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Category Archives: Toyota Production System (TPS)
Lean Manufacturing: The 3rd Generation
Lean Manufacturing: The 3rd Generation [the broken link was removed] by David Drickhamer: A Toyota executive recently attributed the company’s long-term success to “brilliant process management.” Such processes are everywhere in business, including office and administrative work, areas where Toyota itself is working on how to extend TPS thinking. This is where Couch invokes TPS2, or “business-process kaizen,” and the challenge of dealing with non-physical inputs and outputs and much longer time frames than on the shop floor, such as … Continue reading
The Toyota Phenomenon
The Toyota Phenomenon [the broken link was removed] by Ernst Glauser: Toyota’s success starts with its brilliant production engineering, which puts quality control in the hands of the line workers who have the power to stop the line or summon help the moment something goes wrong. Walk into a Toyota factory in Japan or America, Derby in Britain or Valenciennes in France and you will see the same visual displays telling you everything that is going on. You will also … Continue reading
Posted in Deming, Management, Toyota Production System (TPS)
Tagged Deming, Toyota
Toyota Manufactures More Itself
Bucking the trend, Toyota controls quality, cost by making many parts in house [the broken link was removed], AutoWeek via Lean Manufacturing Blog: On one hand, the company sees parts making as a critical piece of its overall quality-control program. Toyota argues that keeping some parts in-house actually makes it more efficient. Outsourcing parts simply to meet the changing industry norm is viewed warily by Toyota executives. “I don’t believe we can outsource our responsibility to the customer,” Seizo Okamoto
Why Fix the Escalator?
Why Fix the Escalator? from the Lean manufacturing blog on a visit to the NUMMI plant: A very large permanent sign above the escalator said something like: “Sorry for inoperative escalator. It would cost $120k to repair. We feel money could be better spent on other things. Please accept our apologies.” Wow. The frugality and practicality of TPS was illustrated by that sign, our tour group thought. Rather than a knee-jerk reaction of fixing it when broken, somebody asked that … Continue reading
Toyota Engineers a New Plant: the Living Kind
Topic: Management Improvement Toyota Engineers…a Shrub Toyota Motor Corp has developed a derivative of the Cherry Sage shrub that is optimized for absorbing pollutants from the air. It seems Toyota is dominating the management improvement news in the same way Google is dominating the rest of the business news. It seems like Toyota is mentioned positively nearly as much as other companies combined on the management blogs that I read most often. And I am contributing to that. I doubt … Continue reading
Posted in Deming, Management, quote, Science, Toyota Production System (TPS)
Tagged engineering, green, Innovation, purpose, Science, Toyota
4 Comments
The Toyota Way Fieldbook
Topic: Management Improvement The Toyota Way Fieldbook – a Practical Guide to implementing Toyota’s 4Ps by Jeffrey Liker has just been released. For this book he is joined by David Meier, and they delve into applying the concepts from his excellent book: The Toyota Way. Toyota’s 4Ps: Philosophy, Processes, People, and Partners. “The Toyota Way Fieldbook details the language, concepts, and tools that managers need to use Toyota’s success-proven practices in any organization. Readers are given valuable insights into the … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Lean thinking, Management, Toyota Production System (TPS)
Toyota and the Art of Continuous Improvement
Oh, What A Company! [the broken link was removed] by by Gary S. Vasilash TPS is not for those who are looking for the fast solution. While implementing any single element of TPS will undoubtedly bring some rather startling results in comparatively short order, it is only through the continuous, persistent application of the principles that fundamental change is realized. Very true.
How Toyota Turns Workers Into Problem Solvers
How Toyota Turns Workers Into Problem Solvers [the broken link was removed], Sarah Jane Johnston interview of Steven Spear. It is our conclusion that Toyota has developed a set of principles, Rules-in-Use we’ve called them, that allow organizations to engage in this (self-reflective) design, testing, and improvement so that (nearly) everyone can contribute at or near his or her potential, and when the parts come together the whole is much, much greater than the sum of the parts. The main … Continue reading
Everybody Wants It, Toyota’s Got It
Everybody Wants It, Toyota’s Got It [oops, pointy haired boss broke link, so I removed it] by Grant Robertson, Globe and Mail (Canada): Despite riding atop the North American auto sector for the past decade, the company’s manufacturing methods are an open book. People often look for the secret new idea instead of just executing well. So much improvement is available just using ideas that have been known for decades. But instead of doing that people keep searching for new … Continue reading
LA Jail Saves Time Processing Crime
After efficiency study, L.A. jail saves time processing crime by Dan Laidman Los Angels Daily News (pointy hired boss broke the link so I removed it) Last week, Chief William Bratton told the Board of Police Commissioners that Toyota methods have produced dramatic changes in a jail division once beset by delays, inefficient transportation, personnel shortages and troubles with medical treatment. … But the collaboration between Toyota and the LAPD marks the first time law enforcement has used the principles … Continue reading
Posted in Deming, Management, Process improvement, Public Sector, Toyota Production System (TPS)
Tagged Deming, government, Madison, management, Process improvement, Public Sector, Toyota
Collaboration Rules
Collaboration Rules [broken link was removed] by Philip Evans and Bob Wolf: We have found that Toyota’s managerial methods resemble, in a number of their fundamentals, the workings of the Linux community; the Toyota Production System (TPS) owes some of its vaunted responsiveness to open-source traits. In fact, Toyota itself is evolving into a hybrid between a conventional hierarchy and a Linux-like self-organizing network. … Both emphasize granularity: They pay attention to small details, eliminate problems at the source, and … Continue reading
Posted in Toyota Production System (TPS)
Tagged lean manufacturing, Psychology, Toyota Production System (TPS)
Indian Firms Learning From Toyota
Taking A Page From Toyota’s Playbook [the broken link has been removed], Business Week: The goal for Wipro is to become the Toyota of business services. Toyota preaches continuous improvement, respect for employees, learning, and embracing change. “It’s the soft stuff that makes a big impact on the hard numbers,” says Kurien, a cheerful 45-year-old. There is plenty of hard-edged analysis, as well. To embrace Toyota’s methods, Kurien last year assigned teams to examine business processes, break them into discrete … Continue reading
Posted in India, IT, Management, Process improvement, Respect, Toyota Production System (TPS)
2 Comments
New Toyota CEO’s Views
The Man Driving Toyota from Business Week: Toyota has grown in the past few years, but [there’s a risk] that a belief that the current status is satisfactory creeps into the minds of employees. That’s what I’m worried about. We should never be satisfied with the current status. In each division, function, or region, we still have numerous problems to cope with. We need to identify each one of those tasks or problems and fully recognize them and pursue the … Continue reading
Posted in Management, Process improvement, Toyota Production System (TPS)
Tagged continual improvement, management, Toyota, variation
7 Comments
Toyota as Homebuilder
Topic: Management Improvement Toyota Home – Applying the Toyota Production System to Home Building (broken link removed) from Evolving Excellence Toyota is all about cars and trucks, right? Not quite. I was just pointed to the Toyota Home [the broken link was removed] page on Toyota’s website, which briefly describes Toyota’s activities in the home building industry. From Toyota’s web site: Toyota Home – building 21st century comfort and luxury into houses in Japan. Come inside and see for yourself. … Continue reading
Posted in Customer focus, Management, Toyota Production System (TPS)
Tagged aim, Innovation, leadership, lean manufacturing, Lean thinking, Toyota
5 Comments