Toyota Production System 1

Toyota Production System

The Toyota Production System (TPS) is an integrated socio-technical system, developed by Toyota, that comprises
its management philosophy and practices. The TPS organizes manufacturing and logistics for the automobile
manufacturer, including interaction with suppliers and customers. The system is a major precursor of the more
generic "Lean manufacturing." Taiichi Ohno, Shigeo Shingo and Eiji Toyoda developed the system between 1948
and 1975.[1]
Originally called "Just-in-Time Production," it builds on the approach created by the founder of Toyota, Sakichi
Toyoda, his son Kiichiro Toyoda, and the engineer Taiichi Ohno. The founders of Toyota drew heavily on the work
of W. Edwards Deming and the writings of Henry Ford. When these men came to the United States to observe the
assembly line and mass production that had made Ford rich, they were unimpressed. While shopping in a
supermarket they observed the simple idea of an automatic drink resupplier; when the customer wants a drink, he
takes one, and another replaces it. The principles underlying the TPS are embodied in The Toyota Way.

Goals
The main objectives of the TPS are to design out overburden (muri) and inconsistency (mura), and to eliminate waste
(muda). The most significant effects on process value delivery are achieved by designing a process capable of
delivering the required results smoothly; by designing out "mura" (inconsistency). It is also crucial to ensure that the
process is as flexible as necessary without stress or "muri" (overburden) since this generates "banasik" (waste).
Finally the tactical improvements of waste reduction or the elimination of muda are very valuable. There are seven
kinds of muda that are addressed in the TPS[2] :
1. Waste of overproduction (largest waste)
2. Waste of time on hand (waiting)
3. Waste of transportation
4. Waste of processing itself
5. Waste of stock at hand
6. Waste of movement
7. Waste of making defective products
The elimination of waste has come to dominate the thinking of many when they look at the effects of the TPS
because it is the most familiar of the three to implement. In the TPS many initiatives are triggered by inconsistency
or overburden reduction which drives out waste without specific focus on its reduction.

Origins
This system, more than any other aspect of the company, is responsible for having made Toyota the company it is
today. Toyota has long been recognized as a leader in the automotive manufacturing and production industry.[3]
Toyota received their inspiration for the system, not from the American automotive industry (at that time the world's
largest by far), but from visiting a supermarket. This occurred when a delegation from Toyota (led by Ohno) visited
the United States in the 1950s. The delegation first visited several Ford Motor Company automotive plants in
Michigan but, despite Ford being the industry leader at that time, found many of the methods in use to be not very
effective. They were mainly appalled by the large amounts of inventory on site, by how the amount of work being
performed in various departments within the factory was uneven on most days, and the large amount of rework at the
end of the process.[2]
However, on a subsequent visit to a Piggly Wiggly,[4] the delegation was inspired by how the supermarket only
reordered and restocked goods once they had been bought by customers. Toyota applied the lesson from Piggly
Wiggly by reducing the amount of inventory they would hold only to a level that its employees would need for a
Toyota Production System 2

small period of time, and then subsequently reorder. This would become the precursor of the now-famous
Just-in-Time (JIT) inventory system.[2]
While low inventory levels are a key outcome of the Toyota Production System, an important element of the
philosophy behind its system is to work intelligently and eliminate waste so that inventory is no longer needed.
Many American businesses, having observed Toyota's factories, set out to attack high inventory levels directly
without understanding what made these reductions possible.[5] The act of imitating without understanding the
underlying concept or motivation may have led to the failure of those projects.

Principles
The underlying principles, called the Toyota Way, have been outlined by Toyota as follows:[6] [7]

Continuous Improvement
• Challenge (We form a long-term vision, meeting challenges with courage and creativity to realize our dreams.)
• Kaizen (We improve our business operations continuously, always driving for innovation and evolution.)
• Genchi Genbutsu (Go to the source to find the facts to make correct decisions.)

Respect for People

• Respect (We respect others, make every effort to understand each other, take responsibility and do our best to
build mutual trust.)
• Teamwork (We stimulate personal and professional growth, share the opportunities of development and
maximize individual and team performance.)
External observers have summarized the principles of the Toyota Way as:[8]

Long-term philosophy
1. Base your management decisions on a long-term philosophy, even at the expense of short-term financial goals.

The right process will produce the right results

1. Create continuous process flow to bring problems to the surface.
2. Use the "pull" system to avoid overproduction.
3. Level out the workload (heijunka). (Work like the tortoise, not the hare.)
4. Build a culture of stopping to fix problems, to get quality right from the first.
5. Standardized tasks are the foundation for continuous improvement and employee empowerment.
6. Use visual control so no problems are hidden.
7. Use only reliable, thoroughly tested technology that serves your people and processes.
Toyota Production System 3

Add value to the organization by developing your people and partners

1. Grow leaders who thoroughly understand the work, live the philosophy, and teach it to others.
2. Develop exceptional people and teams who follow your company's philosophy.
3. Respect your extended network of partners and suppliers by challenging them and helping them improve.

Continuously solving root problems drives organizational learning

1. Go and see for yourself to thoroughly understand the situation (Genchi Genbutsu, 現地現物);
2. Make decisions slowly by consensus, thoroughly considering all options (Nemawashi, 根回し); implement
decisions rapidly;
3. Become a learning organization through relentless reflection (Hansei, 反省) and continuous improvement
(Kaizen, 改善).
The Toyota production system has been compared to squeezing water from a dry towel. What this means is that it is
a system for thorough waste elimination. Here, waste refers to anything which does not advance the process,
everything that does not increase added value. Many people settle for eliminating the waste that everyone recognizes
as waste. But much remains that simply has not yet been recognized as waste or that people are willing to tolerate.
People had resigned themselves to certain problems, had become hostage to routine and abandoned the practice of
problem-solving. This going back to basics, exposing the real significance of problems and then making fundamental
improvements, can be witnessed throughout the Toyota Production System.[9]

Results
Toyota was able to greatly reduce leadtime and cost using the TPS, while improving quality. This enabled it to
become one of the ten largest companies in the world. It is currently as profitable as all the other car companies
combined and became the largest car manufacturer in 2007. It has been proposed[10] that the TPS is the most
prominent example of the 'correlation', or middle, stage in a science, with material requirements planning and other
data gathering systems representing the 'classification' or first stage. A science in this stage can see correlations
between events and can propose some procedures that allow some predictions of the future. Due to the success of the
production philosophy's predictions many of these methods have been copied by other manufacturing companies,
although mostly unsuccessfully.
Also, many companies in different sectors of work (other than manufacturing) have attempted to adapt some or all of
the principles of the Toyota Production System to their company. These sectors include construction and health care.

Commonly used terminology

• Andon (行灯) (English: Signboard)
• Genchi Genbutsu (現地現物) (English: Go and see for yourself)
• Hansei (反省) (English: Self-reflection)
• Heijunka (平準化) (English: Production Smoothing)
• Jidoka (自働化) (English: Autonomation - automation with human intelligence)
• Just-in-Time (ジャストインタイム) (JIT)
• Kaizen (改善) (English: Continuous Improvement)
• Kanban (看板, also かんばん) (English: Sign, Index Card)
• Manufacturing supermarket where all components are available to be withdrawn by a process
• Muda (無駄, also ムダ) (English: Waste)
• Mura (斑 or ムラ) (English: Une)
• Muri (無理) (English: Over)
• Nemawashi (根回し) (English: Laying the groundwork, building consensus, literally: Going around the roots)
Toyota Production System 4

• Poka-yoke (ポカヨケ) (English: fail-safing - to avoid (yokeru) inadvertent errors (poka)

Notes
[1] Strategos-International. Toyota Production System and Lean Manufacturing (http:/ / www. strategosinc. com/ toyota_production. htm).
[2] Ohno, Taiichi (March 1998), Toyota Production System: Beyond Large-Scale Production, Productivity Press, ISBN 978-0915299140
[3] Brian Bremner, B. and C. Dawson (November 17, 2003). "Can Anything Stop Toyota?: An inside look at how it's reinventing the auto
industry" (http:/ / www. businessweek. com/ magazine/ content/ 03_46/ b3858001_mz001. htm). Business Week.
[4] Magee, David (November 2007), How Toyota Became #1 - Leadership Lessons from the World's Greatest Car Company, Portfolio
Hardcover, ISBN 978-1591841791
[5] Theory of Constraints, Eliyahu Goldratt, North River Press, 1990, p 30
[6] Toyota internal document, "The Toyota Way 2001," April 2001
[7] Toyota Motor Corporation Sustainability Report, 2009, page 54
[8] Liker, J. 2004. The Toyota Way: 14 Management Principles from the World's Greatest Manufacturer.
[9] A study of the Toyota Production System, Shigeo Shingo, Productivity Press, 1989, p236
[10] Theory of Constraints, Eliyahu Goldratt, North River Press, 1990, p 26

References
• Emiliani, B., with Stec, D., Grasso, L. and Stodder, J. (2007), Better Thinking, Better Results: Case Study and
Analysis of an Enterprise-Wide Lean Transformation, second edition, The CLBM, LLC Kensington, Conn., ISBN
978-0-9722591-2-5
• Liker, Jeffrey (2003), The Toyota Way: 14 Management Principles from the World's Greatest Manufacturer, First
edition, McGraw-Hill, ISBN 0-07-139231-9.
• Monden, Yasuhiro (1998), Toyota Production System, An Integrated Approach to Just-In-Time, Third edition,
Norcross, GA: Engineering & Management Press, ISBN 0-412-83930-X.
• Ohno, Taiichi (1995), Toyota Production System: Beyond Large-scale Production, Productivity Press Inc., ISBN
0-915299-14-3.
• Shingo, Shigeo (1989) A Study of the Toyota Production System from an Industrial Engineering Viewpoint
(Produce What Is Needed, When It's Needed), Productivity Press, ISBN 0-915299-17-8. (This refers to the
English version; the Japanese version was published in 1981, but the ISBN is unknown)
• Spear, Steven, and Bowen, H. Kent (September 1999), "Decoding the DNA of the Toyota Production System,"
Harvard Business Review
• Womack, James P. and Jones, Daniel T. (2003), Lean Thinking: Banish Waste and Create Wealth in Your
Corporation, Revised and Updated, HarperBusiness, ISBN 0-7432-4927-5.
• Womack, James P., Jones, Daniel T., and Roos, Daniel (1991), The Machine That Changed the World: The Story
of Lean Production, HarperBusiness, ISBN 0-06-097417-6.
• Zamprotta L., (1993), La qualité comme philosophie de la production. Interaction avec l'ergonomie et
perspectives futures, Thèse de Maîtrise fr:Maîtrise ès Sciences Appliquées, TIU Press, Independence,MO, (1994),
ISBN 0-89697-452-9.

External links
• History of the TPS at the Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky Site (http://www.toyotageorgetown.com/
history.asp)
• Toyota Production System Terms (http://toyotageorgetown.com/terms.asp)
• Article: Lean Primer: Introduction (http://www.leanprimer.com/downloads/lean_primer.pdf)
Article Sources and Contributors 5

Article Sources and Contributors

Toyota Production System  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=464431740  Contributors: AbsolutDan, Alex Rio Brazil, Alex43223, Arvind1120, Avergara2010, BBird,
Baytazz, Bcrounse, BeautifulFlying, Beland, Benlisquare, Bonadea, Capricorn42, Cesare22, Charlottepell, Chris 73, Chris Murphy, Colonies Chris, Comatose51, Craig.larman, Crippled in 76,
Culmensis, Customlean, Daniel J. Leivick, Davandron, Dekisugi, Denknubbes, Dilaudid, DocWatson42, Dyson1, EJF, Edchi, Ehusman, Eleusis, Elwikipedista, Erianna, Evil saltine, Facius,
Franklin Dee, GR7689, Gepwiki, GoodProd37, HATA A. K., Hbent, Helvetius, Hu12, HughesJohn, Indra 94, Intershark, Italo41, Iuy789, Jayen466, Jcaya, Jennavecia, Jsan, Jschmidt163,
Juanscott, Kaihsu, Krotz, Kusunose, L Kensington, Leaders100, Leanadvisors, Lennon Arzam, Lhadnus, Logan, Mallowb, Mandarax, Mathsux124, Maurreen, Mdd, MementoVivere,
MiNombreDeGuerra, Michael Hardy, Mike734, Mramsey68, Mrebus, Mydogategodshat, Nelson50, Nposs, Olly sunsky, Opus 98543687, Paul A, Paulkrobertson, Pil56, Pip2andahalf, PleaseJay,
Polish Klang, Postdlf, Quidam65, R. S. Shaw, Random contributor, Randomalious, Rhombus, Rich Farmbrough, Ringovista, Rjanag, Ronz, Sexyman48, Share Bear, Spalding, Spencer, Stebbins,
Sunray, Tassedethe, The Anome, The Rogue Penguin, ThurnerRupert, Toddwill, Tv316, UnneededAplomb, Vamaro, Viable82, Waldoemerson, Wcrosbie, Wknight94, Yas, Yauhey, ZooFari, 169
anonymous edits

License
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported
//creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/