When first learning about TPS and lean, most become focused on the tools. They tend to be flashy and lend to endless discussion about technique and application. But as you gain experience and understanding of lean and TPS, an epiphany occurs. The true essence and spirit of the applications are about continuous improvement and respect for people. The are truly the two pillars of lean and TPS. Waste reduction and management tools are not pillars of the methodology.

The essence of methodology is that each individual employee is given the opportunity to find problems in his own way of working, to solve them and to make improvements.

Wakamatsu and Kondo, Toyota experts

The essence of lean thinking and TPS is simply put. Keep the focus on building people, then building products, which includes creating an environment of challenging the status quo. The true brilliance and strength of the TPS and lean thinking is the ability to harness the intellectual power of the average employee. This concept is lost on many organizations who get themselves lost in the tools and miss the obvious simplicity of the concepts.

The concept of respect for people not just about the customer or end user. It refers to everyone inside and outside of the organization who has contact with the process. This means line workers, support personnel, vendors and supply personnel. If you follow through with this principle, you will continually analyze the process and seek perfection with involving the customer. This will nurture the ability of the organization to self-identify problems and lead to continuous improvement, or Kaizen. Ultimately, the organization will start to challenge everything and embrace change with ease. More important than the actual improvements, the true value of continuous improvement is in creating an atmosphere of continuous learning and an environment that not only accepts, but actually embraces change.

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The true concept of lean and TPS has two main pillars. These two pillars are respect for people and continuous improvement. Many organizations who try and embrace lean thinking and TPS are often distracted by the tools, instead of focusing on the true strength of lean thinking. Accepting the concepts of the two pillars will allow organizations to challenge everything and embrace the mindset of change.

Check out this informative video on the Two Pillars of TPS and lean!

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As the global population continues to grow and the effects of climate change impacts our food sources, it has become crucial for forward-thinkers to better understand more efficient ways to feed people. Of course, when you think of a practice that is the cornerstone of efficiency, you could easily go no further that lean manufacturing and the Toyota Production System (TPS). These principles and practices have been well established and proven to be effective across all industries.

So what about agriculture and lean farming? For almost a decade, a farmer in northern Indiana embraced the principles of the TPS and apply them to lean farming. The farmer is Ben Hartman and his techniques have revolutionized farming. Through the practice of lean farming, Hartman has significantly cut his worked hours, shrunk the size of his farm and increased his income. Understanding that the first Toyota workers were previously rice farmers, Hartman knew he was on to something special. They brought the practices of the rice field onto the factory floor of Toyota. Japanese rice farmers were known to be very efficient in their processes. They had to redesign their farms to feed a growing Japanese population while optimally utilizing precious land that was available. You could easily say this was the perfect example of lean farming. Hartman understood kaizen and the principle that there is no perfect system or final solution, just continuous improvement. They did not seek to grow the perfect tomato. Instead, they have sought to cut more and more waste every year from production and align more and more closely with customer’s expectations. Hartman has shrunk the size of his operation, and every time he has gotten smaller, his profits have significantly increased.

To learn more about lean farming and and Ben Hartman, check out his books The Lean Farm Guide to Growing Vegetables and The Lean Farm.

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Ben Hartman is the author of The Lean Farm, a book on minimizing waste and increasing efficiency on the vegetable farm. He has farmed full-time for the past ten years with his wife, Rachel, in Goshen, Indiana, where they’re both making a living on less than an acre of production, selling 90 percent of their produce within ten miles of the farm.  Hartman has applied the lean methodology on the modern market farm, including the basics of creating value, establishing pull with customers, and the 5S pillars of the lean cycle: sort, set in order, shine, standardize, and sustain the cycle.

Check out this educational podcast with Ben Hartman!

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The Toyota Production System, which is steeped in the philosophy of the complete elimination of all waste, embodies all aspects of production in pursuit of the most efficient methods, tracing back its roots to Sakichi Toyoda’s automatic loom. The TPS has evolved through many years of trial and error to improve efficiency.

Waste can manifest as excess inventory in some cases, extraneous processing steps in other cases, and defective products in yet other cases. All these waste elements intertwine with each other to create more waste, eventually impacting the management of the corporation itself.

By practicing the philosophies of daily improvements and “good thinking, good products” the methodology has evolved into a world-renowned production system. Furthermore, all Toyota production divisions are making improvements to the TPS day and night to ensure its continued evolution.

Check out this video on the history of TPS.

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4 Myths About Process Improvement

Six Sigma is one of the most popular process improvement methodologies in the world, despite there be a number of them. However, process improvement itself is one term that many people have strong feelings about. Depending on how it is perceived, those feelings can range from good to bad. Ultimately, perceptions are influenced by what one has heard about process improvements.

This brings us to the myths that surround this concept. Many people know that when it is done correctly, optimizing a process to be better than it previously was can reap numerous benefits. Among these benefits is increased customer satisfaction and revenue. But some people are either reluctant to try out process improvement or want to try it for the wrong reasons because they have heard unhelpful myths.

Here are four myths that you will hear when it comes to process improvement and why you shouldn’t believe them.

1. There’s only one way to improve a process

Many industry professionals have one methodology of process improvement that they champion over others. But process improvement transcends such dogma. As mentioned earlier, there are a number of process improvement methodologies out there, including Six Sigma, Total Quality Management (TQM) and Toyota Production System (TPS).

The methodology you ultimately use depends on the process you are trying to improve. While the underlying principles of the methodologies are the same, the inner tools and techniques are different. There’s no one-size-fits-all methodology that you need to follow to make it a success.

2. Process Improvement is only for manufacturing

Since process improvement is popular in manufacturing, many people believe that is the only place where it belongs. Indeed, companies that champion process improvement include the likes of Toyota. But one does not need to have an assembly line if they wish to reap the benefits of process improvements.

In order to ascertain if a process can benefit from process improvement, you need to ask yourself if it creates value. If the answer is in the affirmative, then that process is a great candidate for improvement efforts. And doesn’t matter if you’re in the technology, health or non-profit sector.

3. You need to improve a process once

What happens after the process improvement efforts have become a success? Many organizations usually forget to make continuous improvement part of their organizational culture. This means people don’t know what to do after the process has been optimized. Eventually, the initial benefits are lost and the process can revert back to its former self.

Improvement is an ongoing process, and most methodologies usually stress this in the last step. While doing it once might sound like an attractive selling point, but without continuous improvements, the results won’t stick. Workers will no longer identify defects in processes and fix them to keep things running smoothly. You need to make sure that everyone, from the janitor to upper management, knows that continuous improvement is their responsibility.

4. Process improvement is time-consuming

Another myth that is often repeated about process improvement is that is a very slow process. When it comes to anything in an organization, it requires resources mainly time and money. This means that the longer something drags on, the more resources need to be poured into it. Thinking like this can make one dread undertaking process improvement, making it appear time-consuming and costly.

But saying process improvement is slow in and of itself is false. If an organization shows a strong commitment and drive to process improvement, it can be carried out pretty fast. Many organizations spend time on implementing specific methodologies instead of getting stakeholders on board and building the right team to push the agenda, even after it has succeeded. In the end, process improvement takes longer than it needs to.

If you want something to work for you, you have to know what is real about it and what is false. Unfortunately, even things like process improvement, with its proven track record of success, are not immune to fables. Luckily, with any false thing that is said about methods that produce positive results, the truth can be easy to uncover.

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Taiichi Ohno, popularly known as the pioneer of the Toyota Production System was born in Dalian, China in 1912. He graduated from the Nagoya Technical High School in Japan and joined Toyoda Spinning in 1932. He joined the Toyota Motor Company as a shop-floor supervisor in the year 1943 and rose to the position of an executive.

In the early 1950s, Ohno, then working as an assembly manager in Toyota, developed significant improvements that eventually took the shape of the Toyota Production System (TPS). Toyota was on the verge of becoming bankrupt and was not in a position to afford large investments in major inventories or equipment. In the 1950s, a major collaboration with Shigeo Shingo started and further refinement in the direction of framing an integrated manufacturing strategy took shape.

The Rise of Toyota Production System

The oil crisis of 1973 hit Japan just as it affected America and Europe. By 1974, Japan’s economy collapsed and crashed to a state of zero. At the Toyota Motor Company, profits witnessed a downfall; however, greater earnings were reported and sustained in 1975, 1976, and 1977 as compared to other Japanese companies.

The huge gap between Toyota and other Japanese companies resulted in the other firms in Japan adopting the Toyota Production System, and began spreading its roots rapidly in the country.

Ohno’s success resulted in his career acceleration from an Assembly Shop Manager to the Executive Vice President in 1975. He retired from Toyota in the early 1980s and joined the Toyota subsidiary and supplier, Toyota Gosei, as the President.

Ohno strongly believed that “Having no problems is the biggest problem of all.” He stated that problems are not the cause of worry; rather it is a Kaizen opportunity to improvise and grow. He also stressed that each problem has to be seen without any set of preconceived notions.

Taiichi Ohno: Contribution to Six Sigma & Lean Manufacturing

Ohno was strongly of the opinion that waste & inefficiency are the two major reasons why Toyota’s production was suffering. He personally took charge of the elimination of wastes and reducing the inefficiency in the production area.

His efforts finally took the shape of the Toyota Production System. Ohno’s principles influenced people in the areas outside of manufacturing, including the service arena.

Ohno also played an instrumental role in identifying ways by which organizations identify waste with his model known as the Seven Wastes which forms the core of many academic studies to date.

A Muda’ is a Japanese term that stands for any entity that doesn’t have any further value and should be eliminated from the organization without any further delay. It is critical to examine the values that each activity contributes to the organization and identifying those that do not contribute any value. After reaching this point it is easier to see what it is that the customer pays for. Organizations can then start working on the elimination of waste. These seven wastes are as follows:

1. Any time wasted in delays or waiting in the queue with no value addition
2. The production is more than the demand
3. Resources (physical or material) being wasted in a non-strategical activity
4. Unorganized or unplanned transportation
5. Unplanned movements or motion
6. Non-utilized inventory
7. The defects, for the inspection of the inventory, cost time and money

A few parts of the Toyota Production System are frequently used in the United States such as kanban (the tagging/signal in JIT stock control system), jidoka (the injection of quality), and muda (the elimination of waste).

Conclusions

Taiichi stated that progress cannot be possible if one stays happy with the present conditions. He took the elimination of the inefficiency in Toyota as his personal goal and kept working until he devised the well-known Toyota Production system.

He was very proactive in removing defects and unusable stock from any organization. He devised seven categories of wastes through which organizations can easily proceed with systemic waste removal from their businesses. His contributions have made Toyota a world-renowned organization with respect to quality excellence.

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