AFTERWORD

To Those Top Managers Who Are Thinking of Applying the Toyota Principles to Make a Wonderful Operation

Takehiko Harada

Looking back at the last 42 years of my life, starting with my joining Toyota, then being head of the factory engineering department in the Honsha plant, then becoming the acting CEO of Toyota’s Taiwan Motors, and finally being the president of Chuo Spring Ltd., I see myself as following Ohno’s teachings faithfully. For the last 10 years, I have been using the Toyota Production System as a pillar of management and have been a missionary in telling people how wonderful it can be when one applies TPS to one’s operations. Even though I am just one person, weak and with faults, because of the greatness of the Toyota Production System, I have supported and witnessed people creating motivating workplaces. Because of this, I truly have no regrets in my corporate life. I am just grateful to people like Mr. Ohno and my various teachers, who gave me this wonderful gift.

I wrote this book to let people know that there is another way of doing things, one that gives purpose to work and also increases the number of smiles in the workforce.

I want top managers to deploy this system in their operations to allow people to work to their full potential and give much more value than ever before, thus enabling them to thrive in a competitive environment. Because of this, I have decided to write about how to deploy the Toyota Production System effectively.

If you want a successful deployment, then it is imperative that you value the concept of “all of us doing this together, helping one another out, and doing it at the same pace.” This means that you will have to take the time to explain to people what will happen, decide roles and responsibilities, and be patient with one another.

We all understand the desire to get results fast, but when we say, “We want to deploy the Toyota Production System,” that often means, “We will have to change parts of our corporate culture that have taken years to build.” It’s going to take a lot of effort and time to change that, so I suggest that you relax and, at first, don’t stress yourself too much about the speed of deployment.

It is possible to create the appearance of TPS deployment fast, but the results will be short-lived. In an organization, there are principles and structure. There are rules, the operations follow the established structure, and the managers are involved in the different facets. In the same way, in the Toyota Production System, there are principles and a structure, and there is a need to establish that structure and the associated rules in the workplace. (Production lines and reorder points are good examples of this structure.)

In some areas, this will go smoothly because of good management. Others will struggle because of a lack of understanding. Whenever things start going wrong, people start asking the question, “Are we really doing the right thing?” and then the old culture rears its head to destroy the new culture that is being created.

That’s why I mentioned “all of us doing this together, helping one another out, and doing it at the same pace.” Changing the culture is going to be a huge task that everyone has to work hard at and be involved in.

One of the best ways to get everyone to buy in is to say, “We will do this by ourselves.” I think this is the key to success. It’s not as if we were in the days of Ohno, when no one was sure what she was trying to do or what the results would be. Nowadays, we can explain to people what kind of results we will get, and we can be pretty sure about it, too.

When the deployment runs into a wall and no one knows what to do next, that is the time to bring the whole management team together and decide on a road forward. Try it out, discuss how it went, think a bit more, and try again. Also, there are lots of books on the Toyota method out there, so I would encourage the use of them as well.

It will take a bit of trial and error, but I can guarantee that the bench strength developed during this process will be of great value to the company in the future. Keep explaining the logic to the supervisors and managers so that when results are realized, people understand why. It is, after all, your company, so take the necessary time and advance it at a pace that is sustainable.

The first step should be to focus on the four stages of things. Find out why the inventory is necessary and what purpose the work in process is serving, then reduce the amount of things that are waiting around. If frequent machine breakdowns are the problem, then focus on the machine and reduce the stoppages. If the quality is unstable, then repair the equipment and standardize the workers’ processes to reduce the variability. If people are holding inventory because they are afraid of running out of parts, then talk with the leader of the area and decide how many parts should be held. As the ability of the area improves, the inventory can be reduced accordingly. Focus on this foundation. Keep reducing the amount of things waiting around and get closer to flow.

Once the amount of things that are waiting is reduced, this will mean that you have less time to solve problems that occur in everyday operations. Problems will appear faster, and also will affect other areas faster. This is actually your first result. Remember the words, “The manager’s job is to create the environment where flow can happen.” Many things in the company will now speed up, but this is just the beginning.

None of us wanted to do this to stop the line, so make sure that you keep enough inventory between processes to reflect the capability of the area. Once you get enough strength, you can continue to reduce this amount. Congratulate people and keep working toward a line that can flow.

What is necessary when doing kaizen is flexible thinking, honest effort, and the smiles of the people who are actually doing the improvement work. There will be no smiles present when people are forced to do this. The only thing present will be a lot of sighing. I have said this many times, but kaizen will not take root unless it is fun and meaningful. It’s a great feeling when people are helping one another and coming together at areas that need more work to get them up to speed.

For me, the first step is getting to flow. Choosing flow gets production engineering involved. The work area has an active, happy atmosphere. People come up with improvement ideas. It is great when you start getting more team members on the kaizen team. In the end, you’ll even get the design engineers involved and make it a whole company effort.

Once you get production engineering involved and make a one-piece-flow line, then you can make a store to hold the finished goods for that line and start with a downstream pull system. This is going to be very different from before, as the production instructions will come from the process after yours. Once this happens, you can bring out the champagne bottles. The ship is now ready to sail!

The standard out there seems to be, “You need to start with the 5S (Sort, Straighten, Sweep, Standardize, and Self-Discipline) when deploying the Toyota Production System.” The interesting thing, though, is that when you follow the steps just outlined, the area somehow gets clean, it seems, all by itself. This is because there’s been a change in people’s minds and hearts.

Choose to make yours the method that takes people’s natural tendencies and emotions into consideration, resulting in continuous and smile-filled improvements.

A heartfelt thanks to everyone’s effort who made the publication of this book possible. It is truly appreciated.

Brad Schmidt

It has been a pleasure translating Mr. Harada’s book, but an even greater pleasure knowing him and enjoying his friendship.

I have been a Lean consultant since 1998, and this book has helped me logically see what I have just emotionally experienced.

I want to express my thanks to the Makoto Japan team (DJ Duarte, Geno Johnston, and Sanja Tripkovic) for their support in allowing me to take the time to finish this book.

Finally, most of all, I want to thank Toshiko Narusawa, who introduced me to Mr. Harada, encouraged me to translate the book, and helped me to gain a deeper understanding of the principles discussed here. She has been a true friend and a reference for understanding the history behind Lean.