Part Three Planning and control

Seen as the leading practitioner and the main originator

of the lean approach, the Toyota Motor Cornpany
has progressively synchronized all its processes
simultaneously to give high-quality, fast throughput and
exceptional productivity. [t has done this by developing
a set of practices that has largely shaped what we
now call 'lean' or'iust-in-time' bst whieh Toyota calls
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the Toyota Production System (IP$). The TPS has
two themes, 'just-in-time' and 'jidoka'" Just-in-time E

is defined as the rapid and coordinated movement of v

parts throughout the prduction system and supply
network to meet customer demand. lt is operationalized
by means at heijunka (levelling and smoothing the flow
of items), kanban (signalling to the preeeding process
that more parts are needed) and nagare $aying out
processes to achieve srnoother flow of parts throughout
the production process). Jidoka is described as
'humanizing the interface beilrveen operalor and
machine'. Toyota's phitosophy is that the machine is
there to serve the operator"s purpose" The operator
should be left free to exercise his or her iudgement.
Jidoka is operationalized by means of fail-safeing (or
machine jidokai, line-stop authority (or human jidoka)
and visual control {at-a-gtance status of production
prosesses and visibilig of process standards).
Toyota believes thai both just-in-time and jidoka
should be applied nrthlessly to the elimination of waste,
where vraste is defined as 'anything other than the
minimum amount of equiprnent, items, parts and
workers that are absolutely essential to production'.
Fujio Cho of Toyota identified seven types of waste
that must be eliminated from all operations processes-
They are: waste from over-production, waste from
waiting time, transportation waste, inventory waste,
processing waste, waste of motion and waste from
product defects. Beyond this, authorities on Toyota claim
that its strength lies in understanding the differences
between the tools and practices used with Toyota
operations and the overall philosophy of their approach
o
i6
to lean synchronization. This is what some have called
the apparent paradox of the Toyota production system:
"namely, that activities, connections and production
fls\rys in a Toyota factory are rigidly scripted, yet at the
same time Toyota's operations are enornou$ly flexibte
and adaptable. Activities and processes are constantly
being challenged and pushed to a higher level of
performance, enabling the company to continually
innovate and improve.'
One influential study of Tayota identified four rules that
guide the design, delivery, and development activities
within the company.'
o Rule one * all work shall be highty specified as to
content, sequence, timing, and outcome.
* frule iwo - every customer-supplier connection must
be direct and there must be an unambiguous yes
or no method of sending requests and receiving
reaponses.
c Fule fhree - the route {or evety product and service
must be simple and direct.
ur 8u/e lour - any improvement must be made in
accordance with the scientiiic rnethod, under the
guidance of a teacher, and at the lowesl possible
level in the organization.