Chrysler is winning awards. Robert Lutz, Chrysler President, was named Automotive Industry's Marketer of the Year in 1996. The NS minivan was named 1996 Motor Trend Car of the year, and perhaps more important, Chrysler has held on to approximately 50% of the minivan market in the U.S. 

How did this happen? Brock Yates, known for his ability to write entertaining and thoroughly researched books, spent four years hanging out at Chrysler. A columnist for Car and Driver Magazine, Yates was given carte blanche access to track Chrysler's reinvention of its minivan. 

Yates gives his readers an in-depth time line of the NS minivan development. He points out that a funny thing happened along the road to development of the minivan: Chrysler underwent a simultaneous post-Iaccoca revolution redesign of its structure and culture. 

Brock goes into detail describing Chrysler's attempt to eliminate "chimney systems," those departmental barriers most organizations struggle against. Any organizational leader who wants to know how Chrysler did it, simply must read this book. One of the innovations introduced by Lutz was the formation of Technology Clubs, which encouraged horizontal and vertical exchange of information. Most people who work inside large organizations, know how easy it is for teams to become territorial with information. This competition for information can quickly slow down the process of large-scale development, such as in the case of auto development. 

Chrysler also set up Quality Alert Systems, Learning Laboratories, and SCORE groups (Supplier Cost Reduction Effort). QAS empowerment allowed workers on the assembly line to stop the line if they spotted quality problems. The Learning Laboratories taught operational principles of quality management. SCORE remarkably kept Chrysler employees in touch with costs. 

Blue collar workers were brought into teams to discuss issues with management. A genuine attempt was made to stop blame within the organization. This had a lot to do with the individual personalities of Chrysler senior management. Yates chronicles the entire Chrysler "family" interaction. 

Yates' book lets the reader see how many management principles that are being taught today, including many of the ideas that TMI presents in its seminars, can be implemented in a large-scale corporation with an excellent product being the end result. We definitely recommend this book.  

Janelle Barlow, President  

TMI USA 

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