TPS is the source of lean manufacturing. Researchers who studied Toyota in the 1980s used the word lean to describe it, and most lean tools, from kanban to andon, come from TPS.
Where it comes from
Toyota describes TPS as developed over many years, with Taiichi Ohno and Eiji Toyoda among the main figures. Its roots include Sakichi Toyoda's automatic loom, which stopped itself when a thread broke, and Kiichiro Toyoda's idea of just in time.
At a glance
The TPS house
Swipe sideways to see the whole diagram.
How to apply Toyota Production System
- 1
Start from customer demand
Set the pace of production by takt time, the rate at which customers buy, rather than by machine capacity.
- 2
Level the schedule
Use heijunka to smooth the volume and mix of production, so the process and suppliers see a steady load.
- 3
Build flow and pull
Link processes with continuous flow where possible and with kanban pull where not, so each step makes only what the next one has used.
- 4
Build in quality
Apply jidoka: machines and people stop when something is wrong, signal with andon and fix the problem before continuing.
- 5
Standardize the work
Write standard work for each task, so problems show up as deviations and improvements have a base to build on.
- 6
Improve continuously
Use kaizen, the five whys and A3 problem solving, led by people at every level, to raise the standard over time.
Worked example (illustrative)
A supplier of seat frames adopts TPS ideas one line at a time. It sets takt time from the customer's daily order, replaces a weekly batch schedule with a kanban loop to the welding cell, and adds an andon cord at each station. Before, about 4 days of welded frames sat between steps. After three months on the first line, that is down to about 1 day. In the first month the andon is pulled about 15 times a week, because problems that used to sit in stock now stop the line. Each one gets fixed, and by the third month pulls are down to about 5 a week.
Common mistakes
- Copying the tools, such as kanban cards or 5S boards, without the problem-solving culture that makes them work.
- Cutting inventory before processes are stable, so the line stops all day instead of exposing one problem at a time.
- Treating TPS as a cost-cutting program rather than a system for developing people and quality.
When Toyota Production System is not the right tool
TPS was built for repetitive, high-volume production with fairly steady demand. In high-mix or one-off work, takt time and supermarkets are hard to set, so teams there often borrow its principles, such as flow, built-in quality and kaizen, and adapt the tools.
TPS and lean manufacturing
John Krafcik, a researcher in MIT's International Motor Vehicle Program, used the word lean for Toyota's system in a 1988 article. The program's book The Machine That Changed the World (1990) brought the term to a wide audience.
Lean manufacturing is the general approach other companies adapted from TPS. Toyota itself still calls its system TPS.
TPS and The Toyota Way
TPS is how Toyota runs its plants and logistics: takt time, flow, pull, jidoka and standard work. Jeffrey Liker's The Toyota Way (2004) describes the management principles behind it, such as long-term thinking, developing people and going to see problems for yourself.
Companies that copy the tools without those principles tend to see the tools fade. The two belong together, and lean is the general name for both as other organizations adapted them.
Muda, mura and muri
TPS targets three kinds of loss. Muda is waste, work that adds no value, such as the eight wastes. Mura is unevenness, swings in volume or mix. Muri is overburden on people or machines.
They are linked. An uneven schedule (mura) pushes people and machines past their limits on busy days (muri), and both create waste (muda). That is why TPS levels the schedule with heijunka before it tries to cut inventory.
Guides on this topic
- Lean thinking: the 5 principles and the mindsetLean thinking is a way of creating value with less waste. Learn the five principles, the lean mindset, how it differs from lean tools and how managers apply it.Read the guide
- Lean construction: principles, techniques and how to startLean construction applies lean thinking to building projects. Learn the principles, the eight wastes on site, the Last Planner System and how to start.Read the guide
- Lean healthcare: principles, tools and how to startLean healthcare applies lean methodology to patient care. See the principles, hospital wastes, tools, patient flow and how to start in a clinic or ward.Read the guide
- Lean software development: principles, wastes and flowLean software development explained: the seven principles, the seven wastes of software, flow metrics, value stream mapping, and how lean differs from agile.Read the guide
Sources
Books and papers show their publication year. Web pages show the month we last checked them.
- 1.Taiichi Ohno, Toyota Production System: Beyond Large-Scale Production (Productivity Press, 1988)
- 2.Yasuhiro Monden, Toyota Production System: Practical Approach to Production Management (Industrial Engineering and Management Press, 1983)
- 3.Toyota Motor Corporation, Toyota Production System (global.toyota, checked October 2026)
- 4.Steven Spear and H. Kent Bowen, Decoding the DNA of the Toyota Production System (Harvard Business Review, September-October 1999)
- 5.John F. Krafcik, Triumph of the Lean Production System (Sloan Management Review 30(1), Fall 1988)
- 6.James P. Womack, Daniel T. Jones and Daniel Roos, The Machine That Changed the World (Rawson Associates, 1990)
- 7.Jeffrey K. Liker, The Toyota Way: 14 Management Principles from the World's Greatest Manufacturer (McGraw-Hill, 2004)