Toyota Production System

A production system which is steeped in the philosophy of "the complete elimination of all
waste" imbuing all aspects of production in pursuit of the most efficient methods.

Toyota Motor Corporation's vehicle production system is a way of "making things" that is
sometimes referred to as a "lean manufacturing system" or a "Just-in-Time (JIT) system," and
has come to be well known and studied worldwide.
This production control system has been established based on many years of continuous
improvements, with the objective of "making the vehicles ordered by customers in the quickest
and most efficient way, in order to deliver the vehicles as quickly as possible."
The Toyota Production System (TPS) was established based on two concepts: The first is called
"jidoka" (which can be loosely translated as "automation with a human touch") which means that
when a problem occurs, the equipment stops immediately, preventing defective products from
being produced; The second is the concept of "Just-in-Time," in which each process produces
only what is needed by the next process in a continuous flow.

Based on the basic philosophies of jidoka and Just-in-Time, the TPS can efficiently and quickly
produce vehicles of sound quality, one at a time, that fully satisfy customer requirements.

TPS Concept
Jidoka
— Highlighting/visualization of
problems —
-Quality must be built in during the
manufacturing process!-
If equipment malfunction or a defective part is
discovered, the affected machine automatically
stops, and operators cease production and
correct the problem.
For the Just-in-Time system to function, all of
the parts that are made and supplied must meet
predetermined quality standards. This is
achieved through jidoka.
Just-in-Time
— Productivity improvement —
- Making only "what is needed, when it is
needed, and in the amount needed!"
Producing quality products efficiently
through the complete elimination of waste,
inconsistencies, and unreasonable
requirements on the production line.
In order to deliver a vehicle ordered by a
customer as quickly as possible, the
vehicle is efficiently built within the
shortest possible period of time by
adhering to the following:

1. Jidoka means that a machine safely 1. When a vehicle order is received, a

stops when the normal processing is
completed. It also means that, should a
quality / equipment problem arise, the
machine detects the problem on its own
and stops, preventing defective products
production instruction must be
issued to the beginning of the
vehicle production line as soon as
possible.
2. The assembly line must be stocked
 from being produced. As a result, only
products satisfying quality standards
will be passed on to the following
processes on the production line.
2. Since a machine automatically stops
when processing is completed or when a
problem arises and is communicated via
the "andon" (problem display board),
operators can confidently continue
performing work at another machine, as
well as easily identify the problem's
cause to prevent its recurrence. This
means that each operator can be in
charge of many machines, resulting in
higher productivity, while continuous
improvements lead to greater processing
capacity.
with required number of all needed
parts so that any type of ordered
vehicle can be assembled.
3. The assembly line must replace the
parts used by retrieving the same
number of parts from the parts-
producing process (the preceding
process).
4. The preceding process must be
stocked with small numbers of all
types of parts and produce only the
numbers of parts that were
retrieved by an operator from the
next process.

The production system developed by Toyota Motor Corporation to provide best quality, lowest
cost, and shortest lead time through the elimination of waste.

TPS is comprised of two pillars, Just-in-Time and jidoka, and is often illustrated with the
"house" shown below. TPS is maintained and improved through iterations of standardized work
and kaizen, following PDCA, or the scientific method.
Development of TPS is credited to Taiichi Ohno, Toyota's chief of production in post-WWII
period.

Beginning in machining operation and spreading from there, Ohno led the development of TPS
at Toyota throughout the 1950's and 1960's and the dissemination to the supply base through the
1960's and 1970's.

Outside Japan, dissemination began in ernest with the creation of the Toyota-General Motors
joint venture - NUMMI - in California in 1984.

The concepts of Just-in-Time (JIT) and jidoka both have their roots in the pre-war period.
Sakichi Toyoda, founder of the Toyota group of companies, invented the concept of Jidoka in the
early 20th Century by incorporating a device on his automatic looms that would stop the loom
from operation whenever a thread broke.

This enabled great improvements in quality and freed people up to do more value creating work
than simply monitoring machines for quality. Eventually, this simple concept found its way into
every machine, every production line, and every Toyota operation.

Kiichiro Toyoda, son of Sakichi and founder of the Toyota automobile business, developed the
concept of Just-in-Time in the 1930's. He decreed that Toyota operations would contain no
excess inventory and that Toyota would strive to work in partnership with suppliers to level
production.

Under Ohno's leadership, JIT developed into a unique system of material and information flows
to control overproduction.
Widespread recognition of TPS as the model production system grew rapidly with the
publication in 1990 of "The machine that changed the world", the result of five years of research
led by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The MIT researchers found that TPA was so much more effective and efficient than traditional,
mass production that it represented a completely new paradigm and coined the term "Lean
Production" to indicate this radically different approach to production.

This article is taken from the book "Lean Lexicon" which is available from www.lean.org

© Copyright South West MAS 2010

Overall Themes
Elimination of Waste Waste ("muda" in People
Japanese) has many forms. Material, time, idle
Factories include people. To function well, people
equipment, and inventory are examples. Most
and technology must integrate in a system
companies waste 70%-90% of their available
exploiting the strengths and minimizing the
resources.
limitations of each component. Eric Trist called this
TPS emphasizes the identification of waste (often a Socio-Technical System.
problematic) followed by specific tools and
TPS emphasizes the participation of all
techniques to eliminate it.
employees. It uses teams integrated with work
Inventory cells for motivation, work management and
problem solving.
Inventory is one of the largest wastes. It devours
capital, becomes obsolescent and consumes Systems Thinking
space and manpower while just sitting. Inventory
The tools and techniques are highly
also hides other waste.
Almost every imperfection or problem creates
a need for inventory. Inventory is, thus, an effect
as well as a reflection of overall manufacturing
effectiveness.
interdependent. Each acts upon and improves the
others in a continuous "Virtuous Circle". Results
for the system are greater than the separate
effects.

This graphic shows how

these elements work
together with mutual
reinforcement. Each arrow
indicates a positive
influence or relationship.
For example, Fast Setups
enable small batches, and
small batches result in
smoother material flows.
Note the large number of
circular loops that drive the
system to higher and higher
levels of performance-like a
snowball rolling downhill.
(Thus the "snowball" icon)

Core Disciplines Implementation

Most waste is invisible and elimination is not
easy. Toyota developed a set of techniques that
identify and eliminate waste in their context.
Among them:
►Cellular Manufacturing
►Pull Scheduling (Kanban)
►Six Sigma/Total Quality Management
►Rapid Setup
►Team Development
For many firms the implementation of TPS is
fraught with as many hazards as opportunities.
"...the tools and artifacts were developed to deal
with very particular problems that were affecting
people in very particular circumstances. Working
under different circumstances presents
different problems, which requires different
tools and different thinking." So says Steven
Spear of Harvard who wrote "Decoding The DNA

Non-Manufacturing
The principles of Toyota Production System
apply to any work process. Many specific
techniques apply as well.
Non-manufacturing work differs only in that the
"workproduct" is often invisible. Non-
manufacturing activities offer even more
potential benefits than manufacturing.
of the Toyota Production System."
Summary
The Toyota Production System has been highly
successful for Toyota, Toyota's suppliers and
many other firms. It is often a good starting
point but rarely a substitute for an
individualized, well-thought-out Manufacturing
Strategy.