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Lean kaizen and kaikaku (incremental and breakthrough improvements, respectively) have helped Toyota become a global giant, stay consistently profitable and increase market share year after year.
The Toyota Production System (TPS) played a big role, evolving by rigorously using practical problem solving and continuous improvement techniques. Toyota learned early on that increasing productivity as the only goal does not work. Just-in-time (JIT) manufacturing resulted directly in less overproduction, inventory and the other wastes of lean.
JIT manufacturing helped Toyota transform from a traditional "push" company-based on forecasts and multiple scheduling-into a customer demand based "pull" system. Lean efforts created and further refined useful tools such as the andon (visual display boards or lights), kanban (information signals to trigger production, replenishment and conveyance), poka yoke (error proofing) and heijunka (a method of leveling production batch size and variety).
Toyota also focused a laser beam on the human side of lean in changing the internal culture to a team based environment in which people-as if by second nature-followed proven standards. Each lean tool and technique became an integral part of daily work life. Workers were encouraged to be thinkers and problem solvers instead of mere rote doers.
The lean kaizen culture requires employees to use their heads instead of just their hands. This emphasis on creativity and idea generation eventually led the company to drastically reduce various wastes {muda) and total lead times.
Toyota's Emphasis on Quality
Simply reducing the quantity or batch size to decrease the wastes of excess inventory and overproduction - without paying attention to defects-does not necessarily result in the ability to meet customer requirements in quality, cost or delivery. If a quality problem is detected, the line is immediately stopped and human intervention corrects the situation.
Producing what was needed-when it was needed-mandated building quality into the process. Through continuous lean kaizens, the concepts of jidoka (autonomation or human based automation) and quality at the source were incorporated. This required using poka yoke techniques wherever possible, and also empowering workers to be responsible for the quality of their own work.
At Toyota, line workers were trained as problem solvers and inspectors of their output where needed. They were provided the necessary tools and standards. Process controls, such as the use of statistical...