Method Study - Adaptation by Toyota Production System

Denis R. Towill, (2010) "Industrial engineering the Toyota Production System", Journal of Management History, Vol. 16 Issue: 3, pp.327-345, https://doi.org/10.1108/17511341011051234

Above paper by Towill describes how method study was adapted and used by Toyota executives in developing the globally accaimed World Class Manufacturing Model, Toyota Production System.


 The paper confirms there is a continuing role for well established method study techniques to be adapted to face new challenges, and output as “contemporary” industrial engineering.

 The paper supports the view that effective and efficient product delivery is best driven via sound industrial engineering expertise operating within an active learning organisation.

 Ohno remarked that Knowledge (and above all practice) in the use of the method study based waste elimination techniques should be a pre‐requisite skill for employees at all levels. This is a sometimes “hidden” secret of TPS, but dates back to Lillian Gilbreth in 1914.


 TPS has evolved over an extended period of time to achieve continuous material flow. There has been no single procedure or technical breakthrough. Much of the detail would have been familiar to the Gilbreths. However the scenario of the current TPS enterprise would be new to the Gilbreths. Similarly the various ways in which the systems approach has been successfully implemented throughout the organisation would appear strange.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the manifold linkages connecting the Toyota Production System (TPS) back to the Gilbreths and others, and to determine how these have contributed to enterprise‐wide best practice.

Description of the Japanese Management Association (JMA) personal handshake route originated by Frank Gilbreth in which experiences were handed down in lecture note format by successive generations of industrial engineers is given in the paper. The internationally recognised “softer” approach to teaching and coaching due to Lillian Gilbreth is then discussed. Finally the Gilbreth MOI2 Process Chart is examined.


https://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/17511341011051234



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.

Source:

http://www.toyota-global.com/company/vision_philosophy/toyota_production_system/
Accessed on 5 May 2018

Toyota Motor Corporation's vehicle production 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.

Jidoka

Human Touch of the Machine

— 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.

Jidoka means that a machine safely 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 from being produced. As a result, only products satisfying quality standards will be passed on to the following processes on the production line.

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.

Just-in-Time

Make only when needed

— 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:

When a vehicle order is received, a production instruction must be issued to the beginning of the vehicle production line as soon as possible.

The assembly line must be stocked with required number of all needed parts so that any type of ordered vehicle can be assembled.

The assembly line must replace the parts used by retrieving the same number of parts from the parts-producing process (the preceding process).

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.