They aren't "Toyota's manufacturing philosophy". Kaizen is, generally, a result of Deming and total quality management. Deming failed to convince top brass of

They aren't "Toyota's manufacturing philosophy". Kaizen is, generally, a result of Deming and total quality management. Deming failed to convince top brass of American auto manufacturing and took his process elsewhere. Toyota and Mazda being the two more notables to adopt early. Read about GM's Hamtramck failures in the 80s for context on the ignorance of US auto brands as they tried to outdo Toyota after starting to lose the quality wars.