Toyota Production System

Toyota Motor Company realized that the conventional American mass production system that had worked for so long simply did not work anymore. Thus, their principle objective became to produce many models in small quantities.

During periods of high growth, the usual business cycle becomes 2 or 3 years of good days with only 6 months of recession or less. But at times of prosperity, the good days become more than 3 years. In slow rate eras, mass production must be declined as soon as possible.

Just in Time (JIT) means the right raw materials and parts needed in assembly reach the assembly line at the time they are needed and only in the amount needed, and this will lead to a state of zero inventories.

Automation changes the meaning of management. An operator is not needed except when the machine stops. As a result, one worker can operate several machines at the same time. This results in reducing the number of operators and increasing production efficiency.

The purpose of repeating why for 5 times is to find the root cause of any problem which is often hidden behind the symptoms and then to correct it in order to prevent the reoccurrence of the same problem another time.

Receiving information as quickly as possible and at the right time leads to delivery of raw materials at the required time with less waste.

To cope with internal changes of organizational culture and workflow, the production system must be able to respond to schedule changes. Not only to cope with dramatic scheduling changes, but also with any slight increase or decrease in supplies and demands.

The most important aspect is not the system itself but the creativity of human beings who select and interpret the information. The Toyota production system is still being perfected. Improvements are made daily thanks to the vast number of suggestions received from its employees. There is always much to do in the production field.