 1915-17, with additions and amendments to his theory developed through the 1920s.

The lectures contain a clear, concise presentation of some of Freud's later theory (the super-ego, eros/thanatos, trauma). They also contain some of his most dubious constructs (the castration complex, penis-envy), and a bizzare treatment of female sexuality and super-ego formation that will seem sexist to the modern reader, if not outright misogynist. Sadly, the most controversial of these concepts are not illustrated with the kinds of clinical examples that readers of Freud will have come to expect, relish, and rely on, and thus are very difficult to come to grips with.

The remainder of the work is a rather cursory attack on various disciples and rivals, and an attempt to place psychoanalytic theory within a scientific worldview in contraposition to religion and Marxism, as well as a suprisingly credulous treatment of the occult.

For the educated layperson seeking a general familiarity with Freud, I would recommend beginning with the Introductory Lectures, and then cherrypicking lectures 31 and 32 of this work for a synopsis of later developments in the theory.

New introductory lectures on psychoanalysis

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New introductory lectures on psychoanalysis

Manufacturer: New York: Norton, 1965
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Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0140217363

Product Description

"More Tales of the Ultimate Sportsmen" is our 2nd book of true tales. Like the first, but even more stories. It has over 50 hunting and fishing stories that have been submitted by outdoorsmen and women from all over the world. Stories about the everyday ups and downs of sportsmen and women from around the world. Some are humorous, some are dramatic and some are so exciting you think you're there. You could even learn some new techniques or secrets that will prove invaluable in the future. Whether you have (or you know someone who has) an interest in caribou hunting in Alaska, wild boar hunting in Hawaii, trout fishing in Texas, or simply want a good book, then this is the one for you.

Customer Reviews:

A wonderful collection of quick reads.......2007-05-23

I'm ordering two more copies as gifts for my hunting partners. That pretty much says it all. These books are a collection of first hand hunting and fishing stories written by the sportsmen who have chased the fish and game from hometown neighborhood streams and fields to the wilds of Alaska and Africa. From tales of first time hunts to the once in a lifetime experience of collecting record book trophies, the experiences here-in have as much variety as the authors so that every reader can find a few to identify with - no matter what their level of experience.

Book Description

A classic now in its Fourth Edition, The Appalachian Trail Hiker is today’s platinum standard for the latest must-have information for the 4 million day, section, and thru hikers who explore the Appalachian Trail each year. The guide includes: the latest information on hiking the AT with a GPS; comprehensive trail club information, including websites; valuable step-by-step information on preparing to hike the A.T.; crucial information on nutrition and diet; expanded coverage on shelters, cabins, and campgrounds; and details on choosing the best equipment. With the help of dozens of A.T. hikers, the authors have gathered over 100,000 miles of A.T. experience into this commonsense guide on the nation’s oldest trail system. Whether you are planning an overnight hike in Virginia, a two-week trek through the Smokies, or a thru hike from Georgia to Maine, The Appalachian Trail Hiker is your passport to A.T. adventures in the new millennium.

Customer Reviews:

A concise and very useful hiking guide.......2007-03-27

This guide is advertised as a tool to use when hiking the Appalachian Trail, but the information about preparation, mental and physical conditioning, choice of gear, meals, insects, first aid and dangers is very useful to anyone planning a hike of more than one day. The information I read will be very useful when I do my Appalachian Trail next year.

Good for more than just the AT..........2007-03-18

I am relatively new to backpacking, did some as a kid. This book is full of useful info for almost any length hike. I haven't thru hiked the AT yet and probably won't anytime soon. 5 or so months is a long time in the woods, work would suffer. For the short trips I do have time for this book is very handy. I think if you need a book (as I did) to help you with preparing this is a good one!

Useful for Introductions Only.......2004-05-01

Well written but very basic introduction to the AT and to backpacking in general. If you have already been on a backpacking trip of any length, most of this information is going to be a refresher. For instance, an entire chapter on footwear. If you don't already know whether you want to wear boots or tennis shoes, maybe this book is a good investment for you. This isn't something I'd read again or even keep as a reference.

The book to buy when preparing to hike on the AT.......2003-06-20

The AT Backpacker is a well-written, no-nonsense guide. The Logues give the low down on hiking with an eye toward the Appalachian Trail. I found everything I needed to know about foods to eat and how to be safe in drinking water. They also go through the dizzying array of gear out there, from tents and backpacks to stoves, sleeping bags, boots and clothes, all with the AT in mind. There are also chapters on winter backpacking, backpacking with children, and long distance hiking which expand on the basics.

An earlier edition of this book gave me the confidence to get out on the trail for some shorter hikes (weekend hikes and a week-long trip). I have used the checklist for overnight hikes in the back of the book to prepare for many hikes and find it the best equipment checklist anywhere.

I bought this third edition to get the latest as I prepare for a thru-hike of the AT. The Logues have made numerous changes throughout the book. I'm glad they have kept the AT Backpacker current. The additional appendix on websites has proved helpful for planning my hike.

I recommend this book for anyone who wants to learn more before hitting the AT for a hike.

Everything I needed.......2002-10-06

The Appalachian Trail Backpacker delivered what it promised--trail tested advice for hikes of any length. I found the info I wanted to give me the confidence I needed to get out for a week long hike on the AT. They taught me everything I needed to know to go out and do it. I recommend this book to anyone interested in hiking the AT. It's a well-written, no nonsense guide.

Book Description

In this highly acclaimed revision, grammatical descriptions and teaching suggestions are organized into sections dealing with Form, Meaning, and Use. THE GRAMMAR BOOK, Second Edition helps teachers and future teachers grasp the linguistic system and details of English grammar, providing more information on how structures are used at the discourse level.

Customer Reviews:

Grammar Bible.......2007-07-10

A must have! This book has saved me from looking through all the other little books that I have!

More than it's meant to be (that's a good thing!).......2006-12-09

This book was clearly created to be a textbook for pre-service teachers about how to teach English grammar. There is so much information in this book, though, I'm pretty sure that it would be impossible to cram it all in to one course. It's an absolutely indispensable reference. I return to it again and again. Every serious ESL/EFL teacher should have this book.

The "why" of English, in detail.......2006-10-24

You don't have to be a teacher of English as a Second or Foreign Language (ESL/EFL) to use this book. You do have to be very interested in how to write and speak correct English, and in exceptions to rules and the patterns behind them. The book is more than a desk reference, but not meant to be read cover-to-cover. The curious reader can open at almost any chapter and learn something new about daily English usage. The authors assume knowledge of some grammatical terms -- look them up in a dictionary as needed (I did). Multiple indexes allow you to find explanations both by topic and by word.

My textbook.......2006-06-26

This item was used by me as a textbook in a graduate grammar course at the university. Excellent book, complete with examples, definitions, and exercises to practice the grammatical concepts learned.

A Wonderful Reference for ESL Teachers.......2006-03-23

This book illustrates each particular grammar structure it presents helping both prospective and practicing teachers to understand the problems that English Language Learners may encounter. Its organization makes it a welcomed reference tool.

Book Description

Of all the great paintings in the world, the story of Pablo Picasso's Guernica may tell us more about the last century's history than any other. In this new book by Gijs van Hensbergen, the acclaimed biographer of Gaudí, the author explores the life of this key cultural icon from its birth to the present day. He tells the story of the painting's beginnings, amid the turmoil of the Spanish Civil War; describes its use as a weapon in the propaganda battle against Fascism; tells how it traveled overseas to become the nucleus of the Museum of Modern Art's creation in New York; and finally writes movingly of its role as a symbol of reconciliation for Spain after the death of Franco, when it returned to that country as democracy was reestablished.

Guernica is a story of national struggle, political exile, and the power of art as a tool of protest and of healing. Ingeniously chronicling the last century using Picasso's visionary tableau, van Hensbergen offers a new way of understanding our own history.

Customer Reviews:

Extraordinary passions.......2005-06-27

Van Hensbergen's Guernica is a must-read masterpiece that covers art, history,passion and politics in equal measure. From war time France, through Franco's Spain,and on through the trials of McCarthyism to Guernica's eventual repatriation the writer doesn't miss a beat. I was stunned and excited by the new revelations about Picasso and extraordinary insights into the passions that underpin Picasso's astonishing and shocking work.

A Learned, Fascinating Paean to the Importance of GUERNICA.......2005-02-24

Gijs van Hensbergen has contributed a fine volume to the libraries of books on the Atrocity of War, on the History of Spain under Franco's dictatorship, on the influence of Pablo Picasso on the development of the US as an art center after centuries of living in the shadow of Europe, of the Development of the very American art school of Abstract Expressionism, of the
rise and fall of Communism and its attendant 'McCarthy Era' of American isolationism, and ultimately of the journey of the infamous painting 'Guernica' from its creation in Paris to its world tour, its home in New York's Museum of Modern Art to its eventual return to the country that stimulated its creation - the Prado Museum in Madrid, Spain.

Long first sentence: long journey. The author of this fascinating book packs so much information into the well-illustrated story that 'Guernica' reads like a novel yet informs like a treatise. Initially painted by Picasso in 1937 in response to Franco's Nazi-assisted 'training lab' annihilation of the city of Gernika in the Basque region of Spain. 'Guernica" has become a symbol of the atrocity of war, the capability of man's inhumanity to man, and the global fear of self-destruction if we are not more in guardianship of the forces of war machines that continue to grind down the surface of this planet.

van Hensbergen writes so well that the amount of information contained in this readable tome never overwhelms: it is just there as backup for every statement he makes. He firmly believes that 'Guernica' is the most important painting of the 20th Century, not only because of its critical breakthrough in the art world of the changes in representation (the Cubist movement), nor because of the rally against totalitarian force wherever it occurs (including the My-Lai atrocity with which the US bruised mankind in the Vietnam conflict, etc), but also because of the profound impact this painting had upon entering the USA, in easy access to the artists who responded to its power by developing the first truly original American art movement - Abstract Expressionism.

It is often said that the artist is the ultimate philosopher. Nowhere is this better stated than in this absorbing book about the power of a single painting on the course of history in the 2oth Century. Highly recommended. Grady Harp, February 2005

Warning..........2005-01-19

Unless you are really into modern art, Picasso, and Guernica (the painting) you'll probably find this book a bit boring. Not that it isn't well written and researched, it is, but for the average reader something more was needed. I was looking for more insights into Picasso the man and a deeper look into those troubled times. About the only feeling in this book is a kind of leftist-elitist-snobbery. I'm about halfway through the book now and may finish it....

Arguably The Century's Greatest Painting.......2005-01-15

"No, painting is not done to decorate apartments. It's an instrument of war for attack and defense against the enemy." So said Pablo Picasso, as World War II was ending. He must have reflected at the time that even the most famous painting-as-weapon had not really made a difference in a previous war or the current one. Still, his _Guernica_ had made an impression, and it still does. When war against Iraq was being considered, the United Nations's huge tapestry reproduction of the painting (originally made for Nelson Rockefeller, and donated by him to the UN) was covered up. A plain blue background was needed for the broadcasters in the building, said a UN spokesman; you won't be able to pull a cover on the upcoming carnage in Iraq, said an Australian delegate. In _Guernica: The Biography of a Twentieth-Century Icon_ (Bloomsbury) Gijs van Hensbergen has given a readable summary of both the art and the politics of the painting, from the history of the Spanish Civil War and the heinous bombing that it depicts to its eventual return to the Spanish republic. There is thus plenty of twentieth century history here, and art theory, and biography of the most influential painter of the century. It is all wonderfully well integrated and fascinating.

In 1937, Picasso was in Paris when he heard of the atrocity of the firebombing of Gernika (Basque spelling), far behind the lines and without military connections, arranged by Franco and carried out by the Nazis as an initial experiment in what we have come to know as "total war." He had procrastinated on a commission for the Paris Expo, but in a frenzy of inspiration, he drew his first sketches and five weeks later had completed the painting. After the Expo, the painting began its extensive travels, with the aim of giving support to the anti-fascists in Spain. Picasso refused to let it go anywhere in Spain until "a genuine Spanish republic had been restored." Picasso was satisfied with _Guernica_ settling in New York: "By means of _Guernica_ I have the pleasure of making a political statement every day in the middle of New York." But as a communist, his work was suspect, and the references to Franco and the Spanish Civil War were dropped from the label at the Museum of Modern Art. J. Edgar Hoover asked specifically that the US Embassy in Paris send any info on Picasso, even though the FBI had no business trying to get dirt on foreigners. The file on Picasso included asinine whoppers such as the accusation that he was a Russian spy. A congressman from Michigan state seems to have assumed a Rush Limbaugh-like role as radio commentator, railing against Picasso as "the hero of all the crackpots in so-called modern art" and that "critics who support modern art should be attended to."

Picasso died in 1973, and Franco in 1975. Franco had been increasingly ill and distant from actual power, and Picasso's work had gradually been allowed to be shown within Spain. Poster reproductions of _Guernica_ were popular. Picasso had not lost his bite, and gallery owners had to worry about vandalism, some of the worries proving to be entirely justified. The final section of the book deals with the difficult and labyrinthine negotiations to bring the painting back to the home it had never known. Politicians, lawyers, Basques, city boosters, and heirs all had to have their say, but eventually under extreme security, the massive canvass made a triumphal entry into Madrid in 1981, originally installed in a huge, guarded box of bullet-proof glass. One commentator observed, "Today the last exile has returned to Spain." That is the sort of tribute and the degree of importance attributed to _Guernica_ repeatedly through the book. Its detractors, frequently quoted here, may be many, and its influence in actually stopping war may be nil. It will forever haunt us, though, like a conscience that insists that someday war ought to be no more.

Guernica the Biography of a Twentieth-Century Icon

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Guernica the Biography of a Twentieth-Century Icon
Gijs Van Hensbergen
Manufacturer: Bloomsbury Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000O55XWG

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Guernica: The Biography of a Twentieth-Century Icon
Gijs van Hensbergen
Manufacturer: NY
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000MU87OO

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