Toyota Way - As Described by Toyota Officially

 

Revisiting The Toyota Way 2001 and Comparing with Toyota Way 2020

by Bob Emiliani

May 22, 2021

https://bobemiliani.com/revisiting-the-toyota-way-2001/

Toyota Way 2020 / Toyota Code of Conduct

Company Information - Vision & Philosophy

https://global.toyota/en/company/vision-and-philosophy/toyotaway_code-of-conduct/

Guiding Principles at Toyota

Company Information Vision & Philosophy

https://global.toyota/en/company/vision-and-philosophy/guiding-principles/?padid=ag478_from_right_side

http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mrother/KATA_Files/The_Toyota_Way_2001.pdf  (To be downloaded)

Lessons from Toyota’s Long Drive

by Thomas A. Stewart and Anand P. Raman.

Two HBR editors interviewed Toyota’s president, Katsuaki Watanabe, and several top executives. 

From the HBR Magazine (July–August 2007)

https://hbr.org/2007/07/lessons-from-toyotas-long-drive

The Toyota Way has two main pillars: continuous improvement and respect for people. Respect is necessary to work with people. By “people” we mean employees, supply partners, and customers. “Customer first” is one of the company’s core tenets. We don’t mean just the end customer; on the assembly line the person at the next workstation is also your customer. That leads to teamwork. If you adopt that principle, you’ll also keep analyzing what you do in order to see if you’re doing things perfectly, so you’re not troubling your customer. That nurtures your ability to identify problems, and if you closely observe things, it will lead to kaizen: continuous improvement. The root of the Toyota Way is to be dissatisfied with the status quo; you have to ask constantly, “Why are we doing this?” People can apply these concepts throughout the world, not just in Japan. The question is how long it takes to train people to develop the Toyota mind-set.

The Toyota Way

Toyota has developed distinct business beliefs and methods whose origins lie in five principles laid down in 1935 by the original company’s founder, Sakichi Toyoda. However, the Toyota Way wasn’t formally documented until 2001, when the company recognized that the growing number of Toyota employees outside Japan needed to be rigorously trained in its use.

In the company’s own words, here are the two pillars of the Toyota Way.

I. Continuous Improvement

Challenge:

We form a long-term vision, meeting challenges with courage and creativity to realize our dreams.

Kaizen:

 “Continuous improvement” We improve our business operations continuously, always driving for innovation and evolution.

Genchi genbutsu:

 “Go and see for yourself” We go to the source to find the facts to make correct decisions, build consensus, and achieve our goals.

II. 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.

In addition to speeding up manufacturing lines, Toyota has launched a cost reduction program called Value Innovation. What is the difference between the program called Construction of Cost Competitiveness for the 21st Century, which you headed before you took over as CEO, and Value Innovation? 

Value Innovation program was started in April 2005. It goes beyond the item-based approach we used in CCC21. It tries to reduce the cost of the components we use by incorporating several parts into one integrated system and doing away with unnecessary components. Our goal is to shrink the number of components we use by half. When we try to reduce the cost of components, we start with their design and development. The process requires collaboration among our supply partners and several Toyota divisions, such as design, production engineering, and purchasing. We pursue cost reduction efforts based on relationships of trust. The improvements that result from Value Innovation will strengthen the competitiveness of both Toyota and its suppliers.

Toyota Production System - Pillars: Jidoka - JIT

Two Pillars of TPS - Jidoka - JIT

Toyota Production System

A production system based on the philosophy of achieving the complete elimination of all waste 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 was 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 swiftly as possible. The Toyota Production System (TPS) was established based on two concepts: "jidoka" (which can be loosely translated as "automation with a human touch"), as when a problem occurs, the equipment stops immediately, preventing defective products from being produced; and the "Just-in-Time" concept, in which each process produces only what is needed for the next process in a continuous flow.

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

https://global.toyota/en/company/vision-and-philosophy/production-system/

Industrial Engineering - Foundation of Toyota Production System

https://nraoiekc.blogspot.com/2014/02/industrial-engineering-foundation-of.html