What can your business learn from the Toyota production system?

Your business can learn a lot from Toyota.

Looking at Toyota’s model with regard to managing waste and continually improving their business, there is no doubt that your business could be stronger, more profitable and more successful by adopting some of their methods.

Don’t believe me?

Well, before you read on, ask yourself this:

“Are the processes and systems in my business more or less complex than building a car?”

I would posit that car manufacturing is more complex and has more processes, parts and variables than your business. Or, at the very least, your business is no more complex.

So, if Toyota can work out how to make cars for less, with more flexibility, can’t you do the same in your business?

Toyota revolutionised the way cars were made in their factories.  In fact, they made their factories easier and cheaper to build and run AND built more flexibility into the way they build cars. And they are still doing this now.

Some jobs are done the same way on every car, and other jobs vary from region to region. For example, colour, textile and technology tastes are different in Italy, Britain or Korea.

Toyota know this and have built production lines accordingly and, as a consequence, are bringing costs down, boosting flexibility, increasing customer satisfaction and driving up profits.

I am sure there are tasks in your business which are performed in the same way, day in and day out, and some tasks and procedures which will require different processes for different situations.

Perhaps it’s worth considering this approach to your business’s production workflow processes to help speed things up, build in flexibility AND better meet customer requirements.

The complexity and difficulty of doing this with car manufacturing is profound.  Having a fresh look at your business’s processes and workflow should be much simpler, don’t you think?