The Toyota Way - Underlying Principles of the Toyota Production System

The underlying principles of the Toyota Productionprocess flow to bring problems to the surface, use the
System have been called the Toyota Way. Thesepull system to avoid overproduction, level out the
principles revolutionized the manufacturing industry andworkload, build a culture of stopping to fix problems to
helped develop Toyota into the company it is today.get quality right from the first, standardized tasks are
The Toyota Way has been outlined by Toyota asthe foundation for continuous improvement and
continuous improvement, and respect for people.employee empowerment, using visual control so no
Continuous improvement encompasses challenge,problems are hidden and using only reliable, thoroughly
kaizen and genchi genbutsu. Challenge means formingtested technology that serves your people and
a long term vision and meeting challenges withprocesses.
courage and creativity to realize dreams. Kaizen isAdding value to the organization encompasses
improving business operations continuously and alwaysgrowing leaders that thoroughly understand the work,
striving for innovation and evolution. Genchi genbutsu islive the philosophy and teach it to others, developing
going to the source to find the facts to make correctexceptional people and teams that follow your
decisions. Respect for people encompasses respectcompany's philosophy and respecting your extended
and teamwork. Respect is for respecting others,network of partners and suppliers by challenging them
making efforts to understand each other, takeand helping them improve.
responsibility and doing the best to build mutual trust.The principle of continuously solving root problems
Teamwork is stimulating personal and professionalencompasses seeing for yourself to thoroughly
growth, share the opportunities of development andunderstand a situation, making decisions slowly by
maximize individual and team performance.consensus, thoroughly considering all options and
Outside observers of Toyota and summarized theimplementing decisions rapidly, and becoming a learning
Toyota Way principles a little differently. They see theorganization through relentless reflection and
Toyota Way as basing management decisions on longcontinuous improvement.
term philosophy even at the expense of short termInstead of people resigning themselves to problems,
financial goals, the right process will produce the rightbecoming hostage to routine and no problem solving,
results, add value to the organization by developingthe Toyota Way goes back to the basics exposing
your people and partners, continuously solving rootthe real significance of problems and making
problems drives organizational learning.fundamental improvements. This can be seen in the
The right process encompasses creating continuousToyota Production System.