Toyota Production System

Chapter 1

Japan after WW II

Kiichiro Toyoda
Founder, Toyota Motor Company
Plant opened in 1936
Earlier managed Toyoda Spinning
and Weaving Company

Courtesy Toyota Motor Company

Toyota after WW II
Shortage of capital for equipment/facilities
Shortage of markets to serve
Shortage of workers and other resources

Eiji Toyoda
Kiichiros nephew.
Visited Ford River Rouge plant
in early 1950s.

Courtesy Toyota Motor Company

Ford River Rouge plant near Detroit

Constraints for Toyota and Implications

Shortage of capital for equipment/facilities
Cannot afford specialized equipment
Must be able to use equipment in a variety of ways

Shortage of markets to serve

Must be able to produce a variety of products in the same
facility

Shortage of workers and other resources

Must employ workers able to do a variety of different tasks
Processes cannot be wasteful

Taiicho Ohno
Principle founder, Toyota Production System

Courtesy Toyota Motor Company

Constraints for Toyota: Emergence of TPS

Shortage of capital for equipment/facilities
Cannot afford specialized equipment
Must be able to use in a variety of ways
Quick changeover procedures; flexible layout
Shortage of markets to serve
Must be able to produce a variety of products in the same
facility
Small batch production; mixed model production
Shortage of workers
Workers must be able to do a variety of tasks
Employee involvement
Processes cannot be wasteful
Pull production, standard operations, TPM
Because of these shortages, emphasis on
Elimination of waste, continuous improvement

Features of TPS/Lean
Operations/Organizations
Pull-type production system
(eliminate overproduction, reduce inventory and defects)
Small batch production
(eliminate overproduction, increase agility, reduce waiting and
defects)
Small setup times
(reduce waiting; increase agility)
Flexible layout: focused factories, workcells, and U-lines
(increase agility; reduce waiting, defects, transportation, processing,
motion)
Standard work/operations
(reduce overproduction, waiting, process, motion, defects)
Workplace organization: visual management
(reduce inventory, defects, waiting, motion)
Total maintenance (TPM)
(reduce waiting, defects, inventory)

Features of TPS/Lean
Operations/Organizations
Employee empowerment/cross-functional teams (reduce waste
in everything)
Supplier partnerships
(reduce wastes of overproduction inventory, defects, waiting,
processing; better serve final customer)
Integrated product-development process
(design product and production process together; reduce wastes
associated with product design; improve overall design process:
better, faster, cheaper)

Just-in-Time/Lean Production
Diffusion Worldwide