Page 40 - How To Implement Lean Manufacturing

Lean Manufacturing and the Toyota Pr oduction System 21

A Culture That Is Managed
Finally, and certainly the most important of all differences, is the culture. It is a culture
of consciousness. They are aware of what is going on. It may sound odd, but most
manufacturing plant managers are only modestly aware of how their plant is functioning.
They are hampered by: little time on the floor; poor information systems; unclear goals
and objectives; ever-changing philosophies; and myriad operational problems, including
low line availability, poor quality, and delivery problems. Altogether, these issues then
create a culture of chaos and firefighting. It is no wonder they are not on top of the
action. The culture of Toyota is one of awareness, and this is no more obvious than in
their characterization of such things as inventory and operational problems.
Ohno describes inventory as not only consuming space, raw materials, and time, but he
explains that it hides the real problems of a system so they cannot be found and corrected.
It is an oddity of the TPS that they seek out problems. The vast majority of managers yearn
for the day when they will have no problems. Not so with Toyota. Awareness of problems,
awareness of value supply, awareness of operational performance—pick your topic.
Awareness is a cultural characteristic of the TPS.
There is a great deal more about the culture of Toyota (and cultures in general) in
Chap. 11, but it too only scratches the surface of this topic. There is one cultural aspect,
however, that deserves a little coverage here: continuity. W. Edwards Deming, in his
book Out of the Crisis, (MIT, CAES; 1982) speaks about “constancy of purpose”. Toyota
is the poster child for this. They have exhibited the same principles for over 50 years.
The principles apply to them and to all those who work with Toyota, especially their
supply chain. The principles have been maintained through numerous management
changes and through crisis after crisis, including those crises that have threatened the
very existence of the company. Through all this, their principles have not changed. This
type of continuity is almost unheard of in industry and it is the key reason why the
culture has been so strong and why it has endured so well.

The Behavioral Definition
Reduction of waste and the specific definition of waste is almost a unique contribution
of the TPS. Ohno defined waste in ways that no others had really thought. He described
seven types of waste:

1. Transportation
2. Waiting
3. Overproduction
4. Defective parts
5. Inventory
6. Movement
7. Excess processing

Others have tried to remove these wastes, but the TPS has carefully defined them
and made the continual reduction of waste an effort that is almost religious in its fervor.
This is the definition of the TPS at the behavioral level; at the action level. However to
really understand the TPS one must go deeper into what Ohno has written.