Daniel Roos discussed the book, The Machine That Changed the World, which he co-authored with James P. Womack and others. It an analytical comparison of American and Japanese auto manufacturing practices. According to the authors, the Japanese have developed a better way to make cars and other mass-produced goods. Development of the Japanese process, called “lean production,” began after World War II and has been refined for the last 40 years. Massachusetts Institute of Technology studied the competitive advantages of “lean production,” the results of which were recently released by the International Motor Vehicle Program, directed by Mr. Roos. Aspects of “lean production” include: catching and fixing defects at the point they occur on the assembly line, robotization, labor teams, and cross-training in production skills. Statistical data were drawn from European, Japanese and United States auto companies and organizations.