7 ms·

"The Machine That Changed the World" is a wonderful title on this. Kiichiro Toyoda invented the lean production model after coming to the states and studying th

by lemax 7y ago

"The Machine That Changed the World" is a wonderful title on this. Kiichiro Toyoda invented the lean production model after coming to the states and studying the inefficiencies of the assembly lines of Ford. This was a process dependent on modularizing every manufacturing component due to a demand for the Toyota company to serve a market with a need for an immense variety of vehicles, and giving teams ownership of the entire production process rather than one error check at the end a lá Ford. Introducing a vehicle with a steering wheel on the opposite side might take a year to implement in lean production, while handling that kind of variation in the assembly line model could take years (generally double the amount of time); The net result of this being that Toyota could offer 2x the vehicles of GM at half GM's size. Toyota was able to make extremely reliable vehicles and modify them as consumer demands shifted. By 1990, the Japanese were making cars with 4 year product lives and 500k total units (125k per year) while the Western companies were building 2M over 10 year product lives.

sebtoast 7y ago
I've never seen Toyoda mentioned as the inventor of the lean model, I usually seen Taiichi Ohno credited for it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiichi_Ohno https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiichi_Ohno
- vvanders 7y ago
  W. Deming also played a pretty large role too[1]. The whole history around Lean/Kaizen/etc is pretty fascinating. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Edwards_Deming https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Edwards_Deming
  - throw0101a 7y ago
    Deming was about quality control, which dovetails into lean: you can only do the latter if you know your parts bin is good, and that you can trust your supplier/s to deliver.
    - ethbro 7y ago
      In that sense, lean is essentially the same solution as reducing buffer size to increase network throughout. Excess capacity pooling decreases stopages but prevents signalling of problems back through the chain.
  - vram22 7y ago
    Do you have some links for the history? I'm interested in Lean and Kaizen. Made a comment about it in this thread.
    - vvanders 7y ago
      It's covered a little in the TAL episode on NUMMI[1]. There's also a bit of it involved with TWI[2][3]. I'd read some other interesting things about skill transfer post-WW2 with the Marshall Plan but having trouble finding the original source material. [1] https://www.thisamericanlife.org/403/nummi-2010 https://www.thisamericanlife.org/403/nummi-2010 [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Training_Within_Industry#Post_war https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Training_Within_Industry#Post_... [3] https://twi-institute.org/training-within-industry/history/ https://twi-institute.org/training-within-industry/history/
      - vram22 7y ago
        Great, will check those links out, thank you.
      - vram22 7y ago
        This part from your link [2] is interesting: >In the Foreword to Dinero's book "Training Within Industry", John Shook relates a story in which a Toyota trainer brought out an old copy of a TWI service manual to prove to him that American workers at NUMMI could be taught using the "Japanese" methods used at Toyota. Thus, TWI was the forerunner of what is today regarded as a Japanese creation.
- vram22 7y ago
  Can't confirm or the reverse, but I do remember Taiichi Ohno's name being mentioned multiple times in the book (The Toyota Way), which I bought and read some years ago. Interesting book. One of the things mentioned was the concepts of muri and muda, related to (not) wasting (stuff), IIRC [1]. Related to Kaizen [2]. [1] https://www.google.com/search?q=japanese+word+muri+and+muda& https://www.google.com/search?q=japanese+word+muri+and+muda& https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muri_(Japanese_term) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muri_(Japanese_term) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muda_(Japanese_term) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muda_(Japanese_term) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mura_(Japanese_term) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mura_(Japanese_term) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaizen https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaizen
nradov 7y ago
Ironically Toyota now has longer product lives than many other mainstream manufacturers. The Camry and Corolla are on roughly 6 year product lifecycles. The 4Runner has barely changed in 10 years.
- smush 7y ago
  > The 4Runner has barely changed in 10 years. To be fair, that may be a purposeful design decision. I consider the fact that the 4Runner can trace its way back to a 1980s Hilux that Top Gear dropped off a building (and still survived) to be nothing but good for its likely reliability. Similarly, its primarily dial-based dashboard (as opposed to the touch-screen everywhere fad right now), truck-based suspension, and off-road performance (all things that could point to it being a rather much for a city car) to be its primary selling points. Additionally, why change what sells so well? They sell ~140,000 4Runners a year, vs all of the Lexus models combined being ~40,000. I can't comment on the Camry/Corolla as I've never owned one.
  - eldenbishop 7y ago
    Kind of related: Their Land Cruiser is specifically designed for a 25 year service life and is thus very conservative, changing slowly if at.
  - jdkee 7y ago
    That's incorrect by an order of magnitude. Lexus sells in excess of half a million cars per year.
    - smush 7y ago
      I stand corrected. Having performed some cursory 'research' I found that in the USA in 2018, according to https://www.best-selling-cars.com/brands/2018-full-year-usa-toyota-north-america-and-lexus-sales/ https://www.best-selling-cars.com/brands/2018-full-year-usa-... All Lexus vehicles combined sold 92,660 units versus the 4Runner model which sold 139,694 units. A difference of 47,000 units, or roughly, the 2018 US sales for the Lexus ES
throw0101a 7y ago
> Kiichiro Toyoda invented the lean production model after coming to the states and studying the inefficiencies of the assembly lines of Ford. See also Deming on quality control: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Edwards_Deming#Work_in_Japan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Edwards_Deming#Work_in_Japa...
- hinkley 7y ago
  As I’ve heard it, Deming was having trouble getting people to listen to him on this side of the pond, but the Japanese were all too happy to listen to his ideas. There also seems to be a running disagreement about whether Mr Toyoda or Taiichi Ohno is responsible for the Toyota system. To wit, the intro to Ohno’s Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiichi_Ohno https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiichi_Ohno
  - mbubb 7y ago
    > As I’ve heard it, Deming was having trouble getting people to listen to him made me chuckle - its not like he did anything of value... Deming has always been a reminder to think about counter tendencies. He might not have made sense to the Detroit execs in 1950-1975 but his relevance changed sharply after that.
    - windexh8er 7y ago
      Deming didn't do "anything of value"? Considering Kaizen and the concept of continuous improvement in Japan is mostly attributed to him. The prime minister awarded him the Order of the Sacred Treasure and recognizes him for their post-war rebirth as an industrial power. Detroit did everything wrong at the time (see GM's disaster in automation at their Hamtramck facility [0]). Even when American execs were posed with a simple question of why their own employees didn't buy their product they didn't understand the disconnect between quality, reliability and the awareness of the buyer. [0] https://www.leanblog.org/2016/06/gms-ceo-roger-smith-thought-toyota-had-magic-but-this-was-the-secret/ https://www.leanblog.org/2016/06/gms-ceo-roger-smith-thought...
jopsen 7y ago
Interesting point about iteration speed. I suppose today Tesla with their over-the-air updates is redefining product dev-cycles..

by lemax 7y ago

sebtoast 7y ago

I've never seen Toyoda mentioned as the inventor of the lean model, I usually seen Taiichi Ohno credited for it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiichi_Ohno https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiichi_Ohno

vvanders 7y ago
W. Deming also played a pretty large role too[1]. The whole history around Lean/Kaizen/etc is pretty fascinating. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Edwards_Deming https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Edwards_Deming
- throw0101a 7y ago
  Deming was about quality control, which dovetails into lean: you can only do the latter if you know your parts bin is good, and that you can trust your supplier/s to deliver.
  - ethbro 7y ago
    In that sense, lean is essentially the same solution as reducing buffer size to increase network throughout. Excess capacity pooling decreases stopages but prevents signalling of problems back through the chain.
- vram22 7y ago
  Do you have some links for the history? I'm interested in Lean and Kaizen. Made a comment about it in this thread.
  - vvanders 7y ago
    It's covered a little in the TAL episode on NUMMI[1]. There's also a bit of it involved with TWI[2][3]. I'd read some other interesting things about skill transfer post-WW2 with the Marshall Plan but having trouble finding the original source material. [1] https://www.thisamericanlife.org/403/nummi-2010 https://www.thisamericanlife.org/403/nummi-2010 [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Training_Within_Industry#Post_war https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Training_Within_Industry#Post_... [3] https://twi-institute.org/training-within-industry/history/ https://twi-institute.org/training-within-industry/history/
    - vram22 7y ago
      Great, will check those links out, thank you.
    - vram22 7y ago
      This part from your link [2] is interesting: >In the Foreword to Dinero's book "Training Within Industry", John Shook relates a story in which a Toyota trainer brought out an old copy of a TWI service manual to prove to him that American workers at NUMMI could be taught using the "Japanese" methods used at Toyota. Thus, TWI was the forerunner of what is today regarded as a Japanese creation.
vram22 7y ago
Can't confirm or the reverse, but I do remember Taiichi Ohno's name being mentioned multiple times in the book (The Toyota Way), which I bought and read some years ago. Interesting book. One of the things mentioned was the concepts of muri and muda, related to (not) wasting (stuff), IIRC [1]. Related to Kaizen [2]. [1] https://www.google.com/search?q=japanese+word+muri+and+muda& https://www.google.com/search?q=japanese+word+muri+and+muda& https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muri_(Japanese_term) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muri_(Japanese_term) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muda_(Japanese_term) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muda_(Japanese_term) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mura_(Japanese_term) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mura_(Japanese_term) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaizen https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaizen

nradov 7y ago

Ironically Toyota now has longer product lives than many other mainstream manufacturers. The Camry and Corolla are on roughly 6 year product lifecycles. The 4Runner has barely changed in 10 years.

smush 7y ago
> The 4Runner has barely changed in 10 years. To be fair, that may be a purposeful design decision. I consider the fact that the 4Runner can trace its way back to a 1980s Hilux that Top Gear dropped off a building (and still survived) to be nothing but good for its likely reliability. Similarly, its primarily dial-based dashboard (as opposed to the touch-screen everywhere fad right now), truck-based suspension, and off-road performance (all things that could point to it being a rather much for a city car) to be its primary selling points. Additionally, why change what sells so well? They sell ~140,000 4Runners a year, vs all of the Lexus models combined being ~40,000. I can't comment on the Camry/Corolla as I've never owned one.
- eldenbishop 7y ago
  Kind of related: Their Land Cruiser is specifically designed for a 25 year service life and is thus very conservative, changing slowly if at.
- jdkee 7y ago
  That's incorrect by an order of magnitude. Lexus sells in excess of half a million cars per year.
  - smush 7y ago
    I stand corrected. Having performed some cursory 'research' I found that in the USA in 2018, according to https://www.best-selling-cars.com/brands/2018-full-year-usa-toyota-north-america-and-lexus-sales/ https://www.best-selling-cars.com/brands/2018-full-year-usa-... All Lexus vehicles combined sold 92,660 units versus the 4Runner model which sold 139,694 units. A difference of 47,000 units, or roughly, the 2018 US sales for the Lexus ES

throw0101a 7y ago

> Kiichiro Toyoda invented the lean production model after coming to the states and studying the inefficiencies of the assembly lines of Ford. See also Deming on quality control: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Edwards_Deming#Work_in_Japan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Edwards_Deming#Work_in_Japa...

hinkley 7y ago
As I’ve heard it, Deming was having trouble getting people to listen to him on this side of the pond, but the Japanese were all too happy to listen to his ideas. There also seems to be a running disagreement about whether Mr Toyoda or Taiichi Ohno is responsible for the Toyota system. To wit, the intro to Ohno’s Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiichi_Ohno https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiichi_Ohno
- mbubb 7y ago
  > As I’ve heard it, Deming was having trouble getting people to listen to him made me chuckle - its not like he did anything of value... Deming has always been a reminder to think about counter tendencies. He might not have made sense to the Detroit execs in 1950-1975 but his relevance changed sharply after that.
  - windexh8er 7y ago
    Deming didn't do "anything of value"? Considering Kaizen and the concept of continuous improvement in Japan is mostly attributed to him. The prime minister awarded him the Order of the Sacred Treasure and recognizes him for their post-war rebirth as an industrial power. Detroit did everything wrong at the time (see GM's disaster in automation at their Hamtramck facility [0]). Even when American execs were posed with a simple question of why their own employees didn't buy their product they didn't understand the disconnect between quality, reliability and the awareness of the buyer. [0] https://www.leanblog.org/2016/06/gms-ceo-roger-smith-thought-toyota-had-magic-but-this-was-the-secret/ https://www.leanblog.org/2016/06/gms-ceo-roger-smith-thought...

jopsen 7y ago

Interesting point about iteration speed. I suppose today Tesla with their over-the-air updates is redefining product dev-cycles..