The Toyota Company drew attention to itself in the 1980s. Back then, it was starting to become evident that Japanese-made cars could last longer than their American counterparts. By the beginning of the 1990s, Toyota, in particular, gained considerable acclaim compared to other Japanese car manufacturers: Toyota designed and produced their cars much faster, their cars were more reliable, and their costs were not high—and all this without cutting the wages of their workers. Toyota today remains one of the biggest companies to produce cars and other automotive products.
If we look at the history of the Toyota Company, we’ll find out that it was founded by an inventor and tinkerer, Sakichi Toyoda, who first got the idea to build spinning machines out of wood (he was skilled at carpentry, thanks to his father) in 1894. He created manual looms that were more effective, in terms of price and labor. Toyoda simply wanted to help out his relatives and friends, who still used old weaving machines, to ease their hard work. This is how the development of power-driven looms began. The main issue was to find a suitable source of energy to make the equipment work. Early on, he experimented with the use of a steam engine. After many efforts, he finally found a way to make them work, which was the final step to establishing his own firm, Toyoda Automatic Loom Works, in 1926, and as we know, the Toyota Company still holds the distinction as “a central player in the Toyota conglomerate” (Liker, 2004, p. 11).
In 1929, the Toyoda family sold the patent rights to the English company Platt Brothers, the most profitable maker of textile appliances at the time. In 1930, Sakichi Toyoda’s son, Kiichiro Toyoda, used the acquired money (100,000 English pounds) to build the Toyota Motor Corporation. As his life went on, Sakichi Toyoda kept engineering and inventing. His major inspiration was the 1859 book Self-Help by Samuel Smiles, which promoted the ideas of virtues of industry, frugality, and constant self-improvement.
One of the major components of Toyota’s success is the extraordinary quality of its production. Car users choose vehicles that are least likely to let them down on the road. Many American and European automobile manufacturers make cars that work well while they are still new, but start breaking down more often as the years go by. Unlike the aforementioned, customers can trust Toyota to provide them with a solid vehicle that will not require a car shop mechanic’s attention every few months. According to Consumer Reports, Toyota cars are always well received, and never generate any noticeably negative feedback, unlike cars from many American companies, for example.
The secret is in three tools that help in managing production. Liker classifies them as kaizen (just-in-time), jidoka (one-piece flow) and heijunka (leveling out the schedule) (2004, p. 4). Toyota also has its own approach to manufacturing, called the Toyota Production System (TPS). It is the company’s main tool, and one of the underlying components of lean production, a five-step process involving “defining customer value, defining the value stream, making it flow, pulling from the customer back, and striving for excellence” (Liker, 2004, p. 4). Usually, companies implementing the lean approach focus on economic production and one-piece flow, based on customer demand. Its primary target is to add value for the customer.
There are five steps that can help other companies adapt the lean approach. They perform the following functions:
- Customer value – “Determine just what customers value (specifically, what they are prepared to pay for) in the product or service.”
- The value stream – “Map out (with a process or value stream map), how value is delivered. Use this as a basis for eliminating any area that does not add value.”
- Making the value stream flow – “Ensure products and information seamlessly flow from start to finish of the value stream. Remove inventory or buffer zones with the use of structural enablers such as modular designs, cellular working, general purpose machines, multi-skilled workers.”
- Pulling from the customer back – “Only deliver what is actually demanded (pulled) by the customer, rather than serving from stocks or buffers.”
- Striving for excellence – “Continually seek to improve the processes and systems with the above principles, striving for perfection.” (Piercy & Rich, 2008, p. 56)
Toyota’s lean thinking consists of a deeper and more thorough cultural transformation than that observed in the majority of other car-manufacturing companies. The latter do not implement this approach sufficiently, relying more on small, ineffective changes rather than drastic ones. The Toyota Supplier Support Center was established to help US companies learn and utilize TPS in different industries, but so far these companies are still lagging behind. The lesson here is that constant change is vital for development. “Examination of the end-to-end change process highlights that the whole is greater than the combination of its parts – while benefits are attainable from many quality methodologies, bringing them together in a coordinated manner, in this instance, the lean approach, offers significant benefits for the company” (Piercy & Rich, 2008, p. 71-72).
The main problem is to keep up the quality of production without losing too much money in the process. As we can see, TPS is significantly helping in this regard. The creation of the manufacturing system the Toyota Company implements now is a result of continuous effort to find a suitable way to apply the one-piece flow principles and keep up the quality of production. The Toyota Company has learned many techniques from American companies like Ford, and so TPS has inherited a lot of these, as well. The pull system, based on American supermarkets, added a very important touch: In a supermarket, when an item runs out, it is quickly replenished by the staff to meet customer demand. Likewise, if you run a company, you do not start certain activities until there is a need for them. This way, the cycle of manufacturing is well-maintained and strictly controlled. It helps to avoid any waste of resources and overproduction.
It is the same with my own work activities: I do the amount of work that needs to be done for the time being, replenish, and start the whole procedure over. Precision, regular attendance, and a structured approach always get the job done and any situation at hand resolved. Evolving from a manufacturing technique that was first introduced as a tool of the Japanese automotive industry, lean production has become the most efficient and prominent managing mechanism that “can assist companies in achieving significant improvements in operational cost and the quality of customer service they deliver” (Piercy & Rich, 2009, p. 72).
Despite the fact that Liker (2004) does not consider TPS a toolkit, saying that “many books about lean manufacturing reinforce the misunderstanding that TPS is a collection of tools that lead to more efficient operations” (p. 23), its usage still can be interpreted this way. People grow professionally, their skills sharpen, and their work becomes more efficient. We can almost say that TPS is the Toyota Way. The practices that it includes, the positive influence it has on workers and manufacturing processes, and its flexibility – as its principles can be applied in many other areas by people of different qualifications – make TPS a perfect host for the lean production technique, and a universal production tool. I admire the way it promotes safety, reduces waste, emphasizes improvement activities, never approves inaction, and gives the people implementing it room to grow, constantly making them “question and redefine [their] purpose to attain progress” (Liker, 2004, p. 23).
Case 1
The Tools
In my work as a warehouse clerk, I should definitely apply a heijunka principle (leveling out the schedule) as I always level out parts of my activity during the day. We address each problem individually, and do not move on until it is solved. Co-operation with other workers keeps problems to a minimum and saves time. If there is nothing I can do on my own to solve the problem in time, I share some of my duties with the supervisor or other workers.
The Situation
A problem may arise when I do not keep up with the schedule and, say, spend more time on paperwork than I usually would (four hours). Once, there was a situation when the usual amount of paperwork took an extra hour and a half to complete, due to a mix-up in the number of delivered kegs.
How That Issue Was Dealt with at the Time
I had to sort the problem out, prolonging the usual time allotted for dealing with paperwork, and spent an extra hour and a half of my shift to prepare the order sheets after that. The next day, the schedule was the same as usual, but I felt a little sleepy.
How I Would Deal with the Situation Using This Tool
If I applied the tool of leveling out the schedule, productivity would be the same, but I would get enough sleep. I could even cut out some parts of my schedule, without prolonging my shift.
Case 2
The Lesson
The kaizen approach (just-in-time) presumes that everything is done and delivered in time, not too early and not too late. I can certainly use it in my work.
The Situation
As I said in my co-op report, warehouse clerks like myself need to be very careful about time management. Situations when the drivers run late on their deliveries because of the weather are not uncommon. It takes time, and we cannot put our work on hold: The paperwork needs to be processed, and we cannot afford delays.
How That Issue Was Handled at the Time
It is a problem that needs to be solved over the course of several days. In these situations, my co-workers and I would co-operate and share our work. This way, the work gets done faster, and there are no delays.
How I Would Deal with the Situation Using This Tool
It would be easier to sort the problems out as they arise, much like in the supermarket system described in the summary. It is not possible to avoid situations like this in my work. Even if we break the process down into several parts, and keep up with all of our responsibilities while we wait for the deliveries, it does not make the weather better or the trucks faster. If the truckers could have used the just-in-time approach, it would have been perfect.
References
Liker, J.K. (2004). The Toyota Way – 2004: Using Operational Excellence as a Strategic Weapon. New York, New York: McGraw-Hill.
Piercy, N., & Rich, N. (2009). Lean Transformation in the Pure Service Environment: the Case of the Call Service Centre. International Journal of Operations & Production Management, 29(1), 54-76.