The Toyota Production System (TPS) is an integrated
socio-technical system
Sociotechnical systems (STS) in organizational development is an approach to complex organizational work design that recognizes the interaction between people and technology in workplaces. The term also refer to coherent systems of human relatio ...
, developed by
Toyota
is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...
, that comprises its management philosophy and practices. The TPS is a
management system
A management system is a set of policies, processes and procedures used by an organization to ensure that it can fulfill the tasks required to achieve its objectives. These objectives cover many aspects of the organization's operations (including ...
that organizes manufacturing and logistics for the automobile manufacturer, including interaction with suppliers and customers. The system is a major precursor of the more generic "
lean manufacturing
Lean manufacturing is a production method aimed primarily at reducing times within the production system as well as response times from suppliers and to customers. It is closely related to another concept called just-in-time manufacturing ( ...
".
Taiichi Ohno
was a Japanese industrial engineer and businessman. He is considered to be the father of the Toyota Production System, which inspired Lean Manufacturing in the U.S. He devised the seven wastes (or muda in Japanese) as part of this system. He wro ...
and
Eiji Toyoda
was a Japanese industrialist. He was largely responsible for bringing Toyota Motor Corporation to profitability and worldwide prominence during his tenure as president and later, as chairman. He was succeeded as the president of Toyota by Shoi ...
, Japanese industrial engineers, developed the system between 1948 and 1975.
Originally called "
just-in-time production", it builds on the approach created by the founder of Toyota,
Sakichi Toyoda
was a Japanese inventor and industrialist. He was born in Kosai, Shizuoka. The son of a farmer and sought-after carpenter, he started the Toyoda family companies. His son, Kiichiro Toyoda, would later establish Japan's largest automaker, Toyo ...
, his son
Kiichiro Toyoda
was a Japanese businessman and the son of Toyoda Loom Works founder Sakichi Toyoda. His decision to change Toyoda's focus from automatic loom manufacture into automobile manufacturing created what would become Toyota Motor Corporation.
Toyod ...
, and the engineer
Taiichi Ohno
was a Japanese industrial engineer and businessman. He is considered to be the father of the Toyota Production System, which inspired Lean Manufacturing in the U.S. He devised the seven wastes (or muda in Japanese) as part of this system. He wro ...
. The principles underlying the TPS are embodied in
The Toyota Way
The Toyota Way is a set of principles defining the organizational culture of Toyota Motor Corporation. The company formalized the Toyota Way in 2001, after decades of academic research into the Toyota Production System and its implications for lean ...
.
Goals
The main objectives of the TPS are to design out overburden (
muri) and inconsistency (
mura), and to eliminate waste (
muda
Muda or MUDA or MuDA may refer to:
People
* Sultan Muda (1579–1579), nominal Sultan of Aceh
* Tycho Muda (born 1988), Dutch rower
* Vincent Muda (born 1988), Dutch rower
Places
* Muda, Estonia, a village
* Mudá, Spain
*Muda River, Malaysi ...
). The most significant effects on process value delivery are achieved by designing a process capable of delivering the required results smoothly; by designing out "mura" (inconsistency). It is also crucial to ensure that the process is as flexible as necessary without stress or "muri" (overburden) since this generates "muda" (waste). Finally the tactical improvements of waste reduction or the elimination of muda are very valuable. There are eight kinds of muda that are addressed in the TPS:
# Waste of overproduction (largest waste)
# Waste of time on hand (waiting)
# Waste of transportation
# Waste of processing itself
# Waste of excess inventory
# Waste of movement
# Waste of making defective products
# Waste of underutilized workers
The elimination of waste has come to dominate the thinking of many when they look at the effects of the TPS because it is the most familiar of the three to implement. In the TPS many initiatives are triggered by reduction of inconsistency and over-run, both of which drive out waste without specific focus on its reduction.
Concept
Toyota Motor Corporation published an official description of TPS for the first time in 1992; this booklet was revised in 1998. In the foreword it was said: "The TPS is a framework for conserving resources by eliminating waste. People who participate in the system learn to identify expenditures of material, effort and time that do not generate value for customers and furthermore we have avoided a 'how-to' approach. The booklet is not a manual. Rather it is an overview of the concepts, that underlie our production system. It is a reminder that lasting gains in productivity and quality are possible whenever and wherever management and employees are united in a commitment to positive change". TPS is grounded on two main conceptual pillars:
# ''
Just-in-time'' – meaning "Making only what is needed, only when it is needed, and only in the amount that is needed"
# ''
Jidoka
Autonomation describes a feature of machine design to effect the principle of (じどうか jidouka), used in the Toyota Production System (TPS) and lean manufacturing. It may be described as "intelligent automation" or "automation with a human ...
'' – (Autonomation) meaning "Automation with a human touch"
Toyota has developed various tools to transfer these concepts into practice and apply them to specific requirements and conditions in the company and business.
Origins
Toyota has long been recognized as a leader in the automotive manufacturing and production industry.
Industrial engineering
Industrial engineering is an engineering profession that is concerned with the optimization of complex process (engineering), processes, systems, or organizations by developing, improving and implementing integrated systems of people, money, kno ...
is the wider science behind TPS.
Toyota received their inspiration for the system, not from the American automotive industry (at that time the world's largest by far), but from visiting a supermarket. The idea of just-in-time production was originated by
Kiichiro Toyoda
was a Japanese businessman and the son of Toyoda Loom Works founder Sakichi Toyoda. His decision to change Toyoda's focus from automatic loom manufacture into automobile manufacturing created what would become Toyota Motor Corporation.
Toyod ...
, founder of Toyota.
The question was how to implement the idea. In reading descriptions of American supermarkets, Ohno saw the supermarket as the model for what he was trying to accomplish in the factory. A customer in a supermarket takes the desired amount of goods off the shelf and purchases them. The store restocks the shelf with enough new product to fill up the shelf space. Similarly, a work-center that needed parts would go to a "store shelf" (the inventory storage point) for the particular part and "buy" (withdraw) the quantity it needed, and the "shelf" would be "restocked" by the work-center that produced the part, making only enough to replace the inventory that had been withdrawn.
While low inventory levels are a key outcome of the System, an important element of the philosophy behind its system is to work intelligently and eliminate waste so that only minimal inventory is needed.
Many Western businesses, having observed Toyota's factories, set out to attack high inventory levels directly without understanding what made these reductions possible. The act of imitating without understanding the underlying concept or motivation may have led to the failure of those projects.
Principles
The underlying principles, called the Toyota Way, have been outlined by Toyota as follows:
Continuous improvement
*Challenge (We form a long-term vision, meeting challenges with courage and creativity to realize our dreams.)
*
Kaizen
is concept referring to business activities that continuously improve all functions and involve all employees from the CEO to the assembly line workers. ''Kaizen'' also applies to processes, such as purchasing and logistics, that cross organ ...
(We improve our business operations continuously, always driving for innovation and evolution.)
*
Genchi Genbutsu
literally translates "real location, real thing”(meaning "the situation onsite") and it is a key principle of the Toyota Production System. The principle is sometimes referred to as "go and see." It suggests that in order to truly understand a ...
(Go to the source to find the facts to make correct decisions.)
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.)
External observers have summarized the principles of the Toyota Way as:
[Liker, J. 2004. ''The Toyota Way: 14 Management Principles from the World's Greatest Manufacturer.'']
The right process will produce the right results
#Create continuous process flow to bring problems to the surface.
#Use the
"pull" system to avoid overproduction.
#Level out the workload (
heijunka
Production leveling, also known as production smoothing or – by its Japanese original term – , is a technique for reducing the mura (unevenness) which in turn reduces muda (waste). It was vital to the development of production efficiency in ...
). (Work like the tortoise, not the hare.)
#Build a culture of stopping to fix problems, to get quality right from the start. (
Jidoka
Autonomation describes a feature of machine design to effect the principle of (じどうか jidouka), used in the Toyota Production System (TPS) and lean manufacturing. It may be described as "intelligent automation" or "automation with a human ...
)
#Standardized tasks are the foundation for continuous improvement and employee empowerment.
#Use visual control so no problems are hidden.
#Use only reliable, thoroughly tested technology that serves your people and processes.
Add value to the organization by developing your people and partners
#Grow leaders who thoroughly understand the work, live the philosophy, and teach it to others.
#Develop exceptional people and teams who follow your company's philosophy.
#Respect your extended network of partners and suppliers by challenging them and helping them improve.
Continuously solving root problems drives organizational learning
#Go and see for yourself to thoroughly understand the situation (
Genchi Genbutsu
literally translates "real location, real thing”(meaning "the situation onsite") and it is a key principle of the Toyota Production System. The principle is sometimes referred to as "go and see." It suggests that in order to truly understand a ...
, 現地現物);
#Make decisions slowly by consensus, thoroughly considering all options (
Nemawashi, 根回し); implement decisions rapidly;
#Become a learning organization through relentless
reflection Reflection or reflexion may refer to:
Science and technology
* Reflection (physics), a common wave phenomenon
** Specular reflection, reflection from a smooth surface
*** Mirror image, a reflection in a mirror or in water
** Signal reflection, in ...
(
Hansei
is a central idea in Japanese culture, meaning to acknowledge one's own mistake and to pledge improvement. This is similar to the German proverb ''Selbsterkenntnis ist der erste Schritt zur Besserung,'' where the closest translation to English wo ...
, 反省) and continuous improvement and never stop (
Kaizen
is concept referring to business activities that continuously improve all functions and involve all employees from the CEO to the assembly line workers. ''Kaizen'' also applies to processes, such as purchasing and logistics, that cross organ ...
, 改善).
What this means is that it is a system for thorough waste elimination. Here, waste refers to anything which does not advance the process, everything that does not increase added value. Many people settle for eliminating the waste that everyone recognizes as waste. But much remains that simply has not yet been recognized as waste or that people are willing to tolerate.
People had resigned themselves to certain problems, had become hostage to routine and abandoned the practice of problem-solving. This going back to basics, exposing the real significance of problems and then making fundamental improvements, can be witnessed throughout the Toyota Production System.
The principles of the Toyota Production System have been compared to production methods in the industrialization of construction.
Sharing
Toyota originally began sharing TPS with its parts suppliers in the 1990s. Because of interest in the program from other organizations, Toyota began offering instruction in the methodology to others. Toyota has even "donated" its system to charities, providing its engineering staff and techniques to non-profits in an effort to increase their efficiency and thus ability to serve people. For example, Toyota assisted the
Food Bank For New York City
Food Bank For New York City is a non-profit social services organization and the major hunger-relief organization working against hunger in the five boroughs. Its aim is to organize food, information and support for needy citizens of New York City ...
to significantly decrease waiting times at soup kitchens, packing times at a food distribution center, and waiting times in a food pantry.
Toyota announced on June 29, 2011 the launch of a national program to donate its Toyota Production System expertise towards nonprofit organizations with goal of improving their operations, extending their reach, and increasing their impact.
By September, less than three months later,
SBP, a disaster relief organization based out of New Orleans, reported that their home rebuilds had been reduced from 12 to 18 weeks, to 6 weeks.
Additionally, employing Toyota methods (like ''
kaizen
is concept referring to business activities that continuously improve all functions and involve all employees from the CEO to the assembly line workers. ''Kaizen'' also applies to processes, such as purchasing and logistics, that cross organ ...
''
) had reduced construction errors by 50 percent.
The company included SBP among its first 20 community organizations, along with AmeriCorps.
[
]
''Workplace Management''
Taiichi Ohno's ''Workplace Management'' (2007) outlines in 38 chapters how to implement the TPS. Some important concepts are:
*Chapter 1 ''Wise Mend Their Ways'' - See the Analects of Confucius
The ''Analects'' (; ; Old Chinese: '' ŋ(r)aʔ''; meaning "Selected Sayings"), also known as the ''Analects of Confucius'', the ''Sayings of Confucius'', or the ''Lun Yu'', is an ancient Chinese book composed of a large collection of sayings a ...
for further information.
*Chapter 4 ''Confirm Failures With Your Own Eyes''
*Chapter 11 ''Wasted Motion Is Not Work''
*Chapter 15 ''Just In Time'' - Phrase invented by Kiichiro Toyoda - the first president of Toyota. There is conflict on what the actual English translation of what "just in time" really means. Taiichi Ohno quoted from the book says " 'Just In Time' should be interpreted to mean that it is a problem when parts are delivered too early".[Ohno, Taiichi (2007), ''Workplace Management''. Translated by Jon Miller, Gemba Press, , ]
*Chapter 23 ''How To Produce At A Lower Cost'' - "One of the main fundamentals of the Toyota System is to make 'what you need, in the amount you need, by the time you need it', but to tell the truth there is another part to this and that is 'at lower cost'. But that part is not written down." World economies, events, and each individual job also play a part in production specifics.
Commonly used terminology
* Andon (行灯) (English: A large lighted board used to alert floor supervisors to a problem at a specific station. Literally: Signboard)
* Chaku-Chaku (着々 or 着着) (English: Load-Load)
* Gemba
is a Japanese term meaning "the actual place". Japanese detectives call the crime scene ''genba,'' and Japanese TV reporters may refer to themselves as reporting from ''genba.'' In business, ''genba'' refers to the place where value is create ...
(現場) (English: The actual place, the place where the real work is done; On site)
* Genchi Genbutsu
literally translates "real location, real thing”(meaning "the situation onsite") and it is a key principle of the Toyota Production System. The principle is sometimes referred to as "go and see." It suggests that in order to truly understand a ...
(現地現物) (English: Go and see for yourself)
* Hansei
is a central idea in Japanese culture, meaning to acknowledge one's own mistake and to pledge improvement. This is similar to the German proverb ''Selbsterkenntnis ist der erste Schritt zur Besserung,'' where the closest translation to English wo ...
(反省) (English: Self-reflection)
* Heijunka
Production leveling, also known as production smoothing or – by its Japanese original term – , is a technique for reducing the mura (unevenness) which in turn reduces muda (waste). It was vital to the development of production efficiency in ...
(平準化) (English: Production Smoothing)
* Jidoka
Autonomation describes a feature of machine design to effect the principle of (じどうか jidouka), used in the Toyota Production System (TPS) and lean manufacturing. It may be described as "intelligent automation" or "automation with a human ...
(自働化) (English: Autonomation - automation with human intelligence)
* Just-in-Time (ジャストインタイム) (JIT)
* Kaizen
is concept referring to business activities that continuously improve all functions and involve all employees from the CEO to the assembly line workers. ''Kaizen'' also applies to processes, such as purchasing and logistics, that cross organ ...
(改善) (English: Continuous Improvement)
* Kanban
Kanban (Japanese: カンバン and Chinese: 看板, meaning signboard or billboard) is a scheduling system for lean manufacturing (also called just-in-time manufacturing, abbreviated JIT). Taiichi Ohno, an industrial engineer at Toyota, develope ...
(看板, also かんばん) (English: Sign, Index Card)
* Manufacturing supermarket A manufacturing supermarket (or market location) is, for a factory process, what a retail supermarket is for the customer. The customers draw products from the 'shelves' as needed and this can be detected by the supplier who then initiates a repleni ...
where all components are available to be withdrawn by a process
* Muda
Muda or MUDA or MuDA may refer to:
People
* Sultan Muda (1579–1579), nominal Sultan of Aceh
* Tycho Muda (born 1988), Dutch rower
* Vincent Muda (born 1988), Dutch rower
Places
* Muda, Estonia, a village
* Mudá, Spain
*Muda River, Malaysi ...
(無駄, also ムダ) (English: Waste)
* Mura (斑 or ムラ) (English: Unevenness)
* Muri (無理) (English: Overburden)
* Nemawashi (根回し) (English: Laying the groundwork, building consensus, literally: Going around the roots)
* Obeya (大部屋) (English: Manager's meeting. Literally: Large room, war room, council room)
* Poka-yoke
is a Japanese term that means "mistake-proofing" or "inadvertent error prevention". A poka-yoke is any mechanism in a process that helps an equipment operator avoid (''yokeru'') mistakes (''poka'') and defects by preventing, correcting, or drawing ...
(ポカヨケ) (English: fail-safing, bulletproofing - to avoid (''yokeru'') inadvertent errors (''poka'')
* Seibi (English: To Prepare)
* Seiri (整理) (English: Sort, removing whatever isn't necessary.)
* Seiton (整頓) (English: Organize)
* Seiso
5S is a workplace organization method that uses a list of five Japanese language, Japanese words: , , , , and . These have been translated as "sort", "set in order", "shine", "standardize", and "sustain". The list describes how to organize a wor ...
(清掃) (English: Clean and inspect)
* Seiketsu (清潔) (English: Standardize)
* Shitsuke (躾) (English: Sustain)
See also
*Lean construction Lean construction is a combination of operational research and practical development in design and construction with an adoption of lean manufacturing principles and practices to the end-to-end design and construction process. Unlike manufacturing ...
*The Vanguard Method
*W. Edwards Deming
William Edwards Deming (October 14, 1900 – December 20, 1993) was an American engineer, statistician, professor, author, lecturer, and management consultant. Educated initially as an electrical engineer and later specializing in mathematical ...
*Training Within Industry
The Training Within Industry (TWI) service was created by the United States Department of War, running from 1940 to 1945 within the War Manpower Commission. The purpose was to provide consulting services to war-related industries whose personnel w ...
*Production flow analysis In operations management and industrial engineering
Industrial engineering is an engineering profession that is concerned with the optimization of complex processes, systems, or organizations by developing, improving and implementing integrate ...
References
Bibliography
* Emiliani, B., with Stec, D., Grasso, L. and Stodder, J. (2007), ''Better Thinking, Better Results: Case Study and Analysis of an Enterprise-Wide Lean Transformation,'' second edition, The CLBM, LLC Kensington, Conn.,
* Liker, Jeffrey (2003), '' The Toyota Way: 14 Management Principles from the World's Greatest Manufacturer'', First edition, McGraw-Hill, .
* Monden, Yasuhiro (1998), ''Toyota Production System, An Integrated Approach to Just-In-Time'', Third edition, Norcross, GA: Engineering & Management Press, .
*
*
*
*
* Spear, Steven, and Bowen, H. Kent (September 1999), "Decoding the DNA of the Toyota Production System," ''Harvard Business Review''
* Womack, James P. and Jones, Daniel T. (2003), ''Lean Thinking: Banish Waste and Create Wealth in Your Corporation, Revised and Updated'', HarperBusiness, .
* Womack, James P., Jones, Daniel T., and Roos, Daniel (1991), ''The Machine That Changed the World: The Story of Lean Production'', HarperBusiness, .
External links
Toyota Production System
History of the TPS at the Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky Site
Toyota Production System Terms
Article: Lean Primer: Introduction
{{Authority control
Lean manufacturing
Toyota