Decoding the Dna of Toyota Production Systems
www.hbrreprints.org
Decoding the DNA of the Toyota Production
System
by Steven Spear and H. Kent Bowen
Included with this full-text
Harvard Business Review article: The Idea in Brief—the core idea
The Idea in Practice—putting the idea to work
1
Article Summary
2
Decoding the DNA of the Toyota Production System
A list of related materials, with annotations to guide further exploration of the article’s ideas and applications
12
Further Reading
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. Reprint 99509
Decoding the DNA of the Toyota Production
System
page 1
The Idea in Brief The Idea in Practice
COPYRIGHT © 2006 HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL PUBLISHING CORPORATION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Toyota’s renowned production system (TPS) has long demonstrated the competitive advantage of continuous process improvement.
And companies in a wide range of industries—aerospace, metals processing, consumer products—have tried to imitate
TPS. Yet most fail.
Why? Managers adopt TPS’s obvious practices, without applying the four unwritten rules that make TPS successful. Like strands of DNA, these rules govern how people carry out their jobs, how they interact with each other, how products and services flow, and how people identify and address process problems. The rules rigidly specify how every activity— from the shop floor to the executive suite, from installing seat bolts to reconfiguring a manufacturing plant—should be performed.
Deviations from the specifications become instantly visible, prompting people to respond immediately with real-time experiments to eradicate problems in their own work. Result? A disciplined yet flexible and creative community of scientists who continually push Toyota closer to its zero-defects, just-in-time, no-waste ideal.
Decoding the DNA of the Toyota Production
System
by Steven Spear and H. Kent Bowen
Included with this full-text
Harvard Business Review article: The Idea in Brief—the core idea
The Idea in Practice—putting the idea to work
1
Article Summary
2
Decoding the DNA of the Toyota Production System
A list of related materials, with annotations to guide further exploration of the article’s ideas and applications
12
Further Reading
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. Reprint 99509
Decoding the DNA of the Toyota Production
System
page 1
The Idea in Brief The Idea in Practice
COPYRIGHT © 2006 HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL PUBLISHING CORPORATION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Toyota’s renowned production system (TPS) has long demonstrated the competitive advantage of continuous process improvement.
And companies in a wide range of industries—aerospace, metals processing, consumer products—have tried to imitate
TPS. Yet most fail.
Why? Managers adopt TPS’s obvious practices, without applying the four unwritten rules that make TPS successful. Like strands of DNA, these rules govern how people carry out their jobs, how they interact with each other, how products and services flow, and how people identify and address process problems. The rules rigidly specify how every activity— from the shop floor to the executive suite, from installing seat bolts to reconfiguring a manufacturing plant—should be performed.
Deviations from the specifications become instantly visible, prompting people to respond immediately with real-time experiments to eradicate problems in their own work. Result? A disciplined yet flexible and creative community of scientists who continually push Toyota closer to its zero-defects, just-in-time, no-waste ideal.