the history of lean manufacturing (condensed)
Toyota's development of ideas that later became lean may have started at the turn of the 20th century with Sakichi Toyoda (as depicted here), in a textile factory with looms that stopped themselves when a thread broke. This became the seed of autonomation and Jidoka. Toyota's journey with just-in-time (JIT) may have started back in 1934 when it moved from textiles to produce its first car.Kiichiro Toyoda, founder of Toyota Motor Corporation, directed the engine casting work and discovered many problems in their manufacture. He decided he must stop the repairing of poor quality by intense study of each stage of the process. In 1936, when Toyota won its first truck contract with the Japanese government, his processes hit new problems and he developed the "Kaizen" improvement teams.
Levels of demand in the Post War economy of Japan were low and the focus of mass production on lowest cost per item via economies of scale therefore had little application. Having visited and seen supermarkets in the USA, Taiichi Ohno recognised the scheduling of work should not be driven by sales or production targets but by actual sales. Given the financial situation during this period, over-production had to be avoided and thus the notion of Pull (build to order rather than target driven Push) came to underpin production scheduling.
It was with Taiichi Ohno at Toyota that these themes came together. He built on the already existing internal schools of thought and spread their breadth and use into what has now become the Toyota Production System (TPS). It is principally from the TPS, but now including many other sources, that lean production is developing. Norman Bodek wrote the following in his foreword to a reprint of Ford's Today and Tomorrow:
I was first introduced to the concepts of just-in-time (JIT) and the Toyota production system in 1980. Subsequently I had the opportunity to witness its actual application at Toyota on one of our numerous Japanese study missions. There I met Mr. Taiichi Ohno, the system's creator. When bombarded with questions from our group on what inspired his thinking, he just laughed and said he learned it all from Henry Ford's book." The scale, rigor and continuous learning aspects of TPS have made it a core concept of lean.
(Source: wikipedia)
Levels of demand in the Post War economy of Japan were low and the focus of mass production on lowest cost per item via economies of scale therefore had little application. Having visited and seen supermarkets in the USA, Taiichi Ohno recognised the scheduling of work should not be driven by sales or production targets but by actual sales. Given the financial situation during this period, over-production had to be avoided and thus the notion of Pull (build to order rather than target driven Push) came to underpin production scheduling.
It was with Taiichi Ohno at Toyota that these themes came together. He built on the already existing internal schools of thought and spread their breadth and use into what has now become the Toyota Production System (TPS). It is principally from the TPS, but now including many other sources, that lean production is developing. Norman Bodek wrote the following in his foreword to a reprint of Ford's Today and Tomorrow:
I was first introduced to the concepts of just-in-time (JIT) and the Toyota production system in 1980. Subsequently I had the opportunity to witness its actual application at Toyota on one of our numerous Japanese study missions. There I met Mr. Taiichi Ohno, the system's creator. When bombarded with questions from our group on what inspired his thinking, he just laughed and said he learned it all from Henry Ford's book." The scale, rigor and continuous learning aspects of TPS have made it a core concept of lean.
(Source: wikipedia)
After the Second World War, Japanese manufacturers were facing diminished human, material, and financial resources. These circumstances led to the development of new, lower cost, manufacturing practices.
After the war, Japanese product had a poor reputation for quality. A group of top managers and leaders in industry met in Tokyo in June 1950, to hear an American, Dr William Deming, explain in the context of quality, the necessity of bringing production processes under statistical control. They immediately went to work.
As a result of this and other meetings with Dr Deming, a chain reaction became engraved in Japan as a way of life. Once management in Japan adopted the chain reaction, everyone in the Company from 1950 onwards had one common aim, namely quality.
In the early 1980’s, the West faced a similar situation. They were blaming their failure on the Japanese manufacturers "dumping" products - selling below cost, because "no-one could create products so cheaply". Inefficient companies were threatened. Unproductive jobs were lost. Those who would not or could not adapt lost their positions. And those who found news ways to improve productivity prospered. At that time Dr. Deming came to the fore. His book, "Out of the Crisis" provided a comprehensive overview of the profound system of production that he had taught the Japanese to help them recover from the Second World War.. It has much wisdom and it is as relevant today as it was then. Read more about Deming's 14 Points
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After the war, Japanese product had a poor reputation for quality. A group of top managers and leaders in industry met in Tokyo in June 1950, to hear an American, Dr William Deming, explain in the context of quality, the necessity of bringing production processes under statistical control. They immediately went to work.
As a result of this and other meetings with Dr Deming, a chain reaction became engraved in Japan as a way of life. Once management in Japan adopted the chain reaction, everyone in the Company from 1950 onwards had one common aim, namely quality.
In the early 1980’s, the West faced a similar situation. They were blaming their failure on the Japanese manufacturers "dumping" products - selling below cost, because "no-one could create products so cheaply". Inefficient companies were threatened. Unproductive jobs were lost. Those who would not or could not adapt lost their positions. And those who found news ways to improve productivity prospered. At that time Dr. Deming came to the fore. His book, "Out of the Crisis" provided a comprehensive overview of the profound system of production that he had taught the Japanese to help them recover from the Second World War.. It has much wisdom and it is as relevant today as it was then. Read more about Deming's 14 Points
Related Articles: