The Toyota Production System
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1. – The Toyota Production System is unique through its upholding of four key ideals: Growth Mindset, Scientific Approach, Accountability, and Simplicity.Growth MindsetGrowth Mindset is Toyota’s philosophy in developing its most significant corporate asset: the employees. Management in Toyota Production System empowers employees by giving them the power of initiate change. Experimentation is promoted by referring to current tools and processes as “countermeasures” rather than “solutions.” This implies the lack of finality, remove barriers for scrutiny and endorsing experimentation to improve and grow further. Such tendency towards experimentation exists in all levels of the organization.The Toyota Production System further encourages Growth Mindset by training employees on the process of experimentation. Employees are trained in experimentation and problem-solving through training by their managers and external consultants. During the training, employees are often asked a series of questions that unearth their implicit assumptions in experiments, leading to better insights about their work. This enhances worker autonomy and motivation.One possible outcome of a tightly controlled and defined work environment is monotony, which can decrease worker morale. However, there is no evidence presented by the case indicating as such, considering the high worker autonomy and cognitive engagement from the Growth Mindset adopted by the Toyota Production System.Scientific ApproachThe Toyota Production System’s Scientific Approach encompasses high precision, detail orientation, and experimentation. All work within such a system is specified by the content, sequence, timing, outcomes and other outputs. Rigid specification of processes facilitates detection of product defects through tracking whether the steps match up with their time allocated. Even the most basic processes, such as order of screw attachment, are fully quantified to avoid variation that hampers quality.
When a problem arises, workers are expected to analyze the issues at hand and create hypotheses. This hypotheses are tested with utmost objectivity and measurements to support or reject a potential change in the process. This scientific approach to proposing a plan for improvement and predicting outcomes shows the importance placed on evidence. Such rigidity enables flexibility and creativity for workers to test their hypotheses and experiment fruitfully.AccountabilityThe Toyota Production System’s emphasis on Accountability manifests through its meticulous planning of product and information flows. These flows are essentially mapped out as a process flow diagram. Product flows, such as material supply, and information flow, such as supervisor intervention, are all defined, predicted, and tested with a strong understanding of the who, what, when, and how.There is a high degree of clarity in task delegation; specific people are responsible for specific steps. Customer-supplier connections are designated or reassigned as needed to eliminate confusion. This eases the tracking and monitoring of requests to prevent repeated actions and inquiries that decrease efficiency.SimplicitySimplicity means that every connection is standardized, direct, unambiguous, and fully quantified, leaving no room for confusion. This reduces inefficiencies stemming from increased complexity. Additionally, the Four Rules bring nested modularity to the process, making each rule independent of one another. This means that experimentation or changes in one area does not impact others inadvertently.When an ideal solution is lacking to combat external factors and market changes, Toyota creates temporary countermeasures to smooth out the impact brought on by volatility in demand. Upholding of the four ideals with the use of countermeasures allows Toyota to meet the Four Dimensions of Performance – Cost, Quality, Variety, and Time – and to occupy the operational frontier.2. – The Toyota Production System is consisted of independent processes that create modularity, so each process module is an independent system. This means that experiments can be conducted without disruption to other processes. In order to achieve a similar level of success as the Toyota Production System, an industry should not attempt to replicate their processes; instead, it should follow the principles behind these processes. This can be done by replicating the ideals analyzed in Question 1 to increase the efficiency and long-term performance in a company.