Their early approach is notably different from Lean manufacturing which became famous through the book "The Machine That Changed the World".
Car companies in the US employed a well-educated workforce in the cities and benefited from the research and student skill sets of established engineering schools.
[3][4] Allen Ward studied Toyota’s lean product development system and found parallels with the US airplane industry.
For instance, the Wright brothers’ method[5] of constructing their airplanes became one of the legacies they passed on to the aviation industry.
This approach enabled the USA to create one of World War II's most successful fighter planes from scratch in the short span of six months.
This means that decisions are made on short-cycle experimentation, prototyping, set-based design, and emergent practice.
An essential point about these differences is summarized in the advice Jim Womack gave Harley Davidson: "Don't try to bring lean manufacturing upstream to product development.