Posts Tagged: toyota

Main — Comments Off
3
Nov 10

The Undocumented TPS

Glyn Lumley on learning:

“For years, Taiichi Ohno, the father of the Toyota Production System would not allow anything to be recorded about it. He argued that to do so would crystallize the process and stall the drive for never-ending improvement. I can see that copying others will work well in an organization that has a command and control management style where employees are told to follow a certain path as it will be good for the business and good for them. But if you want to develop a systems-thinking environment, copying will get in the way of deep-seated learning.”

Seems like simply making a procedure can prevent learning from happening. So why do we make procedures? To outsource the work? To be consistent in what we build?

But if we become consistent by using a procedure, we prevent learning.

If you had to choose between having employees learn, and have employees be consistent, which would you pick?

Main — Comments Off
23
Mar 10

On Unleashing Innovation

Matthew E May (who wrote about Toyota’s production system in his book, In Pursuit Of Elegance) has some nice tips for innovation. My favorite is the first on his list of 10 tips for unleashing innovation:

“Let Learning Lead. Learning and innovation go hand in hand, but learning comes first. Learning is defined as the creation of new knowledge through experimentation.”

Main — 1 Comment
27
Jan 09

Pick a Friendly Fight with the Boss

Things they do in Toyota’s IT Department that are a bit different:

Do What The Boss Says, Or Not: It’s not what you would expect to find at a Japanese company, but at Toyota employees are encouraged to “Pick a friendly fight”. Employees are encouraged to speak up and contradict what their bosses have told them to do. Don’t do what your boss told you to do just because he/she told you to do it!

[via The Business of IT]

Main — Comments Off
19
Jan 09

Toyota’s Success

Jim at the Business of IT writes The Secret To Toyota’s Success Lies In Its Corporate Culture:

Here’s the part that so many companies that study Toyota miss: at Toyota they don’t believe that efficiency by itself can guarantee that Toyota will be a success. Instead, Toyota believes that its long-term success lies in its workers. It believes that the wisdom of its workers is what will allow it to improve.

Since its workers are its knowledge repositories, Toyota takes the time to invest in its workers and in its organizational capabilities. This is not a one-way street. Instead, Toyota is also open to new ideas no matter where they come from: production, development, sales, etc.

Main — Comments Off
13
Jan 09

Sins of Solutions

Matthew E. May, author of Elegant Solutions: Toyota’s Formula for Mastering Innovation, writes in his paper “Mind of the Innovator: Taming the Traps of Traditional Thinking” [pdf] about the Sins of Solutions.

There are some good stories in there, I particularly liked those accompanied by sin #6 Complicating, and sin #7 Stifling. A good quick read when you have the time.

← Older Entries