Project Management

I. What is TPS

The Toyota Production System empowers team members to optimize quality by constantly improving processes and eliminating unnecessary waste in natural, human and corporate resources. TPS influences every aspect of Toyota’s organization and includes a common set of values, knowledge and procedures. It entrusts employees with well-defined responsibilities in each production step and encourages every team member to strive for overall improvement.

The production system philosophy of Toyota embodies a manufacturing culture of continuous improvement based on setting standards aimed at eliminating waste through participation of all employees. The goal of the system is to reduce the timeline from the time an order is received until the time it is delivered to the actual customer. Ideally the system strives to produce the highest possible quality, at the lowest possible cost, with the shortest lead-time possible. There are two primary pillars of the system, Just in Time and Jidoka (Build in quality).

. Just In Time

The first and most famous pillar of the system is Just In Time (JIT). The JIT concepts aims to produce and deliver the right parts, in the right amount, at the right time using the minimum necessary resources. This system reduces inventory, and strives to prevents both early and over production. Producing in a JIT fashion exposes problems quickly. With less inventory in a system the “rocks” are quickly exposed in production that are disrupting flow. Most companies shy away problems and use inventory to hide these problem and avoid potential disruptions. In Toyota however the opposite logic is applied. By reducing inventory, you expose the real problems in a production process quickly and focus need for improvement. This notion of surfacing problems and abnormalities is a critical concept in TPS. Of course unless you can solve the problem that you expose there is a danger to this approach.

. Jidoka (Build in quality)

Jidoka...