Toyota Production System

  • Kindle highlights of TPS, Taiichi Ohno
    • Automation proves…. speed and quality
    • “All we are doing is looking at the time line,” he said, “from the moment the customer gives us an order to the point when we collect the cash. And we are reducing that time line by removing the non-value-added wastes.”
    • While most companies focused on stimulating sales, Mr. Ohno believed just-in-time was a manufacturing advantage for Toyota. And for many years, he would not allow anything to be recorded about it. He claimed it was because improvement is never-ending - and by writing it down, the process would become crystallized.
    • making a_factory operate for the company just like the human body operates for an individual.
    • The basis of the Toyota production system is the absolute elimination of waste. The two pillars needed to support the system are: • just-in-time • autonomation, or automation with a human touch.
    • Looking at this another way, abnormalities will never disappear if a worker always attends to a machine and stands in for it when an abnormality does occur. An old Japanese saying mentions hiding an offensively smelly object by covering it up. If materials or machines are repaired without the managing supervisor’s being made aware of it, improvement will never be achieved and costs will never be reduced. Stopping the machine when there is trouble forces awareness on everyone. When the problem is clearly understood, improvement is possible. Expanding this thought, we establish a rule that even in a manually operated production line, the workers themselves should push the stop button to halt production if any abnormality appears.
    • What is the relationship between just-in-time and automation with a human touch, the two pillars of the Toyota production system? Using the analogy of a baseball team, autonomation corresponds to the skill and talent of individual players while just-in-time is the teamwork involved in reaching an agreedupon objective.
    • There is no waste in business more terrible than overproduction.
    • We could say this is the response of a farming society. Our ancestors grew rice for subsistence and stored it in preparation for times of natural disaster.
    • In a period of slow growth, holding a large inventory causes the waste of overproduction. It also leads to an inventory of defectives, which is a serious business loss.
    • Present capacity = work + waste
    • The preliminary step toward application of the Toyota production system is to identify wastes completely: • Waste of overproduction • Waste of time on hand (waiting) • Waste in transportation • Waste of processing itself • Waste of stock on hand (inventory) • Waste of movement • Waste of making defective products
    • We have eliminated waste by examining available resources, rearranging machines, improving machining processes, installing autonomous systems, improving tools, analyzing transportation methods, and optimizing the amount of materials at hand for machining. High production efficiency has also been maintained by preventing the recurrence of defective products, operational mistakes, and accidents, and by incorporating workers’ ideas. All of this is possible because of the inconspicuous standard work sheet.
    • In Japan, it is said that “time is the shadow of motion.” In most cases, delay is generated by differences in operator motion and sequence. The job of the field supervisor, section chief, or group foreman is to train workers. I have always said that it should take only three days to train new workers in proper work procedures. When instruction in the sequence and key motions is clear, workers quickly learn to avoid redoing a job or producing defective parts.
    • three elements of the standard work procedure as: 1. Cycle time 2. Work sequence 3. Standard inventory
    • It is easy to understand theory with the mind; the problem is to remember it with the body. The goal is to know and do instinctively.
    • we made a connection between supermarkets and the just-in-time system. A supermarket is where a customer can get (1) what is needed, (2) at the time needed, (3) in the amount needed.
    • From the supermarket we got the idea of viewing the earlier process in a production line as a kind of store. The later process (customer) goes to the earlier process (supermarket) to acquire the required parts (commodities) at the time and in the quantity needed. The earlier process immediately produces the quantity just taken (restocking the shelves). We hoped that this would help us approach our just-in-time goal and, in 1953, we actually applied the system in our machine shop at the main plant.
    • This piece of paper carries information that can be divided into three categories: (1) pickup information, (2) transfer information, and (3) production information. The kanban carries the information vertically and laterally within Toyota itself and between Toyota and the cooperating firms.
    • With a better tool, we can get wonderful results. But if we use it incorrectly, the tool can make things worse.
    • Kanban is a way to achieve just-in-time; its purpose is Justin-time. Kanban, in essence, becomes the autonomic nerve of the production line.
    • The first rule of kanban is that the later process goes to the earlier process to pick up products.
    • The first rule of kanban is that the later process goes to the earlier process to pick up products. This rule was derived from need and from looking at things upside-down, or from the opposite standpoint.
    • Trying to make only the items withdrawn also means changing the setup more often unless the production line is dedicated to one item.
    • Trying to make only the items withdrawn also means changing the setup more often unless the production line is dedicated to one item. Usually, people consider it an advantage for the earlier process to make a large quantity of one item. But while producing item A in quantity, the process may not meet the need for item B. Consequently, shortening setup time and reducing lot sizes becomes necessary.
    • But the Toyota production system is the production method and the kanban system is the way it is managed.
    • Unless one completely grasps this method of doing work so that things will flow, it is impossible to go right into the kanban system when the time comes.
    • Toyota, wastes, mgmt, laziness, Deming funnel

Notes mentioning this note

Andon cords push decisions down the chain
The Andon cord was a rope that hung in Toyota ([[Toyota Production System]]) factories. When pulled, it would stop all...
Build and sell
[[Drucker]] said that [[Business]] has only two basic functions: Innovation and Marketing ([[Marketing is design]]).
Level production
[[Toyota Production System]] tries to level the work at each station so that it’s as even as possible, not swinging...
Screen sharing is the modern Gemba
Toyota ([[Toyota Production System]]) culture has a “go-see” component. While it is easy to default to just call to get...
Andon cords push decisions down the chain
The Andon cord was a rope that hung in Toyota ([[Toyota Production System]]) factories. When pulled, it would stop all...
Build and sell
[[Drucker]] said that [[Business]] has only two basic functions: Innovation and Marketing ([[Marketing is design]]).
Level production
[[Toyota Production System]] tries to level the work at each station so that it’s as even as possible, not swinging...
Screen sharing is the modern Gemba
Toyota ([[Toyota Production System]]) culture has a “go-see” component. While it is easy to default to just call to get...

Here are all the notes in this garden, along with their links, visualized as a graph. If you don't see any nodes try zooming and panning in the grey area.