The Tragedy of Waste - The Book

The Tragedy of Waste

by Bob Emiliani
The Center for Lean Business Management LLC

As is often the case, great ideas and practices are the result of many people’s thoughts and labors over many years. Things that seem new to us were often known by others long ago. Taking a look back in time to how people understood the meaning of the “waste” in industrial management can help us understand present-day challenges.

The Tragedy of Waste is the title of a long-forgotten book written by Mr. Stuart Chase (1888-1985) and published in 1925 [1]. I came across this book as I was researching industrial management and engineering texts published between 1910 and 1930. The title alone was very intriguing, given the prominence of waste in Lean management. More importantly, it turns out the contents of the book had much to reveal about what people at that time understood about waste and how to eliminate it.

Stuart Chase was an accountant interested in improving the efficiency and economic performance of government and industry [2]. He was a prolific author, having written more than a dozen books. The Tragedy of Waste gained world-wide attention [3] for the direct way in which it exposed big problems in industrial planning, production, and consumption.

The English language version of the book almost certainly found its way to Japan ( Hokkaido University library has a copy, for example). It is not known if The Tragedy of Waste was translated into Japanese or if it influenced the thinking of Kiichiro Toyoda, Eiji Toyoda, or Taiichi Ohno. We do know that Henry Ford’s book, Today and Tomorrow, published in 1926 [4], discussed waste at length and did influence Ohno’s thinking [5].

It is likely that Henry Ford read Chase’s book, as well a 1921 book titled Waste in Industry [6], written by a committee of engineers chaired by Herbert Hoover (whose undergraduate degree was in geology). Hoover, a Republican, became the 31 st President of the United States (1929-1933), and was perhaps the only President who had a good understanding of waste [7]. Some of the facts, figures, and sources and causes of waste found in Waste in Industry appeared in Chase’s book.

The New York Times had this to say about The Tragedy of Waste:

"An exciting and informing book. The author has surveyed this sorry world and has shown how absurdly it is organized and managed. That one-half of productive man-power is waste is the conclusion at which he has arrived.” [8]

It was worth reading then, and again now, because it informs us of the rich history of modern industrial management and the people who long ago dedicated their lives to eliminating waste and improving the workplace and economic standing of the country and its citizens.

for more: http://www.superfactory.com/articles/Emiliani_tragedy_waste.htm