Toyota Operations Management

In both articles by the Harvard Business Review, Toyota’s mastered production system is analyzed and proven to be the basis for their superior performance, reputation, and abilities as a manufacture. This production system has become the envy of many companies, many who have attempted to implement a comparable system in their own company, such as GM and Ford. Although Toyota has been very transparent in their practices, it is still evident that very few companies have been successful in managing a Toyota like process. Many believe, the concept that many misunderstand is that operations are “rigidly scripted, yet at the same time...enormously flexible and adaptable.”

               An important factor in their production process is its direct observation in solving problems. Spear states, “Direct observation is essential, and no combination of indirect methods, however clever, can possibly take its place”. He explains that in order to solve issues within the factory you can’t simply give reports to supervisors and have them come up with ideas in their offices. Instead, managers and supervisors need to work with workers and the actually issue in a “hands on” manor to efficiently correct the problem to optimize production.

A major function within the Toyota production process that attributes to much of the success is their dedicated use of the scientific method. With their “community of scientists”, they continue to hypothesize and test different theories and ideas, which has lead to much of their success. They choose to treat each of their potential changes as structured experiments. According to the author, Toyota teaches their managers to look at the problem using a systemic approach that allows them to understand both the problem and solution. First, the anticipated result of the solution is quantified. The next step would be to implement and study the proposed solution by observing .The manager would then compare the actual vs. estimated results. After...