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
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. Inventory between steps falls and problems that used to sit in stock now stop the line, so they get fixed.
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 is a whole system, built over decades at Toyota. Copying one tool, such as kanban cards, without the stability and problem solving behind it rarely gives the same result.
TPS and lean manufacturing
The word lean came from researchers at MIT's International Motor Vehicle Program, who studied Toyota and other carmakers in the 1980s. Their book The Machine That Changed the World 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.