better operations

My mother just got her new car. After driving a problematic Renault for many years, she decided to go for a Toyota Yaris. That’s an excellent choice for her needs. Despite Toyota’s recent recalls, it continues to deliver the best quality at the best price. The choice of Toyota also gives me a good opportunity to eventually write about an essential core of my research: The Toyota Production System—the mother of all XPSs.

Toyota Production System (= real Lean)

In his book “Toyota Production System” published for the first time in Japan in 1978, Taiici Ohno (1988) described the step-by-step development of Toyota’s super-efficient production concept. The TPS was developed incrementally over the years 1945-1975. TPS focuses on producing the highest quality, at the lowest cost, with the shortest lead times through the elimination of waste in all operations. It takes the ideas of mass production by Fredrick Taylor and Henry Ford a giant step forward by adding an invariable customer perspective.

The TPS is a holistic system of production principles, often symbolized by the “TPS house” shown below. It all starts with robust processes (“Stability”), that are kept stable by leveling of production plans (“Heijunka”), kept constant by “Standardized work”, and continuously improved (“Kaizen”). The principle of “Just-In-Time” means that each process produces exactly what is needed, with the minimum amount of resources, just when the customer (the next process) needs it. The same importance is given to the principle of “Jidoka”, which explains how people should work together with technology to make the best of both.

Then, in 1990, the famous book “The Machine that Changed the World” by Womack, Jones, and Roos described the superiority of TPS over Western automobile production concepts and introduced the world to the term “Lean production.” Lean is basically just a new name for TPS—better fitted for the American and European audiences. What a success it has become! Today, few scholars will dispute the potential cost savings of successfully implementing Lean in many types of industries. Lean manufacturing has become the dominant manufacturing paradigm since its introduction,n and its dissemination continues to grow also outside the manufacturing industry.

Today, there is an ongoing trend for companies to develop their own company-specific production systems (XPSs). Inspired by the TPS, they believe that developing a tailored system for their companies is much better than relying on consultants selling scattered lean projects (I explained why in an earlier post). Half a century after its development, the TPS has inspired thousands of such XPSs. TPS is the perfect production system, but only for Toyota…

The recent fall and rise of Toyota

However, it is never a success without a mob: Toyota skeptics have been fed by huge recalls from Toyota in recent years. The first occurred in November 2009, when many new Toyota cars reported uncontrolled acceleration because of floor mats sliding under the gas pedal. Then, in January 2010, another acceleration problem was identified. During the next months, close to 10 million cars were recalled all over the world (!). And it did not end there; Toyota has had several other recalls in the last years. In October 2012, for example, 7.5 cars were recalled due to a possible defect in the power window switch (including Yaris).

Many have concluded that this marks the end of Toyota as the world’s manufacturing champion. They’re wrong. There are two characteristics of the recalls: It is the same error on all models and its made by suppliers. The latter fact does, of course, not exempt Toyota from the responsibility—and that’s why there are recalls. Toyota will for sure bounce back—because of, and not despite, the Toyota Production System.

My mother’s conclusion

The Toyota Yaris does the job. It was the definitive best offer in the small car market. She never wanted the feeling of a Ferrari, she wanted a cost efficient and reliable car that would not turn into a French nightmare like the Renault Mégane she had before. The price was right, and the extras exceeded the expectations (and probably the needs). She knows nothing about the Toyota Production System, but she enjoys the effect of it everyday—just like the millions of other Toyota drivers out there.

Further reading

• Womack et al. (1990) The Machine That Changed the World: The Story of Lean Production, Rawson Associates, New York
• Ohno, T., 1988. Toyota production system: beyond large-scale production. Productivity Press, New York
• Lean.org The Toyota Production System