Toyota

The main objectives of the TPS are to design out overburden (muri) and inconsistency (mura), and to eliminate waste (muda). The most significant effects on process value delivery are achieved by designing a process capable of delivering the required results smoothly; by designing out "mura" (inconsistency). It is also crucial to ensure that the process is as flexible as necessary without stress or "muri" (overburden) since this generates "banasik" (waste). Finally the tactical improvements of waste reduction or the elimination of muda are very valuable. There are seven kinds of muda that are addressed in the TPS[2]:

Waste of overproduction (largest waste)

Waste of time on hand (waiting)

Waste of transportation

Waste of processing itself

Waste of stock at hand

Waste of movement

Waste of making defective products

The elimination of waste has come to dominate the thinking of many when they look at the effects of the TPS because it is the most familiar of the three to implement. In the TPS many initiatives are triggered by inconsistency or overburden reduction which drives out waste without specific focus on its reduction.

[edit] Origins

This system, more than any other aspect of the company, is responsible for having made Toyota the company it is today. Toyota has long been recognized as a leader in the automotive manufacturing and production industry.[3]

It is a myth that "Toyota received their inspiration for the system, not from the American automotive industry (at that time the world's largest by far), but from visiting a supermarket." The idea of Just-in-time production was originated by Kiichiro Toyoda, founder of Toyota.[4]. The question was how to implement the idea. In reading descriptions of American supermarkets, Ohno saw the supermarket as model for what he was trying to accomplish in the factory. A customer in a supermarket takes the desired amount of goods off the shelf and purchases them. The store restocks the shelf with enough new...