Tag Archives: Toyota

Toyota’s Partner Robot

Posted on December 6, 2007 by John Hunter

Latest robot in Toyota’s line showcases violin skills [the broken link was removed] But Toyota’s new robot played a pretty solid “Pomp and Circumstance” on the violin Thursday. The 152-centimetre [about 5 feet] tall white robot used its mechanical fingers to push the strings correctly and bowed with its other arm, coordinating the movements well. Toyota Motor Corp. has already shown robots that roll around to work as guides and have fingers dexterous enough to play the trumpet. Toyota President … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Fun, Science, Toyota Production System (TPS) | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Lean, Toyota and Deming for Software Development

Posted on December 2, 2007 by John Hunter

Mary Poppendieck on The Role of Leadership in Software Development, very nice 90 minute webcast: In this 90-minute talk from the Agile2007 conference, Lean software thought leader Mary Poppendieck reviewed 20th century management theories, including Toyota and Deming, and went on to talk about “the matrix problem”, alignment, waste cutting, planning and standards. She closed by addressing the role of measurement: “cash flow thinking” over “balance sheet thinking”. via, Leadership is not Obsolete for Self-Organizing Teams! Once again Mary provides … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, IT, Lean thinking, Management, Software Development, Toyota Production System (TPS), webcast | Tagged , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Workplace Management by Taiichi Ohno

Posted on August 8, 2007 by John Hunter

Workplace Management by Taiichi Ohno is an excellent management book. Taiichi Ohno is known as the father of the Toyota Production System (TPS), also called lean manufacturing. He dictated the text to the Japan Management Association (in a series of interviews in 1982), which gives the book a sense of listening to him talk about the ideas. I found the conversational tone made it very easy to read and reminiscent of Dr. Deming’s tone in many places. Ohno focused a … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Deming, Lean thinking, Management, Systems thinking, Toyota Production System (TPS) | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

No Excessive Senior Executive Pay at Toyota

Posted on June 23, 2007 by John Hunter

Toyota Boosts Executives’ Bonuses on Record Earnings (link broken by Bloomberg has been removed – why can’t companies with huge IT budgets follow even basic web usability rules like not breaking urls?): Toyota Motor Corp., the world’s biggest automaker by market value, will increase the total amount of executives’ bonuses by 33 percent for the year ended in March after the company posted record earnings. The automaker will pay a total of 970.5 million yen ($7.8 million) in bonuses to … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Lean thinking, Management, Psychology, Respect, Toyota Production System (TPS) | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

Toyota to Name Press as a Director

Posted on April 11, 2007 by John Hunter

Toyota to name first foreign director [the broken link was removed]: Toyota Motor Corp., seeking to add an international flavor to its management, will appoint a foreign national to its board of directors for the first time, sources said Tuesday. … The promotion of Press, 60, who also serves as Toyota’s managing officer, will be voted on at a shareholders meeting in June, the sources said. … But currently, all 25 board members of the parent company are Japanese. Only … Continue reading →

Posted in Management, Toyota Production System (TPS) | Tagged

The Georgetown Kentucky Way

Posted on February 27, 2007 by John Hunter

The Scott County Way [the broken link was removed] by Jillian Ogawa: It seemed only natural that Toyota’s corporate culture would influence the local schools, said Superintendent Dallas Blankenship. He estimated that one in three students in the school district have one or more parents that work for either Toyota or a Toyota supplier. The school district has had several partnership programs with Toyota in Georgetown. “Simply over time, we learned a lot of practices that have helped us to … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, Management Articles, Public Sector, Toyota Production System (TPS) | Tagged , , ,

Talking with Toyota’s CEO

Posted on February 23, 2007 by John Hunter

Talking with Toyota’s Top Man [the broken link was removed] But there’s still more work to be done? The scariest symptom of “big-company disease” is that complacency will breed in the company. To be satisfied with becoming the top runner, and to become arrogant, is the path we must be most fearful of. There are so many challenges and issues that we need to address. Each individual [needs] to have the mentality to challenge those problems. Problems must be made … Continue reading →

Posted in Management Articles, Toyota Production System (TPS) | Tagged

Toyota Management Speech by Gary Convis

Posted on February 2, 2007 by John Hunter

Gary Convis – Management Briefing Seminars [the link that Toyota broke was removed] To be a successful automaker or supplier in today’s competitive world, I believe every single person involved in your value chain must fully understand the company’s mission and direction, and execute their roles perfectly to move toward shared goals. As an example, when a potential customer walks into a dealership, they are about to buy the second most expensive product they will ever own. This is not … Continue reading →

Posted in Lean thinking, Toyota Production System (TPS) | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Toyota’s Real Secret?

Posted on January 24, 2007 by John Hunter

Well actually it isn’t a secret – it is in fact the Toyota Production/Management System. Maybe, if people assume the TPS is about improvement in the factory alone, then they could miss the true importance as the management system that it is. So I quibble a little bit with the title but this is actually a good article by John Teresko, Toyota’s Real Secret: Hint, It’s Not TPS [the broken link was removed]: Toyota’s time-to-market metrics are one measure of … Continue reading →

Posted in Management, Management Articles, Manufacturing, Systems thinking, Toyota Production System (TPS) | Tagged ,

Lessons from Toyota’s IT Strategy

Posted on October 23, 2006 by John Hunter

Another interesting post from Panta Rei: Lessons from Toyota’s IT Strategy [the broken link was removed]: In order to use IT effectively as a tool, we think that it is important for the top management to not see IT as something that can be applied superficially. First they must see the facts of the business, the facts of the gemba, and on top of this foundation further consider the feelings of people and how to motivate them. Then rules must … Continue reading →

Posted in IT, Management, Toyota Production System (TPS) | Tagged , ,

Recalls at Toyota and Sony

Posted on September 15, 2006 by John Hunter

Recalls by Toyota and Sony shock Japan’s pride [the broken link was removed]: another article discussing the recent recalls at Toyota and Sony. Some have also begun to blame the decline on recent American-style management changes, like performance-based pay, the end of traditional lifetime job guarantees and increased use of temporary workers in order to cut costs. I don’t actually think this is right in Toyota’s case anyway; Toyota seems to have resisted adopting poor management practices form the west … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management, Performance Appraisal, Toyota Production System (TPS) | Tagged | 2 Comments

Lexus: Long Term Thinking

Posted on September 13, 2006 by John Hunter

Lexus: A Retrospective [the broken link was removed] All this involved creating not only the best car ever but also something new, a psychological experience rooted in reality. Toyota wanted to create for the buyers of this new car the best overall ownership experience ever. To establish that ultimate experience, Toyota decided to sell Lexus in a completely separate setting from its main line of vehicles. Lexus was to have its own state-of-the-art dealerships and top-notch dealers who were committed … Continue reading →

Posted in Toyota Production System (TPS) | Tagged

Toyota Targets 50% Reduction in Maintenance Waste

Posted on August 30, 2006 by John Hunter

Inside the Toyota Maintenance Reduction 50 Percent by Paul V. Arnold (sadly the site broke the link, so I removed it): First, it is Maintenance Reduction 50 Percent, not Cost Reduction 50 Percent or Employee Reduction 50 Percent. “The goal is to reduce maintenance activities and the maintenance that you perform on a machine by 50 percent. That goal covers every machine and every activity,” says TMMK facilities control manager David Absher. This is not about arbitrarily chopping budgets or … Continue reading →

Posted in Data, Deming, Lean thinking, Management, Management Articles, Process improvement, Toyota Production System (TPS) | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Toyota Land

Posted on August 22, 2006 by John Hunter

A visit to Toyota City: In Toyota land [the broken link was removed] by Vinod Jacob: When I was a little boy it was fascinating to read about Toyota’s vision for non-polluting vehicles to replace existing versions. I used to marvel at the sketches of the futuristic small vehicles plying inside the Toyota campus. A visit to the Toyota headquarters proved this to be a reality. Just outside the Toyota technical centre are the E-com vehicles put on a charger. … Continue reading →

Posted in Management, Toyota Production System (TPS) | Tagged

Toyota Supplier Relations

Posted on August 9, 2006 by John Hunter

Toyota’s relationship with vendors is an important link in its success [link broken, so it was removed] by John Torinus, CEO of Serigraph: One of the big differentiators between how the Big Three operate and how the vaunted Toyota production system works is how they deal with suppliers. Toyota takes the stance that it competes supply chain against supply chain, so it works hand-in-hand with vendors. It’s not just what happens in its body and assembly plants. Taiichi Ohno, the … Continue reading →

Posted in Management, Systems thinking, Toyota Production System (TPS) | Tagged , , , ,

Reducing Waste

Posted on July 12, 2006 by John Hunter

Toyota Motor Manufacturing (UK) Ltd – achieving zero waste to landfill [the broken link was removed] Toyota developed its Environmental Management System to stay on top of its environmental objectives and ensure that all processes are dealt with in an environmentally friendly way and are implemented across all the plants. There are full key performance indicator reporting systems, visual controls and displays throughout the plant. A great improvement strategy. Determine what you are trying to do. Understand the system. Set … Continue reading →

Posted in Data, Innovation, Management, Management Articles, Process improvement, Systems thinking, Toyota Production System (TPS) | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment