Premium Essay

Toyota Production System

In:

Submitted By shwetketu
Words 1301
Pages 6
Toyota Production System
How does a company simultaneously meet its customers’ demands on time while maintaining the best quality levels at the lowest cost? Sounds like conflicting business goals? Where huge companies with deep pockets failed, one company stood out and faced the challenge of trying to meet these goals. This company was Toyota. The post-WW2 period was trying for the Japanese economy. The country was ravaged by the atomic bombings and the drain on resources from the war time activities, forced companies like Toyota to develop innovative and cost efficient manufacturing processes. The Toyota Production System (TPS) arose out of necessity in response to the circumstances surrounding the company. Many of the foundational concepts are old and unique to Toyota while others have their roots in more traditional sources. The oldest part of the production system is the concept of Jidoka which was created in 1902 by Toyoda founder Sakichi Toyoda. This concept pertains to notion of building in quality at the production process as well as enabling separation of man and machine for multi-process handling. The most famous element of the TPS is no doubt the Just-in-Time pillar of the production system. The phrase Just-in-Time was coined by Kiichiro Toyota in 1937 after the start of Toyota Motor Corporation. The company was quite poor and could not afford to waste money on excess equipment or materials in production. Everything was expected to be procured just in time and not too early or too late. Later elements developed in the 1950’s including takt time, standardized work, Kanban, and supermarkets added to the basis for JIT. There are also many other tools and techniques that were developed in Toyota such as 7 Wastes, Standardized Work, 5S, SMED, Visual Control, Error Proofing, as well as many others.
The TPS house is the basic framework which encompasses all the

Similar Documents

Free Essay

Toyota Production System

...Executive summary This system which is comprised of several of the company’s core value concepts which is aim towards the Toyotas customer oriented and quality driven operations and production process has grown in reputation over the years. This presentation intends to analyze this system alongside other aspects of the company’s business operations in regards of its Facilities in North America Toyota production system This presentation is aimed to illustrate a four exercise approach in analyzing the Toyota Manufacturing Corporations and the TPS it adopts. We analyzed Toyota production system based on our understanding of what it represents in terms of its Concepts. We also define TPS as an entity, furthermore we discuss its purpose in Toyota Manufacturing Corporation as well as its production in North America. To better illustrate its value to the company we also describe the advantages and limitations of the system. Weighted Scoring Model Using a the weighted scoring model we would critically assessing the potential Lexus RX 330 North American Plant location decision between TMMC or any of Toyota Manufacturing Corporation U.S factory plants. In doing so we would identifying the factors the company would need to consider. Decision Tree We would be applying the decision tree tool to adequately recommend a production capacity for TMMC to utilize in the production of the new Lexus RX 350 line in order to achieve optimal quality and maximize profit. First we explain the...

Words: 381 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Toyota Production System

...Toyota production system Toyota Production System is an essential part of what makes Toyota different and makes Toyota’s products a profitable investment for its customers’ businesses. Toyota’s customers know what to expect when they buy from Toyota – a business partner with the strength and flexibility to meet the needs of a changing market. TPS has been successfully practiced by lots of firm in order to improve the quality. According to the article “origin of the Toyota production system in China”, Japanese-style production method on the dynamic evolutionary process of production systems in China, with a view to adding the Chinese experience to the discussion on the evolution of manufacturing systems that has become so prevalent in recent years on an international scale. The first introduction of the Toyota production system into China and the process of technology transfer is the case of First Automotive Works, the representative Chinese automobile manufacturer. By 1992 the just-in-time system had been introduced into the whole production line at FAW's transmission plant. The average workload rate per operator had risen from the old 27.7% plant average to 65%, machine stoppage time had become 80% shorter, and a total of 468 production personnel had been retrenched. Labor productivity rose from 129,000 yuan per person in 1991 to 303,000 yuan per person in 1994, and the number of transmissions produced per worker rose from 27.7 units in 1991 to 68.5 units in 1994--in...

Words: 476 - Pages: 2

Free Essay

Toyota Production System

...Toyota Production System Da Wikipedia, l'enciclopedia libera. IMPIANTI INDUSTRIALI Il Toyota Production System, detto anche, in alcune pubblicazioni accademiche, Toyotismo, è un metodo di organizzazione della produzione derivato da una filosofia diversa e per alcuni aspetti alternativa alla produzione di massa, ovvero alla produzione in serie e spesso su larga scala basata sulla catena di montaggio di Henry Ford. Produzione industriale Progettazione di prodotto Design - DFX CAD - CAE Progettazione di processo Processo di produzione industriale Meccatronica - CNC - Robot industriale CAM - PLC - CAPP Il nome deriva dal fatto che essa è stata inventata negli anni 1940-1950 presso la Toyota, da Sakichi Toyoda, Kiichiro Toyoda, ed in particolare dal Progettazione di sistema giovane ingegnere Taiichi Ohno. Alla base del TPS si trova l'idea di 'fare di più con meno', cioè Sistema di produzione - GT di utilizzare le (poche) risorse disponibili nel modo Taylorismo - Fordismo - Catena di montaggio - UTE più produttivo possibile con l'obiettivo di JIT - Toyotismo - Produzione snella incrementare drasticamente la produttività della Automazione - Fabbrica automatica - FMS fabbrica. La Toyota, nell'immediato dopo-guerra, CIM - MRP - ERP - TQM si trovava in condizioni gravissime di mancanza di risorse, come peraltro gran parte dell'industria del Giappone, uscito sconfitto e stremato da una guerra devastante. Esso si basa su 5 principi puntando su un concetto apparentemente semplice:...

Words: 1091 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Toyota Production System

...Toyota is renowned not only as one of the World's greatest manufacturers and for its Toyota Production System (TPS), but also as the company that inspired Lean Production (Lean). However, there is a common assumption that Lean Production and the Toyota Production System are identical. In this research paper we will compare TPS and Lean and will try to answer the question: Are there any differences between TPS and Lean and, if yes, what are they? 

Our approach to comparing TPS and Lean will be based on the 14 Management principles described in Jeffrey Liker's book The Toyota Way. We will briefly describe each TPS principle and then search the Lean literature: books, journal articles, and web-sites to find evidence of whether or not the same principle is present in Lean Production and whether there are any differences in the interpretation of the principle, its scope and depth. It is worth noting that this research paper will focus on one way comparison between TPS and Lean; we will not try to outline topics present in the Lean literature and then identify whether or not they are covered in the TPS literature. 

This research paper is based on the usage of three types of resources: books, articles and organizational web-sites. The books listed in the references section can be generally sub-divided into three groups: the origination of Lean and its connection to Toyota ([1] and [3]), books describing the Lean tools and providing limited guidance on the implementation of Lean ([2]...

Words: 404 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Toyota Production System

...Toyota Production System (Adapted from Slack, et al. 2006) Seen as the leading practitioner and the main originator of the lean approach, the Toyota Motor Company has progressively synchronised all its processes simultaneously to give high quality, fast throughput and exceptional productivity. It has done this by developing a set of practices that has largely shaped what we now call ‘lean’ or ‘just-in-time’ but which Toyota calls the Toyota Production System (TPS). The TPS has two themes, ‘just-in-time’ and ‘jidoka’.’Just-in-time’ is defined as the rapid and coordinated movement of parts throughout the production system and supply network to meet customer demand. It is operationalised by means of heijunka (levelling and smoothing the flow of items), kanban (signalling to the preceding process that more parts are needed), and nagare (laying out processes to achieve smoother flow of parts throughout the production process). Jidoka is described as ‘humanizing the interface between operator and machine’. Toyota’s philosophy is that the machine is there to serve the operator’s purpose. The operator should be left free to exercise his or her judgement. Jidoka is operationalised by means of fail-safe (or machine jidoka), line-stop authority (or human jidoka), and visual control (at-a-glance status of production processes and visibility of process standards). Toyota believes that both just-in-time and jidoka should be applied ruthlessly to the elimination of waste, where...

Words: 836 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Toyota Production System

...Idea behind the theory Muda is the Japanese term for waste and is a key concept in the Toyota Production System. The definition of waste is basically anything that does not add value. “Value and waste are opposites. "Value" is what the customer is actually willing to pay for the product or service. Economists define value as the ratio of the usefulness of a product or service to its costs. This includes the product's functions and features and it relates to the whole product, service or both. Costs include the price paid and also the cost in time and hassle in obtaining and using the product or service” (Sowards, 2005). “It is common to find that in a factory less that 5 per cent of activities actually add value, 35 per cent are necessary non-value-adding activities and 60 per cent add no value at all” (Jones, Hines, & Rich, 2006, pg. 154). To truly be able to eliminate waste from a process you need to know what wastes you are looking for. There are seven wastes that were identified by Toyota’s Chief Engineer, Taiichi Ohno as part of the Toyota Production System. 1. Overproduction. Producing items for which there are no orders, which generates such wastes as overstaffing and storage and transportation costs because of excess inventory. Ohno considered this to be the fundamental waste, since it causes most of the other wastes. 2. Waiting (time on hand). Workers merely serving to watch an automated machine or having to stand around waiting for the next processing step, tool, supply...

Words: 1901 - Pages: 8

Premium Essay

Toyota Production System Case

...recommendations to alleviate this problem. A short term solution might including placing additional Vendor Managed Inventory “golden” seats on-site at the TMS facility to replace defective parts to ensure that there are fewer parts taken off line. There must also be a close examination of the two TMS areas. The first take would be to explore the reason for the difference in defect rates between the shifts. If there is a training problem, this should be addressed immediately. Additional emphasis needs to be focused on the reason for the delays in obtaining replacement parts from KFS once the source of the problem is identified in the Clinic or Overflow area. 3. The Toyota Production System principle is based on the assumption that true need will deviate from production planning and that problems will crop up. The Toyota Production System relies on two practices to address problems and drive additional quality and productivity: Jidoka and Kaizen. Jidoka was...

Words: 611 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Decoding the Dna of the Toyota Production System

...BY AMY NINC The Toyota story has been intensively researched and painstakingly documented, yet what really happens inside the company remains a mystery. Here's new insight into the unspoken rules that give Toyota its competitive edge. Decoding the DNA of the Toyota Production System by Steven Spear and H. Kent Bowen long been hailed as the source of Toyota's outstanding performance as a manufacturer. The system's distinctive practices -its kanhan cards and quahty circles, for instance - have been widely introduced elsewhere. Indeed, following their own internal efforts to henchmark the world's best manufacturing companies, GM, Ford, and Chrysler have independently created major initiatives to develop Toyota-like production systems. Companies that have tried to adopt the system can be found in fields as diverse as aerospace, consumer products, metals processing, and industrial products. What's curious is that few manufacturers have managed to imitate Toyota successfully-even though the company has been extraordinarily open about its practices. Hundreds of thousands of executives from thousands of businesses have toured Toyota's plants in Japan and the United States. Frustrated by their inability to replicate Toyota's performance, many visitors assume that the secret of Toyota's success must lie in its cultural roots. But that's just not the case. Other Japanese companies, such as Nissan and Honda, have fallen short of Toyota's standards, and Toyota has successfully introduced...

Words: 7627 - Pages: 31

Premium Essay

In What Ways Can the Toyota Production System Be Seen as Rare and Difficult to Imitate?

...2.2. In what ways can the Toyota Production system be seen as rare and difficult to imitate? Toyota Production system is a system that was developed initially to account for the specific issues facing one company. The revolutionary ideas and concepts pioneered at Toyota have been used in many other organizations and industries throughout the world. TPS has evolved to help companies maximize value. In this system all activities relating to the manufacturing process. Toyota Production system is an integrated socio-technical system that comprises its management philosophy and practices. It is developed by Toyota. The Toyota Production system organizes manufacturing and logistics for the automobile manufacturer, including interaction with suppliers and customers. The system is a major precursor of the more generic “learn manufacturing” Shigeo Shingo and Eiji Toyoda developed the system between 1948 and 1975. [1]. What the goals of Toyota Production System? The goal of companies using TPS is to provide the exact quantity, with the exact quality, exactly when the customer wants it. Toyota production system provide world class quality and service to the customer, and develop each employee’s potential, based on mutual respect, trust and cooperation. It will reduce cost through the elimination of waste and maximize profit. The most important goals is about developing flexible production standards based on market demand. Rare is about they are rare when possessed by few, if...

Words: 804 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

The Seven Deadly Wastes of Logistics: Applying Toyota Production System Principles to Create Logistics Value

...August, 2007   The Seven Deadly Wastes of Logistics: Applying Toyota Production System Principles to Create Logistics Value Joel Sutherland Managing Director Center for Value Chain Research Lehigh University, 621 Taylor Street, Bethlehem, PA 18015 E-mail: jos206@lehigh.edu Bob Bennett President Lean Consulting Associates, LLC, and Group Vice President (retired) Toyota Motor Sales USA, Inc. 16 Deerhill Drive Rolling Hills Estates, CA 90274 E-mail: bobben1@cox.net CVCR White Paper #0701 Abstract A business value chain is an end-to-end set of activities that can be applied to a product or service making it ready for the next activity. Most resources used in an activity add value—some do not. The resources consumed (such as people, time or equipment) that do not add value add cost and should be eliminated. This is the essence of the Toyota Production System, or Lean (the term used in the U.S. for what was originally known as the "Toyota Production System"). This article reviews the evolution of Lean principles from the beginning of Henry Ford’s revolutionary assembly line process for his Model T automobile in the early 1900’s, through Taiichi Ohno’s creation of the famous Toyota Production System in the mid-20th century, to adoption of these principles in addressing today’s logistics and transportation challenges. This paper presents real examples from executives who worked within the Toyota Production System and were effective in expanding these principles beyond the traditional...

Words: 5016 - Pages: 21

Free Essay

Why Is It so Hard to Implement a Tps-Like Production System Even If Toyota Has Unveiled All the Details?

...TPS-like Production System because of confusion between the tools and practices they may see on the plant, and the system itself. There is a paradox that all the activities, links and production flows in a Toyota factory are rigidly regulated, and at the same time the system is very flexible and adaptable, which is difficult to unravel for the outsiders. They do not often understand that it is this rigidly regulated system itself that makes all the operational flexibility and improvement possible, and stimulates the creation of the community of scientists (factory workers) who actually use scientific methods to make the workflow to be more efficient and straightforward. That means the activities and processes are constantly being challenged in order to improve the performance and increase the efficiency. Another problem for successful imitation is that this system and its methods are not actually written anywhere, neither were they officially imposed or consciously chosen. That’s why Toyota workers can hardly explain it in a systematic way, and the outsiders have difficulty grasping it, especially considering that the organizational changes are often made at a very low level. The system developed gradually over the company’s more than 6 decades in operation, and Toyota has become a learning organization that stimulates experimenting, which very much distinguishes it from other companies. According to the article, there are 4 rules that create the DNA of Toyota Production System...

Words: 276 - Pages: 2

Free Essay

Toyota Production System in Healthcare

...Detailed methodology A parliamentary constituency comprises of many small vidhan sabha constituencies. Total numbers of voters in a parliamentary constituency is essentially the sum of the voters in these vidhan sabha constituencies for example PCamethi= VStiloi+VSsalon+VSjagdishpur+VSgauriganj+VSamethi where PC=parliamentary constituency and VS= vidhan sabha constituency. We have to establish a mathematical relationship between the total votes that a party got in vidhan sabha election in the entire lok sabha constituency (which is essentially the sum of all the votes in various vidhan sabha constituencies which comprises the lok sabha constituency) and the total votes in the lok sabha election for the same parliamentary constituency. Such a relationship has to exist as same voters vote for the vidhan sabha election and the lok sabha election for a particular constituency. It may be week, but definitely some relationship has to exist. This relationship was found out by the following procedure which is regarded as polynomial regression analysis. * As in our case we see that the previous vidhan sabha election was held in the year 2012 and the lok sabha election is slated in the 2014 year. Hence we will historically pick those data sets where the lok sabha election was held after two years of the vidhan sabha elections. By establishing relationship between these data sets we assume that the same voting pattern will continue to occur also in the future. For example lets say that...

Words: 689 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Toyota

...Personal work Automotive-Toyota 30-11-2012 Contents  Introduction  Lean Manufacturing 1) Creating continuous process flow, 2) The pull system, 3) Leveling out the workload.  Toyota Production System 1) Just In Time 2) Jidoka  Long term relationship with suppliers  Risk and Challenge 1) Toyota Vehicle Recalls 2) Environmental sensitivity  Conclusion Introduction Toyota is one of the world's largest automobile manufacturers, selling over 9 million models in 2006¹on all five continents. A Top 10 Fortune Global 500²enterprise, Toyota ranks among the world's leading global corporations and is proud to be the most admired automaker³ an achievement the company believes stems from its , dedication to customer satisfaction. In early twentieth century, the three big motor companies (the Big 3) – General Motors (GM), Ford & Chrysler almost dominated the global market. In 1994, Toyota replaced Chrysler, and it became the global No. 2 motor manufacturer by squeezing out Ford in 2003. Since 2008, Toyota has replaced GM to be the largest automaker globally. Toyota is a successful corporation and has a very good performance in automotive industry, but it also has some troubles and challenges to face, like the problem of Toyota vehicle recall in the last three years. So we have to ask how did Toyota achieve its success? How Toyota face to the challenge? Toyota is known for its reliable cars among the general public, but it has also been known in manufacturing, management...

Words: 1806 - Pages: 8

Premium Essay

Managing Operations in Toyota

...EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Operations Management plays a vital role in all the forms of organisation. Lack of operations management can lead to the failure of the business. In the following report we discuss the world’s largest automobile industry the Toyota Manufacturing Company and also some of the various principles with description and are useful in the operations management such as Just in Time, kaizen, vertical Integration, Toyota Production system and the Vertical Integration. These principles play a major role in the effective production and operations of Toyota as well as most of the other organisations. Let us now discuss the principles of operations management beginning with the history and background of Toyota. INTRODUCTION Japan is the world’s second largest automobile nation with 73 million vehicles on the road. Toyota is a Japanese company founded and formed by Kiichiro Toyoda in the year 1936. He was given a full strong support by his father Sakichi Toyoda an industrialist who use to invent Toyota Model G automatic loom. In the year 1937 the Toyota Motor Company Ltd was established. Since then it grew rapidly in the recent years. The success of the company was based on the principles of innovation and both for its products and the processes to make the product. At the start of the company the aim was to produce reliable and efficient cars in Japan. The company was very well accepted by the people and since then the company touched the heights...

Words: 3057 - Pages: 13

Premium Essay

Toyota Motors Management

...Management TOYOTA Team P.A.L Minchul Seo, Altanzul Table of Content 1. Introduction 2. Industries and Company Information 3. Explanation of OM Capabilities 4. How Company Uses OM 5. Identify Problems / SWOT analysis 6. Areas to use for improvements of Critical Business activities in Operations Management 7. Provide Multiple Solutions 8. Conclusion Introduction Toyota Motor Corporation is one of the leading automobile manufacturers in the world by not only its models but also its management. We can say that the principles that Toyota Motor Corporation uses are the way to their success. For instance, they do not only want to be successful by themselves but also they respect their partners and suppliers by challenging them and helping them improve. Toyota wants to be reliable to the customers, suppliers and to the organization. For this reason, they use some operating management technologies such as Just In Time (JIT), Quality Management (QM), Total Quality Management (TQM) and so on. Using these technologies they could reduce to time they spent on manufacturing, shipping, ordering, receiving, forecasting and many others. It also affected to their quality and the overall mission to be succeed. They do not try to hide their weakness and problems in the organization so that they can fix them easily by using simple visual indicators to help people determine their problems immediately whether they are in standard condition deviating from it. Toyota Motor...

Words: 4018 - Pages: 17