Lasting Value: Lessons from a Century of Agility at Lincoln Electric

Joe's Journal: On Bringing More Knowledge to Manufacturing

A while back, I wrote the book Lasting Value, which featured the stories of such high-productivity U.S. manufacturing companies as Lincoln Electric and the steelmaker NUCOR

 Amazon book page

In its 104-year history, Lincoln Electric Company has managed to sustain its status as the world's leader in welding technology despite intense domestic and foreign competition. The company's success can be attributed to founder James Lincoln, who began adopting principles of management that empowered workers and allowed the company to change rapidly to take advantage of new opportunities. This book shows you how to duplicate these pioneering ideas and follow the brilliance of the Lincoln management system. The results of this system include happier customers, more prosperous workers, and richly rewarded shareholders. 

... Joseph Maciariello uncovers Lincoln's approach to management in a systematic manner and demonstrates why the company has been so effective for over a century. You'll discover how Lincoln employs a mutually reinforcing set of management systems that creates a boost in overall performance. When these systems are described and understood in their entirety, you'll see how the company's sustained success is due to its natural development of agility. You'll findout how this agility is connected to its executive leadership, management systems, and cultural environment. And you'll learn how to utilize these principles and techniques in your own company to obtain similar results. 

... By implementing this system, you can also experience these strong financial returns for shareholders, an increase in wages for workers, higher productivity, and much more!
"Lasting Value is that rarest of books: a "why to" book, a "what to" book, and a "how to" book- its examples deal with manufacturing companies and blue-collar workers. But the lessons have particular force for the new job facing management: building organizations of knowledge workers who perform and who create lasting value." — Peter F. Drucker 

"In today's world of quarterly expectations and Wall Street's praise for major restructuring, Lasting Value successfully illustrates that long-term shareholder value can occur when corporations are truly customer and employee driven with the highest of motives."

I just bought a copy.