The

Birth
of

Lean
Conversations with Taiichi Ohno, Eiji Toyoda, and
other figures who shaped Toyota management

Koichi Shimokawa and Takahiro Fujimoto, Editors

Translated by Brian Miller with John Shook

The Lean Enterprise Institute

Cambridge, Massachussetts
lean.org

Version 1.0
March 2009
 Acknowledgments
No part of this document may be reproduced, stored
in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form The publisher expresses heartfelt gratitude to...
without the permission of Lean Enterprise Institute,
Koichi Shimokawa and Takahiro Fujimoto, the editors of the original,
Inc. To order copies or request permission to
Japanese edition of this book, for their cooperation in making this
reproduce, please go to www.lean.org.
English-language edition possible;
Kenichi Kuwashima, Takashi Matsuo, Nobuya Orihashi, Hiroaki Satake,
and Yasuo Sugiyama for their contributions as interviewers and editors
in preparing the Japanese edition;
Bunshindo, the publisher of the Japanese edition, for permission to pub-
lish this English-language edition; and
Daihatsu Motor, Hashida Giken, the Toyota Commemorative Museum of
Industry and Technology, and Toyota Motor Corporation for furnishing
the photographs that appear in this book, as detailed below:
Daihatsu Motor
pp. 22 (upper), 25, 28
Hashida Giken

Copyright 2009 Lean Enterprise Institute. All rights reserved. p. 22 (lower)

Lean Enterprise Institute and the leaper image are registered trademarks Toyota Commemorative Museum of Industry and Technology
of the Lean Enterprise Institute, Inc. pp. 3, 4, 5 (upper), 7, 12, 17, 78, 114, 137, 178, 227
Toyota Motor Corporation
ISBN: 978-1-934109-22-9 pp. 5 (lower), 6, 9, 26, 77, 103, 110, 112, 113, 115, 141, 144, 175, 218,
Cover design by Lapisworks 230, 242, 245, 251, 261
March 2009

The Lean Enterprise Institute, Inc.

One Cambridge Center, Cambridge, MA 02142 USA
Tel: 617-871-2900 Fax: 617-871-2999 lean.org

iii
20 The Birth of Lean
Chapter II

your production line keeps moving as a result of kaizen, thats great. But
keeping the line moving should not be an end in itself. If work is exhaust-
What I Learned from
ing and a worker gets fatigued, he should stop the line. That calls atten- Taiichi Ohno
tion to the problem. Then, we can resolve the problem. Maybe by finding
a better posture for the worker. Maybe by improving the job rotation. A talk by Michikazu Tanaka
On the other hand, some kinds of work do not allow for stopping the As recorded and edited by Koichi
Shimokawa and
Takahiro Fujimoto with Kenichi Kuwashima and
line or even for varying the speed of the line. Painting is a good example.
Yasuo Sugiyama
Those kinds of work call for other approaches to highlighting problems
and promoting kaizen.

The Talk: Under the Guidance of Taiichi Ohno

Professor [Koichi] Shimokawa has asked me to describe for you my mem-

ories of Taiichi Ohno, the father of the kanban. I, like numerous others,
owe a huge debt to Ohno-san. And since he has passed on, we who
learned from him have a responsibility to convey his teachings to the next

About the Text

The accompanying text is an adaptation of a talk delivered in January 1998
by Michikazu Tanaka, a former executive of Daihatsu Motor. Tanaka gave the
talk to a study group convened under the auspices of the Japan Technology
Transfer Association and chaired and cochaired by the compilers of this vol-
ume, Koichi Shimokawa and Takahiro Fujimoto. The study group comprises
automotive production engineers and university researchers and has met regu-
larly since 1991 to develop a vision for production systems in the automobile
and automotive parts industries. The adaptation presented here reflects sub-
sequent editing by Tanaka.

21
22 The Birth of Lean What I Learned from Taiichi Ohno 23

generation. I dont know how how reducing the amounts of parts alongside the assembly line or reduc-
well I can fulfill that responsibil- ing the amounts of work-in-process between the processes would promote
ity in the limited time available kaizen. So I had viewed the parts and the work-in-process as something
here today. But I will try at least of a disinterested observer.
to describe Ohno-sans basic ap- Ohno-san began appearing frequently at our Kyoto Plant in the early
proach to kaizen, and I will offer- 1970s. Daihatsu was preparing to handle some of the production of the
Daihatsus headquarters and plant in Ikeda,
some concrete examples. Osaka, in the 1970s
Toyota Publica there, and he was overseeing the introduction of the kan-
My first encounter with Ohno- ban system. I had no interest in kanban and had not paid any attention to
san was in 1967. Daihatsu had entered a strategic alliance with Toyota what Ohno-san was doing at the Kyoto Plant.
that year, and Ohno-san visited our headquarters plant, in Ikeda. I was a Shortly after the production of the Publica got under way in Kyoto,
production manager there, and the first thing he said to me was, Youve a fatal accident occurred at the plant. That threw the plant into chaos.
got too many parts along the assembly line and too much work-in-process People were upset and didnt know what to do. My boss at the Ikeda Plant
between the processes. You cant get any kaizen done in that mess. called me over to his desk and told me that he wanted me to move to the
I would hear that repeatedly during Ohno-sans plant tour. But I was a Kyoto Plant and get things back on an even keel.
stubborn sort, and I was thinking all along that people have different ways I arrived in Kyoto a couple days after receiving the assignment. What
of doing kaizen, that Ohno-sans way was not the only way. I couldnt see I found there was appalling. All along the assembly line were mountains

About the Speaker four decades. He joined the company in 1949 and worked initially in equip-
Michikazu Tanaka spearheaded the trans- ment planning for plants and in plant management and production control.
planting of the Toyota Production System Tanaka rose to the rank of production manager at Daihatsus Ikeda (headquar-
to Daihatsu, a manufacturer of mini ters) Plant, in the Osaka Prefecture city of Ikeda, and in 1973 moved to the
vehicles. He began receiving guidance Kyoto Plant, which then specialized in producing passenger cars. He served
from Taiichi Ohno in 1967, the year that as deputy plant manager and then plant manager in Kyoto before returning
Daihatsu entered into a strategic alliance to headquarters in 1983 as a managing director responsible for production.
Michikazu Tanaka (center) describing with Toyota. And he demonstrated uncom- Named a senior managing director in June 1992, he retired from full-time work
the principles of the Toyota Produc-
mon creativity and passion in adapting the later that year.
tion System at the automotive tool-
ing company Hashida Giken, whose Toyota Production System to needs and Tanaka thus occupied center stage in the development of production tech-
president, Hiroshi Hashida, is seated
at the right circumstances at his company. nology at Daihatsu throughout his career. And he has remained active in re-
Born in Osaka in 1926, Tanaka worked tirement as an adviser to Daihatsu and as the chairman of a study group that
in manufacturing at Daihatsu for more than promotes advances in surface processing at plants in Osaka Prefecture.
22 The Birth of Lean What I Learned from Taiichi Ohno 23

generation. I dont know how how reducing the amounts of parts alongside the assembly line or reduc-
well I can fulfill that responsibil- ing the amounts of work-in-process between the processes would promote
ity in the limited time available kaizen. So I had viewed the parts and the work-in-process as something
here today. But I will try at least of a disinterested observer.
to describe Ohno-sans basic ap- Ohno-san began appearing frequently at our Kyoto Plant in the early
proach to kaizen, and I will offer- 1970s. Daihatsu was preparing to handle some of the production of the
Daihatsus headquarters and plant in Ikeda,
some concrete examples. Osaka, in the 1970s
Toyota Publica there, and he was overseeing the introduction of the kan-
My first encounter with Ohno- ban system. I had no interest in kanban and had not paid any attention to
san was in 1967. Daihatsu had entered a strategic alliance with Toyota what Ohno-san was doing at the Kyoto Plant.
that year, and Ohno-san visited our headquarters plant, in Ikeda. I was a Shortly after the production of the Publica got under way in Kyoto,
production manager there, and the first thing he said to me was, Youve a fatal accident occurred at the plant. That threw the plant into chaos.
got too many parts along the assembly line and too much work-in-process People were upset and didnt know what to do. My boss at the Ikeda Plant
between the processes. You cant get any kaizen done in that mess. called me over to his desk and told me that he wanted me to move to the
I would hear that repeatedly during Ohno-sans plant tour. But I was a Kyoto Plant and get things back on an even keel.
stubborn sort, and I was thinking all along that people have different ways I arrived in Kyoto a couple days after receiving the assignment. What
of doing kaizen, that Ohno-sans way was not the only way. I couldnt see I found there was appalling. All along the assembly line were mountains

About the Speaker four decades. He joined the company in 1949 and worked initially in equip-
Michikazu Tanaka spearheaded the trans- ment planning for plants and in plant management and production control.
planting of the Toyota Production System Tanaka rose to the rank of production manager at Daihatsus Ikeda (headquar-
to Daihatsu, a manufacturer of mini ters) Plant, in the Osaka Prefecture city of Ikeda, and in 1973 moved to the
vehicles. He began receiving guidance Kyoto Plant, which then specialized in producing passenger cars. He served
from Taiichi Ohno in 1967, the year that as deputy plant manager and then plant manager in Kyoto before returning
Daihatsu entered into a strategic alliance to headquarters in 1983 as a managing director responsible for production.
Michikazu Tanaka (center) describing with Toyota. And he demonstrated uncom- Named a senior managing director in June 1992, he retired from full-time work
the principles of the Toyota Produc-
mon creativity and passion in adapting the later that year.
tion System at the automotive tool-
ing company Hashida Giken, whose Toyota Production System to needs and Tanaka thus occupied center stage in the development of production tech-
president, Hiroshi Hashida, is seated
at the right circumstances at his company. nology at Daihatsu throughout his career. And he has remained active in re-
Born in Osaka in 1926, Tanaka worked tirement as an adviser to Daihatsu and as the chairman of a study group that
in manufacturing at Daihatsu for more than promotes advances in surface processing at plants in Osaka Prefecture.
24 The Birth of Lean What I Learned from Taiichi Ohno 25

of parts. Do you people think youre working in a warehouse?! was my had yet to develop any interest in
initial greeting to my new colleagues. kanban. I simply observed their
We were working hard on quality control activities at Daihatsu at that efforts from a distance and took
time, and I had thrown myself into those activities head over heels. But part as little as possible in the
what I found at the Kyoto Plant gave me pause for thought. Posted all over endeavor.
the workplace were materials for administering the quality control effort. Toyota had developed a
Producing and displaying the materials had become an end in itself. We somewhat upscale version of
The Daihatsu Consorte of around 1970, a sister
needed to get to work on more-substantive kaizen based on the actual the Publica, the Publica Starlet, model to the Toyota Publica
circumstances in the workplace. So I told everyone to get rid of any and all also to be produced at our Kyoto
materials that didnt provide concrete guidelines for how to go about our Plant. The Starlet remained an ultracompact mass-market model. It car-
work. We would retain only the materials that were obviously useful. ried an extremely low sticker price and would therefore be a low-margin
undertaking, at best. Earning any kind of profit on the Starlet would de-
Thanks but no thanks mand drastic cost cutting.
We were producing a Daihatsu model closely related to the Publica, the
The production managers and group leaders at the Kyoto Plant were Consorte, and we produced both models on the same line, using bodies
working feverishly on installing the kanban system when I arrived. But I supplied by Toyota. Our Consorte would remain in production, but the

Daihatsu was and is the only automaker based in the Kansai region, cen- fuel-efficient cars was soon to burgeon more dramatically than anyone could
tered on Osaka, Kyoto, and Kobe, and it boasts a history older than Toyotas. have guessed.
But in the late 1960s, it was distinctly inferior to Toyota in product quality and Despite Daihatsus shortcomings, the company was posting annual growth
in cost competitiveness. Joining the Toyota Group in 1967 presented Daihatsu in sales and earnings amid the booming growth in Japanese vehicle owner-
with the pressing challenge of swiftly attaining Toyota-like standards in its die- ship. Toyota had therefore turned a blind eye to issues at its new affiliate. But
sel technology, in its vehicle technology, and in its production technology. That the production team at Toyota took a closer look when it entrusted a Toyota-
challenge became especially pressing in 1973, the year that Tanaka moved to badged vehicle to Daihatsu. No less than Taiichi Ohno, then the executive vice
the Kyoto Plant. president for production at Toyota, took a personal interest in the project.
Toyota was growing rapidly in the early 1970s, and its plants were unable to Toyota had largely completed the task of adopting Ohnos principles in
keep up with the surging demand in Japan, North America, and elsewhere for all its plants and processes, and it had accompanied those principles with
the companys small, dependable models. In 1973, the automaker entrusted the regimen of total quality control (TQC). In 1973, Toyota was in the midst of
some of the production of its smallest model, the Publica, to Daihatsus Kyoto propagating the Toyota Production System and TQC at its principal suppliers.
Plant. That was the fateful year of the first oil crisis, and demand for Toyotas Toyota suppliers in the Nagoya vicinity worked directly with Toyota plants and
24 The Birth of Lean What I Learned from Taiichi Ohno 25

of parts. Do you people think youre working in a warehouse?! was my had yet to develop any interest in
initial greeting to my new colleagues. kanban. I simply observed their
We were working hard on quality control activities at Daihatsu at that efforts from a distance and took
time, and I had thrown myself into those activities head over heels. But part as little as possible in the
what I found at the Kyoto Plant gave me pause for thought. Posted all over endeavor.
the workplace were materials for administering the quality control effort. Toyota had developed a
Producing and displaying the materials had become an end in itself. We somewhat upscale version of
The Daihatsu Consorte of around 1970, a sister
needed to get to work on more-substantive kaizen based on the actual the Publica, the Publica Starlet, model to the Toyota Publica
circumstances in the workplace. So I told everyone to get rid of any and all also to be produced at our Kyoto
materials that didnt provide concrete guidelines for how to go about our Plant. The Starlet remained an ultracompact mass-market model. It car-
work. We would retain only the materials that were obviously useful. ried an extremely low sticker price and would therefore be a low-margin
undertaking, at best. Earning any kind of profit on the Starlet would de-
Thanks but no thanks mand drastic cost cutting.
We were producing a Daihatsu model closely related to the Publica, the
The production managers and group leaders at the Kyoto Plant were Consorte, and we produced both models on the same line, using bodies
working feverishly on installing the kanban system when I arrived. But I supplied by Toyota. Our Consorte would remain in production, but the

Daihatsu was and is the only automaker based in the Kansai region, cen- fuel-efficient cars was soon to burgeon more dramatically than anyone could
tered on Osaka, Kyoto, and Kobe, and it boasts a history older than Toyotas. have guessed.
But in the late 1960s, it was distinctly inferior to Toyota in product quality and Despite Daihatsus shortcomings, the company was posting annual growth
in cost competitiveness. Joining the Toyota Group in 1967 presented Daihatsu in sales and earnings amid the booming growth in Japanese vehicle owner-
with the pressing challenge of swiftly attaining Toyota-like standards in its die- ship. Toyota had therefore turned a blind eye to issues at its new affiliate. But
sel technology, in its vehicle technology, and in its production technology. That the production team at Toyota took a closer look when it entrusted a Toyota-
challenge became especially pressing in 1973, the year that Tanaka moved to badged vehicle to Daihatsu. No less than Taiichi Ohno, then the executive vice
the Kyoto Plant. president for production at Toyota, took a personal interest in the project.
Toyota was growing rapidly in the early 1970s, and its plants were unable to Toyota had largely completed the task of adopting Ohnos principles in
keep up with the surging demand in Japan, North America, and elsewhere for all its plants and processes, and it had accompanied those principles with
the companys small, dependable models. In 1973, the automaker entrusted the regimen of total quality control (TQC). In 1973, Toyota was in the midst of
some of the production of its smallest model, the Publica, to Daihatsus Kyoto propagating the Toyota Production System and TQC at its principal suppliers.
Plant. That was the fateful year of the first oil crisis, and demand for Toyotas Toyota suppliers in the Nagoya vicinity worked directly with Toyota plants and
26 The Birth of Lean What I Learned from Taiichi Ohno 27

Starlet would entail a lot more impossible, they contended, and we could not possibly assemble the
parts than its predecessor. That Starlet without a new plant building. Sentiment mounted in the company
would mean producing two very that we should refuse to accept the Toyota model.
different models. Junichi Ono, Daihatsus executive vice president for technology, came
These days, automakers com- by my desk one day around that time and asked me for an opinion.
monly produce two, three, or Ohno-san says that we should make the new car without putting up a
even more models on the same new building. Our production engineering people say thats out of the
Toyotas Publica Starlet of 1973
assembly line. But in those days, question. What do you think?
each assembly line produced I replied in my typically irresponsible manner: We might as well have
only a single model. Our production team reviewed the proposal and a go at it. We dont know whats possible until we try. And if things dont
determined that we would need a 10,000-square-foot building to handle work out, we can always take it from there. That was not to suggest that
the new Toyota model. I was especially confident that we could produce the new model without
Ohno-san rejected our proposal out of hand. The Starlet, he insist- a new plant. And my boss was no more confident than I was. But we
ed, was an economy model. Building a new plant would raise the fixed decided to tell Ohno-san that we would have a go. My boss and I went to
costs and render the project untenable from the outset. So much for Toyota to deliver our response, but Ohno-san was out, so we simply left
Toyota, scoffed our production engineering people. Whats impossible is a message: Well do it without building a new plant.

had already begun to absorb the basic concepts. Daihatsu, however, had little questions remain about the applicability of the system in divergent corporate
daily interchange with Toyota, and introducing the Toyota Production System cultures and cultural milieu. Toyotas experience in transferring the system
there would be a unilateral undertaking. Ohno required an on-site evangelist, to Daihatsu is thus a hugely instructive episode. That episode is, indeed,
and Tanaka was his man. the original blueprint for transplanting the system to new and unfamiliar
What emerges from Tanakas talk is Ohnos rigorous emphasis on (1) the environments.
gemba gembutsu (also genchi gembutsu) principle of focusing management
on the workplace and (2) eliciting wisdom and innovation from people in the
workplace. Ohno, we learn anew, was more interested in getting people to
think for themselves than in telling them what to do.
People have understandably tended to focus on the technical aspects of
the Toyota Production System. Tanaka reminds us of the crucial importance
of the human aspect of motivating people in the workplace through inspira-
tional leadership. As famous as the Toyota Production System has become,
26 The Birth of Lean What I Learned from Taiichi Ohno 27

Starlet would entail a lot more impossible, they contended, and we could not possibly assemble the
parts than its predecessor. That Starlet without a new plant building. Sentiment mounted in the company
would mean producing two very that we should refuse to accept the Toyota model.
different models. Junichi Ono, Daihatsus executive vice president for technology, came
These days, automakers com- by my desk one day around that time and asked me for an opinion.
monly produce two, three, or Ohno-san says that we should make the new car without putting up a
even more models on the same new building. Our production engineering people say thats out of the
Toyotas Publica Starlet of 1973
assembly line. But in those days, question. What do you think?
each assembly line produced I replied in my typically irresponsible manner: We might as well have
only a single model. Our production team reviewed the proposal and a go at it. We dont know whats possible until we try. And if things dont
determined that we would need a 10,000-square-foot building to handle work out, we can always take it from there. That was not to suggest that
the new Toyota model. I was especially confident that we could produce the new model without
Ohno-san rejected our proposal out of hand. The Starlet, he insist- a new plant. And my boss was no more confident than I was. But we
ed, was an economy model. Building a new plant would raise the fixed decided to tell Ohno-san that we would have a go. My boss and I went to
costs and render the project untenable from the outset. So much for Toyota to deliver our response, but Ohno-san was out, so we simply left
Toyota, scoffed our production engineering people. Whats impossible is a message: Well do it without building a new plant.

had already begun to absorb the basic concepts. Daihatsu, however, had little questions remain about the applicability of the system in divergent corporate
daily interchange with Toyota, and introducing the Toyota Production System cultures and cultural milieu. Toyotas experience in transferring the system
there would be a unilateral undertaking. Ohno required an on-site evangelist, to Daihatsu is thus a hugely instructive episode. That episode is, indeed,
and Tanaka was his man. the original blueprint for transplanting the system to new and unfamiliar
What emerges from Tanakas talk is Ohnos rigorous emphasis on (1) the environments.
gemba gembutsu (also genchi gembutsu) principle of focusing management
on the workplace and (2) eliciting wisdom and innovation from people in the
workplace. Ohno, we learn anew, was more interested in getting people to
think for themselves than in telling them what to do.
People have understandably tended to focus on the technical aspects of
the Toyota Production System. Tanaka reminds us of the crucial importance
of the human aspect of motivating people in the workplace through inspira-
tional leadership. As famous as the Toyota Production System has become,
28 The Birth of Lean What I Learned from Taiichi Ohno 29

When I got back to the Kyoto Plant, the plant manager was away. I acquiesce to a second plant building. I dispatched a defiant message to
took the liberty of assembling the production managers and told them that Toyota: Thanks but no thanks. Well get the job done with the facilities
we had decided to produce the Starlet. They exploded and pummeled me we have.
for about two hours with reasons that it was impossible. After listening to
the litany of impossibilities, I explained that I understood perfectly well Ready, set, go!
why it was impossible but that we had decided to produce the Starlet
nonetheless. I told the managers that, henceforth, I was interested in Ohno-san came around about once a month during the preparations for
hearing about ways to produce the new model and that I had no more mass production. He always brought along a Toyota general manager from
patience for listening to why it was impossible. I called on them to join production engineering by the name of Takemoto. I overheard him telling
me in figuring out how to make the new project work. Takemoto, If this project doesnt go right, youre out of a job. And so
The years have mellowed me, but back then I was as pigheaded as they am I. Although Ohno-san was an executive vice president, I could tell
come. People knew that once I had made my mind up they would never from the tone of his voice that he meant what he said. That inspired me
persuade me otherwise. The production managers were soon coming forth to work even harder to succeed.
with ideas for achieving the necessary cost reductions. In one example, At a meeting one day, Ohno-san asked our president, Sakae Ohara,
we were producing batches with a stamping machine that extended over who his contact person should be for the Starlet project, and Ohara-san
12 shifts, and we reduced the batch sizes to 6-shift lots. That halved the named me. I was sitting about three rows back, but they called me up to
space required to store in-process stampings, and we would be able to the front of the room. That was exactly the fate that we all tried to avoid in
use the freed-up space to store parts for the second model. Everyone got dealing with Ohno-san. Everyone was interested in hearing what he had
into the act. to say, but no one wanted to face questions directly from the man while
People in every process found ways to save space over the next six standing at the front of a crowded room. That was because of Ohno-sans
months. We carefully maintained the newly available space to have it method. If he had 10 things that he wanted to tell you, hed tell you 2 and
available when the time came to add a second production model. While expect you to think for yourself until you came up with the other 8.
we were working successfully to You can imagine anyones terror at having Ohno-san look them in the
free up space, I heard through eye and ask, What do you think? I had yet to develop any interest in
the grapevine that Ohno-san had the kanban system, and I couldnt help thinking that Ohara-san had delib-
softened his stance. He had ap- erately named the manager least passionate about Ohno-sans signature
parently told a subordinate to go tool.
have a look at our Kyoto Plant The day of the start of mass production finally arrived. I summoned
and to let us know that, if abso- all the production managers for a meeting a little before 8 a.m. Ohno-
Daihatsus Kyoto Plant around 1970 lutely necessary, Toyota might san is bound to show up before the week is out, I cautioned them, so
28 The Birth of Lean What I Learned from Taiichi Ohno 29

When I got back to the Kyoto Plant, the plant manager was away. I acquiesce to a second plant building. I dispatched a defiant message to
took the liberty of assembling the production managers and told them that Toyota: Thanks but no thanks. Well get the job done with the facilities
we had decided to produce the Starlet. They exploded and pummeled me we have.
for about two hours with reasons that it was impossible. After listening to
the litany of impossibilities, I explained that I understood perfectly well Ready, set, go!
why it was impossible but that we had decided to produce the Starlet
nonetheless. I told the managers that, henceforth, I was interested in Ohno-san came around about once a month during the preparations for
hearing about ways to produce the new model and that I had no more mass production. He always brought along a Toyota general manager from
patience for listening to why it was impossible. I called on them to join production engineering by the name of Takemoto. I overheard him telling
me in figuring out how to make the new project work. Takemoto, If this project doesnt go right, youre out of a job. And so
The years have mellowed me, but back then I was as pigheaded as they am I. Although Ohno-san was an executive vice president, I could tell
come. People knew that once I had made my mind up they would never from the tone of his voice that he meant what he said. That inspired me
persuade me otherwise. The production managers were soon coming forth to work even harder to succeed.
with ideas for achieving the necessary cost reductions. In one example, At a meeting one day, Ohno-san asked our president, Sakae Ohara,
we were producing batches with a stamping machine that extended over who his contact person should be for the Starlet project, and Ohara-san
12 shifts, and we reduced the batch sizes to 6-shift lots. That halved the named me. I was sitting about three rows back, but they called me up to
space required to store in-process stampings, and we would be able to the front of the room. That was exactly the fate that we all tried to avoid in
use the freed-up space to store parts for the second model. Everyone got dealing with Ohno-san. Everyone was interested in hearing what he had
into the act. to say, but no one wanted to face questions directly from the man while
People in every process found ways to save space over the next six standing at the front of a crowded room. That was because of Ohno-sans
months. We carefully maintained the newly available space to have it method. If he had 10 things that he wanted to tell you, hed tell you 2 and
available when the time came to add a second production model. While expect you to think for yourself until you came up with the other 8.
we were working successfully to You can imagine anyones terror at having Ohno-san look them in the
free up space, I heard through eye and ask, What do you think? I had yet to develop any interest in
the grapevine that Ohno-san had the kanban system, and I couldnt help thinking that Ohara-san had delib-
softened his stance. He had ap- erately named the manager least passionate about Ohno-sans signature
parently told a subordinate to go tool.
have a look at our Kyoto Plant The day of the start of mass production finally arrived. I summoned
and to let us know that, if abso- all the production managers for a meeting a little before 8 a.m. Ohno-
Daihatsus Kyoto Plant around 1970 lutely necessary, Toyota might san is bound to show up before the week is out, I cautioned them, so
30 The Birth of Lean What I Learned from Taiichi Ohno 31

lets make sure that we get things shipshape over the next few days. No Getting into the spirit
sooner had I spoken than a woman entered the room to report that shed
just received a call from the guardhouse at the plant gate. Ohno-san had Our task, therefore, was to come up with an effective pacemaker. Toyotas
just entered the plant. I rushed to meet him, and we talked for about 30 Takemoto and I considered different possibilities and finally settled on a
minutes. Predictably, he grew impatient and insisted that we go have a buzzer as the easiest for everyone to understand. We installed the buzzer
look at the workplace. at the middle of the main line so that it would be audible to everyone,
We started at the body line. After Ohno-san had observed things for a even at the front end and back end of the line.
while, he pointed at a man in a main process on the line and asked me, Ohno-san came around again about a week later and promptly de-
Is he behind or ahead in his work? I had no idea and could only answer nounced our pacemaker. Thats no good at all. Your workers will feel
honestly, I dont know. Ohno-san, visibly unhappy, turned to the fore- like theyre under pressure all the time. This is a side of Ohno-san that
man responsible for the shop and asked him the same question. I dont you dont hear much about, and I want you to listen carefully. Contrary
remember how the foreman answered, but he gave a clear answer, either to the image that most people have, Ohno-san cared a great deal about
that the work was running ahead or behind. That exasperated Ohno-san employees in the workplace. You read that he was some kind of ogre who
all the more, and he barked at me angrily, Your foreman is lying. Im was always trying to squeeze one more drop out of a dry towel. But the
standing here watching, and I cant see if the work is running ahead or real man was not like that at all.
behind. Theres no way that he could know any better. The last thing you want to do, he explained, is make your people
Ohno-san then demanded a blackboard, and I escorted him into a feel like theyre always under the gun. If you want to use sound for your
meeting room. He headed straight for the blackboard and, chalk in hand, pacemaker, use a pleasant melody, not a shrill buzzer. And let the em-
drew a line. When you ran races in school, you had a starting line, right? ployees choose the melody. Also, you need to install the speakers at three
Everyone started at the same line, and ready, set, go! they all started run- places, not just one.
ning. You could see who was the fastest, who was the second fastest, who Ohno-san and I discussed several things for a couple of hours. Then he
was the slowest. But if everyone starts at a different place, you cant tell suddenly asked, Have you worked out the new positioning for your pace-
whos fastest. Thats whats happening in the work that we just saw. You maker speakers? Are they already in place? When will they be ready? I
cant tell whos running ahead and whos running behind. You cant see found a plant administration manager and asked him when we would
where problems lie, and youve got no basis for doing kaizen. Youve got have the speakers installed in three places. Well do it this Saturday, was
to work as if you were putting things on a conveyor, even where youre the prompt reply. I conveyed that answer to Ohno-san without any sense
not actually using a conveyor. And to do that, you need a pacemaker. of contradiction, whereupon he told me the following story.
I was at the Takaoka Plant the other day. They had a lot of body shells
hanging from the overhead conveyor in the paint shop. I told the general
manager that he had too much work-in-process and instructed him to
30 The Birth of Lean What I Learned from Taiichi Ohno 31

lets make sure that we get things shipshape over the next few days. No Getting into the spirit
sooner had I spoken than a woman entered the room to report that shed
just received a call from the guardhouse at the plant gate. Ohno-san had Our task, therefore, was to come up with an effective pacemaker. Toyotas
just entered the plant. I rushed to meet him, and we talked for about 30 Takemoto and I considered different possibilities and finally settled on a
minutes. Predictably, he grew impatient and insisted that we go have a buzzer as the easiest for everyone to understand. We installed the buzzer
look at the workplace. at the middle of the main line so that it would be audible to everyone,
We started at the body line. After Ohno-san had observed things for a even at the front end and back end of the line.
while, he pointed at a man in a main process on the line and asked me, Ohno-san came around again about a week later and promptly de-
Is he behind or ahead in his work? I had no idea and could only answer nounced our pacemaker. Thats no good at all. Your workers will feel
honestly, I dont know. Ohno-san, visibly unhappy, turned to the fore- like theyre under pressure all the time. This is a side of Ohno-san that
man responsible for the shop and asked him the same question. I dont you dont hear much about, and I want you to listen carefully. Contrary
remember how the foreman answered, but he gave a clear answer, either to the image that most people have, Ohno-san cared a great deal about
that the work was running ahead or behind. That exasperated Ohno-san employees in the workplace. You read that he was some kind of ogre who
all the more, and he barked at me angrily, Your foreman is lying. Im was always trying to squeeze one more drop out of a dry towel. But the
standing here watching, and I cant see if the work is running ahead or real man was not like that at all.
behind. Theres no way that he could know any better. The last thing you want to do, he explained, is make your people
Ohno-san then demanded a blackboard, and I escorted him into a feel like theyre always under the gun. If you want to use sound for your
meeting room. He headed straight for the blackboard and, chalk in hand, pacemaker, use a pleasant melody, not a shrill buzzer. And let the em-
drew a line. When you ran races in school, you had a starting line, right? ployees choose the melody. Also, you need to install the speakers at three
Everyone started at the same line, and ready, set, go! they all started run- places, not just one.
ning. You could see who was the fastest, who was the second fastest, who Ohno-san and I discussed several things for a couple of hours. Then he
was the slowest. But if everyone starts at a different place, you cant tell suddenly asked, Have you worked out the new positioning for your pace-
whos fastest. Thats whats happening in the work that we just saw. You maker speakers? Are they already in place? When will they be ready? I
cant tell whos running ahead and whos running behind. You cant see found a plant administration manager and asked him when we would
where problems lie, and youve got no basis for doing kaizen. Youve got have the speakers installed in three places. Well do it this Saturday, was
to work as if you were putting things on a conveyor, even where youre the prompt reply. I conveyed that answer to Ohno-san without any sense
not actually using a conveyor. And to do that, you need a pacemaker. of contradiction, whereupon he told me the following story.
I was at the Takaoka Plant the other day. They had a lot of body shells
hanging from the overhead conveyor in the paint shop. I told the general
manager that he had too much work-in-process and instructed him to
32 The Birth of Lean What I Learned from Taiichi Ohno 33

reduce the volume. He replied, Well get right on it. Give us a little time. A friend of labor
I assumed that he meant an hour or two, and I went back after a couple
of hours and asked, Have you taken care of the excess work-in-process? Ohno-san came by the Kyoto Plant about once a week for the next six
His answer was, Well get it done this Saturday. Fine, I said, and in the months. He reminded us frequently and severely what we needed to do:
meantime, Im going to trash all these body shells hanging here. Get me Make do with the equipment youve got.
a ladder and a hammer. Now! The general manager gained a new sense Dont automate anything.
of urgency, and he got the job done right away. Dont spend any money.
On hearing that story, I began to feel extremely uncomfortable seated Limit your production output to the numbers in the sales plan.
in the office. I excused myself and went out into the workplace to get the Your costs will eat up all your profit if you dont watch out, so dont
speakers installed. hire more people.
Ohno-san needed to attend a meeting that evening in Nagoya and As soon as we had complied with Ohno-sans insistence on monitor-
therefore needed to leave our Kyoto Plant by 4 p.m., at the latest. A little ing the pace of work cycles, he raised the stakes. Simply determining
before three oclock, I went to check on the speaker-installation work. whether a cycle is too fast or too slow isnt good enough. You need to
When I told the people to hurry up, they protested that they were work- monitor the pace of work inside each cycle. So we divided the cycles into
ing as fast as possible but that they could not get the job done by four five parts and set up a sound system to play music at the completion of
oclock. I told them they could use temporary wiring or anything neces- each part, including music to indicate the completion of the whole cycle.
sary to speed things up. Everyone working on different processes in the same cycle knew when
When we finally got the speakers installed, it was nearly five oclock. they should be one-fifth done, when they should be two-fifths done, and
Ohno-san was still in the meeting room when I went to report that the so on.
job was done. He hadnt spoken a word since one oclock, and the atmo- We rigged the processes so that a yellow andon lamp shined when the
sphere in the room was sort of eerie. work was four-fifths done and a blue andon shined when the work for the
On receiving my report, Ohno-san simply got up and said, Im leav- cycle was completely done. A red andon light would shine at a process
ing now. that was running behind. When the lamps at all the processes were shin-
Please come and have a look at the speakers, I begged. ing blue, the music would stop and the next cycle would begin.
No, Im leaving. Our system prevented any process from moving on to the next work
Everyone worked really hard to get the speakers installed. The least cycle before all the processes had completed the work in a cycle. That
you could do is stop by and have a look. linked the pace of work to the pace in the slowest process, and it was
Youve finally got in the spirit of things, havent you? As long as difficult to get used to. People found themselves waiting all the time for
youve got in the mood to get things done, then Im satisfied. someone in some process to catch up. Capacity utilization stagnated. We
could only produce four or five vehicles per hour at first.
32 The Birth of Lean What I Learned from Taiichi Ohno 33

reduce the volume. He replied, Well get right on it. Give us a little time. A friend of labor
I assumed that he meant an hour or two, and I went back after a couple
of hours and asked, Have you taken care of the excess work-in-process? Ohno-san came by the Kyoto Plant about once a week for the next six
His answer was, Well get it done this Saturday. Fine, I said, and in the months. He reminded us frequently and severely what we needed to do:
meantime, Im going to trash all these body shells hanging here. Get me Make do with the equipment youve got.
a ladder and a hammer. Now! The general manager gained a new sense Dont automate anything.
of urgency, and he got the job done right away. Dont spend any money.
On hearing that story, I began to feel extremely uncomfortable seated Limit your production output to the numbers in the sales plan.
in the office. I excused myself and went out into the workplace to get the Your costs will eat up all your profit if you dont watch out, so dont
speakers installed. hire more people.
Ohno-san needed to attend a meeting that evening in Nagoya and As soon as we had complied with Ohno-sans insistence on monitor-
therefore needed to leave our Kyoto Plant by 4 p.m., at the latest. A little ing the pace of work cycles, he raised the stakes. Simply determining
before three oclock, I went to check on the speaker-installation work. whether a cycle is too fast or too slow isnt good enough. You need to
When I told the people to hurry up, they protested that they were work- monitor the pace of work inside each cycle. So we divided the cycles into
ing as fast as possible but that they could not get the job done by four five parts and set up a sound system to play music at the completion of
oclock. I told them they could use temporary wiring or anything neces- each part, including music to indicate the completion of the whole cycle.
sary to speed things up. Everyone working on different processes in the same cycle knew when
When we finally got the speakers installed, it was nearly five oclock. they should be one-fifth done, when they should be two-fifths done, and
Ohno-san was still in the meeting room when I went to report that the so on.
job was done. He hadnt spoken a word since one oclock, and the atmo- We rigged the processes so that a yellow andon lamp shined when the
sphere in the room was sort of eerie. work was four-fifths done and a blue andon shined when the work for the
On receiving my report, Ohno-san simply got up and said, Im leav- cycle was completely done. A red andon light would shine at a process
ing now. that was running behind. When the lamps at all the processes were shin-
Please come and have a look at the speakers, I begged. ing blue, the music would stop and the next cycle would begin.
No, Im leaving. Our system prevented any process from moving on to the next work
Everyone worked really hard to get the speakers installed. The least cycle before all the processes had completed the work in a cycle. That
you could do is stop by and have a look. linked the pace of work to the pace in the slowest process, and it was
Youve finally got in the spirit of things, havent you? As long as difficult to get used to. People found themselves waiting all the time for
youve got in the mood to get things done, then Im satisfied. someone in some process to catch up. Capacity utilization stagnated. We
could only produce four or five vehicles per hour at first.
34 The Birth of Lean What I Learned from Taiichi Ohno 35

Ohno-san, however, was patient. Improve things little by little. Make the task. One way would be to assign more people to the work, but that,
sure that the process that caused problems this morning doesnt cause of course, was not an option. Instead, we devised some jigs for hanging
problems this afternoon. The way to increase your hourly production vol- the panels from a rail and pulling them from one process to the next.
ume is to recognize problems when they occur and to make the necessary Our automated equipment had raised the side panels straight up and
improvements to prevent them from recurring. them moved them horizontally to the next process. But our manual pul-
We had formerly regarded our workflow as a conveyor that we started ley system pulled the side panels directly toward the next process along
and stopped. Ohno-sans ready, set, go! concept changed our basic a diagonal path. So the manual system conveyed the side panels faster
perspective. In our new approach, everything came to a stop if a process than the automatic system had. Sure enough, Ohno-san had noted the
fell behind, and everything started up anew when all the work in a cycle time loss that our automated system entailed. Only when we actually
was done. It was still a conveyor concept, but the conveyor started and tried an alternative method in the workplace did we see how much time
stopped on its own. People in our plant formerly had pressed a button to we were wasting.
indicate the end of a cycle. Pushing buttons is not the object of our work, Ohno-san cut right to the chase on his next visit: Has the removal
however, and the act of pushing wasted a second or more of time. So we of the automatic equipment been causing headaches for people in the
devised sensors that detected when operators had placed tools in posi- workplace?
tions that indicated the end of a cycle. The sensors triggered the andon It was a problem at first, I acknowledged. And we experimented
lamps and the music. with a number of possible solutions. We finally settled on a pulley system,
One day, Ohno-san demandedwithout offering any reasonthat we which has actually reduced the conveyance time some.
get rid of the automated equipment for conveying side panels between Thats good to hear. I wasnt entirely confident about how things
processes. Side panels are big and heavy, and they are difficult for even would work out. And I was thinking in the car about the trouble that I
two men to carry. Conveying them manually would mean considerably might have caused for your people. But I know that the workplace can be
more work. Why Ohno-san wanted us to remove the automated convey- a source of incredible wisdom when the need arises. That really is good
ance was a mystery, even to Toyotas Takemoto. to hear.
The people in the workplace appealed to me to ask Ohno-san to re- Ohno-san repeated two or three times during our conversation that he
consider his order. I was just a deputy plant manager at a Daihatsu plant. had been worried about causing trouble for people in the workplace. He
Ohno-san was an executive vice president at Toyota. I was in no position was the first senior executive who I ever heard express that kind of con-
to challenge his judgment. So I reminded our people that Ohno-san was cern. I knew then that he really approached kaizen from the standpoint of
a production genius and that he surely had a good reason for wanting the workers. I knew how wrong people had been to suggest that he was
us to get rid of the automated conveyance. I understood perfectly well, an enemy of labor.
however, that conveying the side panels manually would impose a huge
burden on our employees, and I set about thinking of new ways to handle
34 The Birth of Lean What I Learned from Taiichi Ohno 35

Ohno-san, however, was patient. Improve things little by little. Make the task. One way would be to assign more people to the work, but that,
sure that the process that caused problems this morning doesnt cause of course, was not an option. Instead, we devised some jigs for hanging
problems this afternoon. The way to increase your hourly production vol- the panels from a rail and pulling them from one process to the next.
ume is to recognize problems when they occur and to make the necessary Our automated equipment had raised the side panels straight up and
improvements to prevent them from recurring. them moved them horizontally to the next process. But our manual pul-
We had formerly regarded our workflow as a conveyor that we started ley system pulled the side panels directly toward the next process along
and stopped. Ohno-sans ready, set, go! concept changed our basic a diagonal path. So the manual system conveyed the side panels faster
perspective. In our new approach, everything came to a stop if a process than the automatic system had. Sure enough, Ohno-san had noted the
fell behind, and everything started up anew when all the work in a cycle time loss that our automated system entailed. Only when we actually
was done. It was still a conveyor concept, but the conveyor started and tried an alternative method in the workplace did we see how much time
stopped on its own. People in our plant formerly had pressed a button to we were wasting.
indicate the end of a cycle. Pushing buttons is not the object of our work, Ohno-san cut right to the chase on his next visit: Has the removal
however, and the act of pushing wasted a second or more of time. So we of the automatic equipment been causing headaches for people in the
devised sensors that detected when operators had placed tools in posi- workplace?
tions that indicated the end of a cycle. The sensors triggered the andon It was a problem at first, I acknowledged. And we experimented
lamps and the music. with a number of possible solutions. We finally settled on a pulley system,
One day, Ohno-san demandedwithout offering any reasonthat we which has actually reduced the conveyance time some.
get rid of the automated equipment for conveying side panels between Thats good to hear. I wasnt entirely confident about how things
processes. Side panels are big and heavy, and they are difficult for even would work out. And I was thinking in the car about the trouble that I
two men to carry. Conveying them manually would mean considerably might have caused for your people. But I know that the workplace can be
more work. Why Ohno-san wanted us to remove the automated convey- a source of incredible wisdom when the need arises. That really is good
ance was a mystery, even to Toyotas Takemoto. to hear.
The people in the workplace appealed to me to ask Ohno-san to re- Ohno-san repeated two or three times during our conversation that he
consider his order. I was just a deputy plant manager at a Daihatsu plant. had been worried about causing trouble for people in the workplace. He
Ohno-san was an executive vice president at Toyota. I was in no position was the first senior executive who I ever heard express that kind of con-
to challenge his judgment. So I reminded our people that Ohno-san was cern. I knew then that he really approached kaizen from the standpoint of
a production genius and that he surely had a good reason for wanting the workers. I knew how wrong people had been to suggest that he was
us to get rid of the automated conveyance. I understood perfectly well, an enemy of labor.
however, that conveying the side panels manually would impose a huge
burden on our employees, and I set about thinking of new ways to handle
36 The Birth of Lean What I Learned from Taiichi Ohno 37

Gemba gembutsu Under Ohno-san, our basic stance came to include synchronizing activ-
ity in the production sequence with kanban, and what we did included
Kaizen raised our productivity from four or five vehicles per hour to six using kanban as instructions to start work in each process. We didnt have
and then to eight. Ohno-san turned his attention to time loss that he per- any welding robots back then, so all sorts of cables for the hand welding
ceived in the conveyance equipment on our main assembly line. We were tools where hanging down around the line. Those cables obstructed the
using a shuttle system, which he denounced as wasteful. Ohno-san noted operators view of the work instructions, and we received a request from
the time that work-in-process sat waiting for the shuttle, and he instructed the workplace to install a television monitor to display the instructions.
us to devise a way to send bodies on to the next process as soon as they I approved the installation of the monitors, and the operators reported
were ready and needed. happily that the displays made their work a lot easier. Our plant man-
Our shuttle system launched a body toward the next process as soon ager told me to get rid of them, however, on the grounds that Ohno-san
as the previous body was safely out of the way. But that could impose hated television monitors. I argued that Ohno-san might hate monitors
delays. I was beginning to get a feel for Ohno-sans way of thinking, or at in principle but that he was a man who welcomed anything that made
least I thought I was. And what I thought was that he was interested in work easier for employees. I assured the plant manager that Ohno-san
pushing things to the limit. I issued instructions to our people based on would acknowledge the value of the monitors, and I left them in place.
that understanding: come up with a system that will put the next body in We raised the subject with Ohno-san on his next visit. Declining to render
motion as soon as the previous body starts moving. judgment sight unseen, he said, Lets go have a look. Ohno-san stood in
Soon after we modified the system in accordance with my instructions, the position of the welding operators and acknowledged forthrightly that
an accident occurred. An employee who had gone behind a body to work the work instructions were difficult to see and that the television monitors
on the back panel got sandwiched between that body and the next body. were a good idea.
Fortunately, he didnt get hurt. But I got a scolding from Ohno-san on his Gemba gembutsu [also genchi gembutsu: a commitment to seeing
next visit. He asked what we had done about the time loss that he had things (gembutsu) firsthand as they really are in the workplace (gemba or
noted on his previous visit. And I explained that we had squeezed things genchi)] was absolutely fundamental to Ohno-sans approach. He never
to the limit but that an employee had got pinned between two bodies. rendered judgment simply on the basis of hearing about something. He
Youre going about things completely wrong, he declared. Youre always insisted on going to the place in question and having a look. On
moving things in anticipation of needs in the next process. If youre going occasions when we might press him for an opinion, hed say, Youre the
to do that, you need to make sure the coast is clear before you put things one who has seen the thing. You know better than I do. How could I talk
in motion. about something that I havent seen?
I never heard anything again from Ohno-san about time loss in convey-
ance on our main assembly line. He was more interested, I had discov-
ered, in our basic stance than in what we actually did.
36 The Birth of Lean What I Learned from Taiichi Ohno 37

Gemba gembutsu Under Ohno-san, our basic stance came to include synchronizing activ-
ity in the production sequence with kanban, and what we did included
Kaizen raised our productivity from four or five vehicles per hour to six using kanban as instructions to start work in each process. We didnt have
and then to eight. Ohno-san turned his attention to time loss that he per- any welding robots back then, so all sorts of cables for the hand welding
ceived in the conveyance equipment on our main assembly line. We were tools where hanging down around the line. Those cables obstructed the
using a shuttle system, which he denounced as wasteful. Ohno-san noted operators view of the work instructions, and we received a request from
the time that work-in-process sat waiting for the shuttle, and he instructed the workplace to install a television monitor to display the instructions.
us to devise a way to send bodies on to the next process as soon as they I approved the installation of the monitors, and the operators reported
were ready and needed. happily that the displays made their work a lot easier. Our plant man-
Our shuttle system launched a body toward the next process as soon ager told me to get rid of them, however, on the grounds that Ohno-san
as the previous body was safely out of the way. But that could impose hated television monitors. I argued that Ohno-san might hate monitors
delays. I was beginning to get a feel for Ohno-sans way of thinking, or at in principle but that he was a man who welcomed anything that made
least I thought I was. And what I thought was that he was interested in work easier for employees. I assured the plant manager that Ohno-san
pushing things to the limit. I issued instructions to our people based on would acknowledge the value of the monitors, and I left them in place.
that understanding: come up with a system that will put the next body in We raised the subject with Ohno-san on his next visit. Declining to render
motion as soon as the previous body starts moving. judgment sight unseen, he said, Lets go have a look. Ohno-san stood in
Soon after we modified the system in accordance with my instructions, the position of the welding operators and acknowledged forthrightly that
an accident occurred. An employee who had gone behind a body to work the work instructions were difficult to see and that the television monitors
on the back panel got sandwiched between that body and the next body. were a good idea.
Fortunately, he didnt get hurt. But I got a scolding from Ohno-san on his Gemba gembutsu [also genchi gembutsu: a commitment to seeing
next visit. He asked what we had done about the time loss that he had things (gembutsu) firsthand as they really are in the workplace (gemba or
noted on his previous visit. And I explained that we had squeezed things genchi)] was absolutely fundamental to Ohno-sans approach. He never
to the limit but that an employee had got pinned between two bodies. rendered judgment simply on the basis of hearing about something. He
Youre going about things completely wrong, he declared. Youre always insisted on going to the place in question and having a look. On
moving things in anticipation of needs in the next process. If youre going occasions when we might press him for an opinion, hed say, Youre the
to do that, you need to make sure the coast is clear before you put things one who has seen the thing. You know better than I do. How could I talk
in motion. about something that I havent seen?
I never heard anything again from Ohno-san about time loss in convey-
ance on our main assembly line. He was more interested, I had discov-
ered, in our basic stance than in what we actually did.
38 The Birth of Lean What I Learned from Taiichi Ohno 39

A key to kaizen thing that I could do for you, and my conclusion was that I have no role
to play here.
Ohno-san was extremely demanding in regard to kaizen results, but he I stopped by Ohno-sans house on the way home Friday evening and
had an uncanny sense for what was possible in the circumstances. Asked told him what I have just told you. He said, Your problem is that youre
about our progress in raising productivity, I reported proudly that we were trying to think of something to teach the people at Daihatsu. You dont
up to 8 vehicles per hour, and he said, I see. So next week, lets get it up need to teach them anything. What you need to do there is help make the
to 10. When I reported that we had reached that target, he said, So now work easier for the operators. Thats your job. Do some simple kaizen. Do
get it up to 12. That continued week after week. Takemoto reflected on some small-scale automation.
the effort that everyone was putting into achieving the targets and won- I finally know what Im supposed to do here. And thats what Im
dered aloud if Ohno-san would ever be satisfied. going to do.
Something interesting happened when our output reached 16 vehicles My habit was to take a walk through the plant on my way home each
per hour. Ordinarily, I had reported our latest rise in productivity with evening. One evening, I noticed a light on in the body shop around eight
words like, Ohno-san, we did it! But when I announced our attainment oclock. We didnt have much overtime at that time, so I was curious
of 16 vehicles per hour, I said something like, We finally got it up to 16. and went to have a look. A few men were holding a discussion. One was
I dont know if my words betrayed fatigue or not, but for whatever reason, Imai. Another was a team leader. He explained that they were testing the
Ohno-san never again voiced the subject of hourly output. He still had a ejection mechanism on a benchtop spot welder and that it wasnt work-
higher target in mind, however, and he steered us next to some modest ing very well.
automation. Sixteen vehicles per hour took us above the break-even point I suggested that they go ahead and try using the mechanism, as long
in our initial production planning. But Ohno-san was now aiming for 20 as they had gone to the trouble of making it. At that point, Imai asked
per hour. someone to bring him an acetylene torch, and he proceeded to cut off the
To oversee the automation kaizen, Ohno-san brought along a man ejection mechanism. I asked what in the world he was doing, and he re-
from Toyota by the name of Imai. Weve got a lot of people at Toyota, plied that they would keep modifying the welder until the operators were
grumbled Ohno-san, but hardly any of them have any real wisdom. Imai completely satisfied.
is an exception. I wondered what Imai would do for us in the way of Good kaizen, said Imai, depends on the active cooperation of your
kaizen, and for a week he did nothing at all. He simply watched what was employees. You might think youre on the right track. But unless your
happening in the workplace. On the Monday of his second week at our employees are taking part actively, youll never get the full potential of
plant, he came by my desk and described his impressions and his plans the improvements. Thats why were going to keep working on this until
as follows. the people in the workplace think weve got it right.
I watched the activity in your workplace carefully for a week, and I About a week later, I again saw a light on late one night. This time,
saw that people are working extremely well. I struggled to think of some- two operators were working on a new version of the ejection mechanism.
38 The Birth of Lean What I Learned from Taiichi Ohno 39

A key to kaizen thing that I could do for you, and my conclusion was that I have no role
to play here.
Ohno-san was extremely demanding in regard to kaizen results, but he I stopped by Ohno-sans house on the way home Friday evening and
had an uncanny sense for what was possible in the circumstances. Asked told him what I have just told you. He said, Your problem is that youre
about our progress in raising productivity, I reported proudly that we were trying to think of something to teach the people at Daihatsu. You dont
up to 8 vehicles per hour, and he said, I see. So next week, lets get it up need to teach them anything. What you need to do there is help make the
to 10. When I reported that we had reached that target, he said, So now work easier for the operators. Thats your job. Do some simple kaizen. Do
get it up to 12. That continued week after week. Takemoto reflected on some small-scale automation.
the effort that everyone was putting into achieving the targets and won- I finally know what Im supposed to do here. And thats what Im
dered aloud if Ohno-san would ever be satisfied. going to do.
Something interesting happened when our output reached 16 vehicles My habit was to take a walk through the plant on my way home each
per hour. Ordinarily, I had reported our latest rise in productivity with evening. One evening, I noticed a light on in the body shop around eight
words like, Ohno-san, we did it! But when I announced our attainment oclock. We didnt have much overtime at that time, so I was curious
of 16 vehicles per hour, I said something like, We finally got it up to 16. and went to have a look. A few men were holding a discussion. One was
I dont know if my words betrayed fatigue or not, but for whatever reason, Imai. Another was a team leader. He explained that they were testing the
Ohno-san never again voiced the subject of hourly output. He still had a ejection mechanism on a benchtop spot welder and that it wasnt work-
higher target in mind, however, and he steered us next to some modest ing very well.
automation. Sixteen vehicles per hour took us above the break-even point I suggested that they go ahead and try using the mechanism, as long
in our initial production planning. But Ohno-san was now aiming for 20 as they had gone to the trouble of making it. At that point, Imai asked
per hour. someone to bring him an acetylene torch, and he proceeded to cut off the
To oversee the automation kaizen, Ohno-san brought along a man ejection mechanism. I asked what in the world he was doing, and he re-
from Toyota by the name of Imai. Weve got a lot of people at Toyota, plied that they would keep modifying the welder until the operators were
grumbled Ohno-san, but hardly any of them have any real wisdom. Imai completely satisfied.
is an exception. I wondered what Imai would do for us in the way of Good kaizen, said Imai, depends on the active cooperation of your
kaizen, and for a week he did nothing at all. He simply watched what was employees. You might think youre on the right track. But unless your
happening in the workplace. On the Monday of his second week at our employees are taking part actively, youll never get the full potential of
plant, he came by my desk and described his impressions and his plans the improvements. Thats why were going to keep working on this until
as follows. the people in the workplace think weve got it right.
I watched the activity in your workplace carefully for a week, and I About a week later, I again saw a light on late one night. This time,
saw that people are working extremely well. I struggled to think of some- two operators were working on a new version of the ejection mechanism.
40 The Birth of Lean What I Learned from Taiichi Ohno 41

Weve just about got it right, said one of the operators. But we want The real purpose of kanban
to make sure that we dont cause problems for people, so were making
some extra parts tonight. What became clear during my work with Ohno-san is that his chief inter-
The two operators working late had the same spirit as Ohno-san. And est was something other than reducing work-in-process, raising productiv-
they had gotten that spirit by seeing his example. The people on the plant ity, or lowering costs. His ultimate aim, I gradually learned, was to help
floor never talked directly with Ohno-san during his visits. They received employees assert their full potential. And when that happens, all those
his instructions through me. But they saw him there. They saw how he other things will occur naturally. I put the question directly to Ohno-san
took an interest in their work. And they saw the results of his guidance. at the end of our six months of intensive work under his guidance.
Plant managers always made a special effort to prepare for a visit by a VIP. Ohno-san, Im grateful for everything youve done for us over the past
But people in the workplace rarely paid any heed. Visits by Ohno-san, half year. And I want you to know that I was completely wrong about
however, were different. the kanban. I thought of it entirely in terms of reducing work-in-process,
Whens Ohno-san coming next? someone would call out and ask me raising productivity, and illuminating problems. Of course, it is good for
when I was walking through the plant. Hell be here again next week. all those things. But your basic aim is something else, isnt it? You use the
Wed better get things right by then, the operator would shout back. kanban to create a positive tension in the workplace by reducing work-
The company unions officials called me in one day and complained in-process, and that motivates people to do better than they ever thought
that what we were doing at the Kyoto Plant was labor abuse. They had they could do. Isnt that what youre really aiming for?
the same misconception about Ohno-san that I had before I met and Whenever someone said something wrong, Ohno-san was unhesitating
worked with him: that he was an enemy of labor. I described how my own with an unambiguous No. But he never said Yes. The way you knew
impressions had changed as I saw Ohno-san in actionas I saw how he he agreed with something was that he said nothing. And my question
genuinely cared about people in the workplace and how he went out of elicited an affirmative silence.
his way to make work easier and more fulfilling for the employees. And A professor from a German university came to our plant one time to
I added in the spirit of gemba gembutsu, But dont take my word for it. learn about the kanban system. He started off by asking me about the pur-
Go have a look. Ask the people in the workplace what they think. I heard pose of kanban. I replied that the kanban was a tool for tapping peoples
later that someone from the union office had gone to the Kyoto Plant and potential by fostering a creative tension in the workplace. I had always
that none of the employees expressed any dissatisfaction. heard that kanban were for reducing inventories, he replied, but your
answer makes more sense.
In my talk, I have covered only some of the most trying incidents and
most gratifying incidents in our work with Ohno-san. I hope that my
remarks have conveyed the most important message: that motivation is
everything. Tools and methods are secondary. Any tool or method will
40 The Birth of Lean What I Learned from Taiichi Ohno 41

Weve just about got it right, said one of the operators. But we want The real purpose of kanban
to make sure that we dont cause problems for people, so were making
some extra parts tonight. What became clear during my work with Ohno-san is that his chief inter-
The two operators working late had the same spirit as Ohno-san. And est was something other than reducing work-in-process, raising productiv-
they had gotten that spirit by seeing his example. The people on the plant ity, or lowering costs. His ultimate aim, I gradually learned, was to help
floor never talked directly with Ohno-san during his visits. They received employees assert their full potential. And when that happens, all those
his instructions through me. But they saw him there. They saw how he other things will occur naturally. I put the question directly to Ohno-san
took an interest in their work. And they saw the results of his guidance. at the end of our six months of intensive work under his guidance.
Plant managers always made a special effort to prepare for a visit by a VIP. Ohno-san, Im grateful for everything youve done for us over the past
But people in the workplace rarely paid any heed. Visits by Ohno-san, half year. And I want you to know that I was completely wrong about
however, were different. the kanban. I thought of it entirely in terms of reducing work-in-process,
Whens Ohno-san coming next? someone would call out and ask me raising productivity, and illuminating problems. Of course, it is good for
when I was walking through the plant. Hell be here again next week. all those things. But your basic aim is something else, isnt it? You use the
Wed better get things right by then, the operator would shout back. kanban to create a positive tension in the workplace by reducing work-
The company unions officials called me in one day and complained in-process, and that motivates people to do better than they ever thought
that what we were doing at the Kyoto Plant was labor abuse. They had they could do. Isnt that what youre really aiming for?
the same misconception about Ohno-san that I had before I met and Whenever someone said something wrong, Ohno-san was unhesitating
worked with him: that he was an enemy of labor. I described how my own with an unambiguous No. But he never said Yes. The way you knew
impressions had changed as I saw Ohno-san in actionas I saw how he he agreed with something was that he said nothing. And my question
genuinely cared about people in the workplace and how he went out of elicited an affirmative silence.
his way to make work easier and more fulfilling for the employees. And A professor from a German university came to our plant one time to
I added in the spirit of gemba gembutsu, But dont take my word for it. learn about the kanban system. He started off by asking me about the pur-
Go have a look. Ask the people in the workplace what they think. I heard pose of kanban. I replied that the kanban was a tool for tapping peoples
later that someone from the union office had gone to the Kyoto Plant and potential by fostering a creative tension in the workplace. I had always
that none of the employees expressed any dissatisfaction. heard that kanban were for reducing inventories, he replied, but your
answer makes more sense.
In my talk, I have covered only some of the most trying incidents and
most gratifying incidents in our work with Ohno-san. I hope that my
remarks have conveyed the most important message: that motivation is
everything. Tools and methods are secondary. Any tool or method will
42 The Birth of Lean What I Learned from Taiichi Ohno 43

work if people are motivated. And no tool or method will work if people he noticed that one of the workers needed to lift a heavy engine block
are not motivated. Thats what I learned from Ohno-san. once during each work cycle. Ohno-san wondered why that was neces-
To us, Ohno-san was like a god. But he was ever aware of his fallibil- sary. He called the production chief over and ordered him to go find out
ity, and he was determined not to let his mistakes become a burden on what was going on. The production chief came back and reported that the
people in the workplace. Thats why he was always impatient to try out roller conveyor was broken.
new ideas immediately. I dont always get things right, hed say. And if What in the world do you think youre doing here? shouted Ohno-
Ive got something wrong, I want to fix it right away. And thats why we san. We dont hire people to lift engine blocks. You go check and see
scheduled our kaizen in minutes and hours, not in days and weeks. right now if youre not sitting on other problems just like this one. The
production chief soon reported three similar problems, and he received
Ohno Anecdotes and Aphorisms the predictable scolding from Ohno-san. Youre out here on the floor
every day, but youre not really seeing anything: whether your people are
1. Kaizen having problems with something, whether waste is happening, whether
you have overburden somewhere.
Ohno-san would scold us, saying, Simply staring at things is no way to Ohno-san insisted that only about half of the activity in a typical work-
find out how to make them better. Your eyes are wide open, but youre place was value-added work. The rest was just spinning wheels, not mak-
blind as bats! But Ohno-san, someone would protest, blind is a de- ing any money for the company. He taught us to see. I took a fresh look
rogatory term. Is that right? Well then, youve got tinfoil over your eyes at the workplace, and I could see that he was right, that waste was hap-
[to make them shine as if they were open]. pening everywhere.
If youre going to do kaizen continuously, hed go on, youve got to Another thing Ohno-san said about kaizen was that we should never
assume that things are a mess. Too many people just assume that things listen to the shop veterans. They just get in the way of kaizen, hed say.
are all right the way they are. Arent you guys convinced that the way As much as possible, get the opinions of the people who are actually
youre doing things is the right way? Thats no way to get anything done. doing the work. Wisdom is born from the ideas of novices. The veterans
Kaizen is about changing the way things are. If you assume that things are will spout off about whats possible and whats not possible on the basis
all right the way they are, you cant do kaizen. So change something! of their experience and a tiny bit of knowledge. And when the veterans
When you go out into the workplace, you should be looking for things speak, everyone else keeps quiet. So kaizen cant even get started.
that you can do for your people there. Youve got no business in the work- Heres a funny story in that connection. My uncle is 93 years old, and
place if youre just there to be there. Youve got to be looking for changes hes hard of hearing. The ear, nose, and throat specialist told him that he
you can make for the benefit of the people who are working there. needed hearing aids, that it was only natural for someone in their 90s to
Heres an example of Ohno-sans approach. He was observing the work wear them. So my uncle bought an expensive pair of hearing aids. One
on an engine assembly line one time when he was a plant manager, and day soon after that, he happened to go to the barber.
42 The Birth of Lean What I Learned from Taiichi Ohno 43

work if people are motivated. And no tool or method will work if people he noticed that one of the workers needed to lift a heavy engine block
are not motivated. Thats what I learned from Ohno-san. once during each work cycle. Ohno-san wondered why that was neces-
To us, Ohno-san was like a god. But he was ever aware of his fallibil- sary. He called the production chief over and ordered him to go find out
ity, and he was determined not to let his mistakes become a burden on what was going on. The production chief came back and reported that the
people in the workplace. Thats why he was always impatient to try out roller conveyor was broken.
new ideas immediately. I dont always get things right, hed say. And if What in the world do you think youre doing here? shouted Ohno-
Ive got something wrong, I want to fix it right away. And thats why we san. We dont hire people to lift engine blocks. You go check and see
scheduled our kaizen in minutes and hours, not in days and weeks. right now if youre not sitting on other problems just like this one. The
production chief soon reported three similar problems, and he received
Ohno Anecdotes and Aphorisms the predictable scolding from Ohno-san. Youre out here on the floor
every day, but youre not really seeing anything: whether your people are
1. Kaizen having problems with something, whether waste is happening, whether
you have overburden somewhere.
Ohno-san would scold us, saying, Simply staring at things is no way to Ohno-san insisted that only about half of the activity in a typical work-
find out how to make them better. Your eyes are wide open, but youre place was value-added work. The rest was just spinning wheels, not mak-
blind as bats! But Ohno-san, someone would protest, blind is a de- ing any money for the company. He taught us to see. I took a fresh look
rogatory term. Is that right? Well then, youve got tinfoil over your eyes at the workplace, and I could see that he was right, that waste was hap-
[to make them shine as if they were open]. pening everywhere.
If youre going to do kaizen continuously, hed go on, youve got to Another thing Ohno-san said about kaizen was that we should never
assume that things are a mess. Too many people just assume that things listen to the shop veterans. They just get in the way of kaizen, hed say.
are all right the way they are. Arent you guys convinced that the way As much as possible, get the opinions of the people who are actually
youre doing things is the right way? Thats no way to get anything done. doing the work. Wisdom is born from the ideas of novices. The veterans
Kaizen is about changing the way things are. If you assume that things are will spout off about whats possible and whats not possible on the basis
all right the way they are, you cant do kaizen. So change something! of their experience and a tiny bit of knowledge. And when the veterans
When you go out into the workplace, you should be looking for things speak, everyone else keeps quiet. So kaizen cant even get started.
that you can do for your people there. Youve got no business in the work- Heres a funny story in that connection. My uncle is 93 years old, and
place if youre just there to be there. Youve got to be looking for changes hes hard of hearing. The ear, nose, and throat specialist told him that he
you can make for the benefit of the people who are working there. needed hearing aids, that it was only natural for someone in their 90s to
Heres an example of Ohno-sans approach. He was observing the work wear them. So my uncle bought an expensive pair of hearing aids. One
on an engine assembly line one time when he was a plant manager, and day soon after that, he happened to go to the barber.
44 The Birth of Lean What I Learned from Taiichi Ohno 45

My hearing has failed recently, so I got these hearing aids. I never saw any papers on Ohno-sans desk. Thats no exaggeration.
Have you had your ears cleaned lately? Literally, no papers at all. The only documents I ever saw him pay any at-
Cant say that I have. tention to were the factual records of production and sales results: things
Lets have a look, said the barber. And he promptly dug out a couple like how many vehicles we sold yesterday, how many vehicles our plants
of huge clumps of wax from my uncles ears. All of a sudden, my uncle produced yesterday, what the operating rates were, and so on. Those
could hear perfectly wellwithout the hearing aids. numbers were records of actual results, so they were indisputable facts.
I heard this story straight from my uncle. Its a pretty good example Ohno-san had no interest in any other written materials. He only trusted
of how specialists, like his doctor, get hung up with their experience and things that he could confirm with his own eyes.
expertise. The barber is a pure amateur from a medical perspective, so he I visited Ohno-san one time at Toyoda Boshoku (Toyoda Spinning and
doesnt get caught up with all the technical possibilities. Veterans [in the Weaving) when he was the chairman there. He was in a foul mood and
production workplace tend to] look at the world from the perspective of promptly let me know why.
their experience and expertise, so you cant rely on what they say. Youve Some guys in charge of kaizen at Toyota were just here. They said
got to listen to the amateurs. they were going to hold a jamboree to introduce case studies and that they
Conditions in the workplace are the basis for all kaizen. You cant come wanted me to come. I got angry and told them that kaizen is about elimi-
up with useful kaizen sitting at your desk. You can think in terms of hours nating waste. I asked why they would hold a kaizen event that entailed
while youre sitting at your desk, but you cant think in terms of seconds. the waste of preparing a lot of useless materials. People can see the kaizen
Ohno-san always reminded us that the processes move in seconds when in the workplace. I told them that they didnt have a clue. Their job is to
were making things, so we need to monitor the movement of things and eliminate waste, and theyre the ones creating waste.
people in seconds to find opportunities for kaizen. And he kept telling us The group responsible for kaizen at our company came to me some-
to focus on whats actually happening in the workplace. time after that encounter with Ohno-san and asked for some materials. I
refused and told them how angry Ohno-san would be at such a request.
2. The Workplace as Fact They insisted that they needed to make a report about the kaizen activi-
ties. I asked why they needed to make a report when people could see
Ohno-san hated written materials. If you took him some papers to see, he the actual kaizen in the workplace. I told them to show people the kaizen
might go through the motions of looking at them, but he wouldnt really in practice.
pay any attention at all. Youd be trying to explain something in the docu- We have too many people these days who dont understand the work-
ments, and you could tell from his eye movements that he couldnt care place. Theyve got that tinfoil over their eyes. They think a lot, but they
less. When you got done, hed hand the papers right back to you. Hed dont see. I urge you to make a special effort to see whats happening in
give really detailed instructions in the workplace, but he almost never had the workplace. Thats where the facts are. And the truth is hidden in the
anything to say in response to written reports. facts. Our job is to get a handle on the truth.
44 The Birth of Lean What I Learned from Taiichi Ohno 45

My hearing has failed recently, so I got these hearing aids. I never saw any papers on Ohno-sans desk. Thats no exaggeration.
Have you had your ears cleaned lately? Literally, no papers at all. The only documents I ever saw him pay any at-
Cant say that I have. tention to were the factual records of production and sales results: things
Lets have a look, said the barber. And he promptly dug out a couple like how many vehicles we sold yesterday, how many vehicles our plants
of huge clumps of wax from my uncles ears. All of a sudden, my uncle produced yesterday, what the operating rates were, and so on. Those
could hear perfectly wellwithout the hearing aids. numbers were records of actual results, so they were indisputable facts.
I heard this story straight from my uncle. Its a pretty good example Ohno-san had no interest in any other written materials. He only trusted
of how specialists, like his doctor, get hung up with their experience and things that he could confirm with his own eyes.
expertise. The barber is a pure amateur from a medical perspective, so he I visited Ohno-san one time at Toyoda Boshoku (Toyoda Spinning and
doesnt get caught up with all the technical possibilities. Veterans [in the Weaving) when he was the chairman there. He was in a foul mood and
production workplace tend to] look at the world from the perspective of promptly let me know why.
their experience and expertise, so you cant rely on what they say. Youve Some guys in charge of kaizen at Toyota were just here. They said
got to listen to the amateurs. they were going to hold a jamboree to introduce case studies and that they
Conditions in the workplace are the basis for all kaizen. You cant come wanted me to come. I got angry and told them that kaizen is about elimi-
up with useful kaizen sitting at your desk. You can think in terms of hours nating waste. I asked why they would hold a kaizen event that entailed
while youre sitting at your desk, but you cant think in terms of seconds. the waste of preparing a lot of useless materials. People can see the kaizen
Ohno-san always reminded us that the processes move in seconds when in the workplace. I told them that they didnt have a clue. Their job is to
were making things, so we need to monitor the movement of things and eliminate waste, and theyre the ones creating waste.
people in seconds to find opportunities for kaizen. And he kept telling us The group responsible for kaizen at our company came to me some-
to focus on whats actually happening in the workplace. time after that encounter with Ohno-san and asked for some materials. I
refused and told them how angry Ohno-san would be at such a request.
2. The Workplace as Fact They insisted that they needed to make a report about the kaizen activi-
ties. I asked why they needed to make a report when people could see
Ohno-san hated written materials. If you took him some papers to see, he the actual kaizen in the workplace. I told them to show people the kaizen
might go through the motions of looking at them, but he wouldnt really in practice.
pay any attention at all. Youd be trying to explain something in the docu- We have too many people these days who dont understand the work-
ments, and you could tell from his eye movements that he couldnt care place. Theyve got that tinfoil over their eyes. They think a lot, but they
less. When you got done, hed hand the papers right back to you. Hed dont see. I urge you to make a special effort to see whats happening in
give really detailed instructions in the workplace, but he almost never had the workplace. Thats where the facts are. And the truth is hidden in the
anything to say in response to written reports. facts. Our job is to get a handle on the truth.
46 The Birth of Lean What I Learned from Taiichi Ohno 47

3. Problems 4. The Line-Stop System

When Ohno-san sensed a problem, hed spend an hour or even two hours Everything was moving smoothly on our assembly line one day when
at one spot. Hed peer at things while chain-smoking. Sometimes, hed Ohno-san arrived and I showed him around. No red andon lamps went
forget about his cigarette, and it would burn all the way to his lips. on to indicate problems, and the line didnt stop at all. That had me wor-
One time, Ohno-san called me over as he was watching over a work- ried. And sure enough, Ohno-san was irritable by the time wed walked
place while smoking. Somethings not right in the motion of that work- through about half of the line.
er, he pointed out. I was one of those guys with tinfoil over their eyes, Youve got, he finally blurted out, too many people on the line. You
so I didnt see what he meant, and I said so. Look at his hands and feet. need to staff your line at a level where the line stops about 10% of the
He keeps changing the way they move. Either hes doing the work wrong time. Thats the only way to make sure of getting problems out into the
or something is creating an overburden in the process. You need to find open. People think that everythings great if the line keeps moving. But
out what the problem is. If you stand here and watch for a day, youll thats wrong. Even if your operating rate is 98%, youve got too many
figure it out. people. You cant afford to take pride in a line that keeps moving. Youve
Ohno-san would keep looking at things for as long as it took to figure got to make sure that your people on the line can stop the line and that
out what the problem was. He warned us that waiting until youve seen your supervisors cant.
the data is too late for kaizen. You can evaluate the days data and figure Most of all, youve got to avoid making your operators think that
out that hey, that machine stopped a lot or that process was improving, they shouldnt stop the line. You need to have your operators abide by
but the horse is already out of the barn. A whole day has passed while the standardized work and to turn out high-quality products. You cant
you were processing the data. Youve got to act on the spot. put pressure on them to do any more than what is naturally possible. If
Acting on the spot is wonderful in principle, but youve got to know the line stops, its your job to figure out the problem and to do kaizen
where to look. You need to look where the biggest problems are. Thats improvements to solve the problem. If the line stops, that means youve
where the andon lamps come in. The andon lamps [which light up when got a problem that needs solving.
employees pull the line-stop cord to indicate trouble] tell you where the So a high operating rate might simply mean that you have too many
problems are happening. You need to go to those places and examine the people on the line. You need to work continuously to get problems out
processes carefully. If you watch carefully, youll see whats causing the into the open. Thats the way to raise productivity.
problems. Then, you can do your kaizen improvements. Doing that again
and again is how you raise productivity. Of course, new issues keep aris- 5. Work-in-Process
ing, as when the takt time [takt being the German word for meter, and
takt time being the time increments at which the following process re- Maintaining a lot of work-in-process lets you keep the line moving,
quired parts] gets quicker or when you reduce your staffing on the line. even if work runs behind somewhere. As a result, you dont notice the
46 The Birth of Lean What I Learned from Taiichi Ohno 47

3. Problems 4. The Line-Stop System

When Ohno-san sensed a problem, hed spend an hour or even two hours Everything was moving smoothly on our assembly line one day when
at one spot. Hed peer at things while chain-smoking. Sometimes, hed Ohno-san arrived and I showed him around. No red andon lamps went
forget about his cigarette, and it would burn all the way to his lips. on to indicate problems, and the line didnt stop at all. That had me wor-
One time, Ohno-san called me over as he was watching over a work- ried. And sure enough, Ohno-san was irritable by the time wed walked
place while smoking. Somethings not right in the motion of that work- through about half of the line.
er, he pointed out. I was one of those guys with tinfoil over their eyes, Youve got, he finally blurted out, too many people on the line. You
so I didnt see what he meant, and I said so. Look at his hands and feet. need to staff your line at a level where the line stops about 10% of the
He keeps changing the way they move. Either hes doing the work wrong time. Thats the only way to make sure of getting problems out into the
or something is creating an overburden in the process. You need to find open. People think that everythings great if the line keeps moving. But
out what the problem is. If you stand here and watch for a day, youll thats wrong. Even if your operating rate is 98%, youve got too many
figure it out. people. You cant afford to take pride in a line that keeps moving. Youve
Ohno-san would keep looking at things for as long as it took to figure got to make sure that your people on the line can stop the line and that
out what the problem was. He warned us that waiting until youve seen your supervisors cant.
the data is too late for kaizen. You can evaluate the days data and figure Most of all, youve got to avoid making your operators think that
out that hey, that machine stopped a lot or that process was improving, they shouldnt stop the line. You need to have your operators abide by
but the horse is already out of the barn. A whole day has passed while the standardized work and to turn out high-quality products. You cant
you were processing the data. Youve got to act on the spot. put pressure on them to do any more than what is naturally possible. If
Acting on the spot is wonderful in principle, but youve got to know the line stops, its your job to figure out the problem and to do kaizen
where to look. You need to look where the biggest problems are. Thats improvements to solve the problem. If the line stops, that means youve
where the andon lamps come in. The andon lamps [which light up when got a problem that needs solving.
employees pull the line-stop cord to indicate trouble] tell you where the So a high operating rate might simply mean that you have too many
problems are happening. You need to go to those places and examine the people on the line. You need to work continuously to get problems out
processes carefully. If you watch carefully, youll see whats causing the into the open. Thats the way to raise productivity.
problems. Then, you can do your kaizen improvements. Doing that again
and again is how you raise productivity. Of course, new issues keep aris- 5. Work-in-Process
ing, as when the takt time [takt being the German word for meter, and
takt time being the time increments at which the following process re- Maintaining a lot of work-in-process lets you keep the line moving,
quired parts] gets quicker or when you reduce your staffing on the line. even if work runs behind somewhere. As a result, you dont notice the
48 The Birth of Lean What I Learned from Taiichi Ohno 49

problem [that caused the delay]. We might have three pieces of work-in- 6. The Quality of Work
process between two processes on the assembly line. Ohno-san would
come along and bark at us to get that down to just one piece. As soon as No one ever got a scolding from Ohno-san for getting something wrong
we did that, our operating rate would plunge. Our buffer of three pieces as long as they were doing their best. But hed turn red in the face and
[of work-in-process] had been absorbing delays in work along the line. deliver a severe tongue-lashing to someone who was slacking and made
When we got rid of the buffer, the delays affected work everywhere on excuses for messing something up. He was absolutely livid one time when
the line immediately. he found us ordering parts with a fixed schedule. We were doing that be-
Ohno-san would say, If youve got three pieces of work-in-process, cause kanban were hard to use at first, and Ohno-san exploded.
reduce that to two. If youve got two, reduce it to one. The ideal is to get Are you trying to destroy your suppliers? Dont you understand the
it down to zero. But reducing work-in-process is not the object. The object trouble that you cause the suppliers by issuing production instructions on
is to expose problems. If problems stop showing up, reduce your work-in- the basis of a schedule? Cant you see that youll stick them with unneces-
process. None at all is best. sary inventory if your production volume dips?
The line stops as soon as you eliminate your work-in-process. You Ohno-san was extremely attentive to the fundamentals of work and to
dont know when or where the next delay will occur. That keeps your the work process. He believed strongly that things would work out right
supervisors on their toes. Its like being out on the street. If youre walk- in the end as long as everyone was doing their best and using their head.
ing along a broad street that has no traffic, you can waltz along without Anyone can work hard. But it was doubly important to work hard in a
a care in the world. On the other hand, if youre walking on a narrow way that demonstrated some thinking. He was less interested in seeing
laneand if one side of the lane is a cliffyou need to watch your step. people work up a sweat than in seeing them improve work in ways that
Getting rid of work-in-process enforces that kind of alertness. You reduce let things get done smoothly.
the work-in-process to get everyone to feel that tension.
Thats why Ohno-san said, If your line never stops on account of 7. Solid Work
some process keeping the next process waiting, youve got too much
work-in-process. You want to have occasional stoppages caused by parts Our assembly line stopped one time while Ohno-san was watching. A
shortages. Of course, you dont want your line to be stopping all the time. production manager ran to see what the problem was and came back with
But the occasional delay caused by a process keeping the next process the following explanation: Someone had checked a part after attaching it
waiting for an item is good. If that stops happening, reduce your work- and had discovered that the part was faulty. So the workers were remov-
in-process until it starts happening. Youve got to maintain that kind of ing the part and attaching another one.
intensity to make sure that problems become apparent. You shouldnt On hearing the explanation, Ohno-san laughed angrily. You guys are
think that no shortage of parts is a good thing. stupider than chickens. If you thought some food might be poisonous,
would you gulp it down without checking it first? Checking a part before
48 The Birth of Lean What I Learned from Taiichi Ohno 49

problem [that caused the delay]. We might have three pieces of work-in- 6. The Quality of Work
process between two processes on the assembly line. Ohno-san would
come along and bark at us to get that down to just one piece. As soon as No one ever got a scolding from Ohno-san for getting something wrong
we did that, our operating rate would plunge. Our buffer of three pieces as long as they were doing their best. But hed turn red in the face and
[of work-in-process] had been absorbing delays in work along the line. deliver a severe tongue-lashing to someone who was slacking and made
When we got rid of the buffer, the delays affected work everywhere on excuses for messing something up. He was absolutely livid one time when
the line immediately. he found us ordering parts with a fixed schedule. We were doing that be-
Ohno-san would say, If youve got three pieces of work-in-process, cause kanban were hard to use at first, and Ohno-san exploded.
reduce that to two. If youve got two, reduce it to one. The ideal is to get Are you trying to destroy your suppliers? Dont you understand the
it down to zero. But reducing work-in-process is not the object. The object trouble that you cause the suppliers by issuing production instructions on
is to expose problems. If problems stop showing up, reduce your work-in- the basis of a schedule? Cant you see that youll stick them with unneces-
process. None at all is best. sary inventory if your production volume dips?
The line stops as soon as you eliminate your work-in-process. You Ohno-san was extremely attentive to the fundamentals of work and to
dont know when or where the next delay will occur. That keeps your the work process. He believed strongly that things would work out right
supervisors on their toes. Its like being out on the street. If youre walk- in the end as long as everyone was doing their best and using their head.
ing along a broad street that has no traffic, you can waltz along without Anyone can work hard. But it was doubly important to work hard in a
a care in the world. On the other hand, if youre walking on a narrow way that demonstrated some thinking. He was less interested in seeing
laneand if one side of the lane is a cliffyou need to watch your step. people work up a sweat than in seeing them improve work in ways that
Getting rid of work-in-process enforces that kind of alertness. You reduce let things get done smoothly.
the work-in-process to get everyone to feel that tension.
Thats why Ohno-san said, If your line never stops on account of 7. Solid Work
some process keeping the next process waiting, youve got too much
work-in-process. You want to have occasional stoppages caused by parts Our assembly line stopped one time while Ohno-san was watching. A
shortages. Of course, you dont want your line to be stopping all the time. production manager ran to see what the problem was and came back with
But the occasional delay caused by a process keeping the next process the following explanation: Someone had checked a part after attaching it
waiting for an item is good. If that stops happening, reduce your work- and had discovered that the part was faulty. So the workers were remov-
in-process until it starts happening. Youve got to maintain that kind of ing the part and attaching another one.
intensity to make sure that problems become apparent. You shouldnt On hearing the explanation, Ohno-san laughed angrily. You guys are
think that no shortage of parts is a good thing. stupider than chickens. If you thought some food might be poisonous,
would you gulp it down without checking it first? Checking a part before
50 The Birth of Lean What I Learned from Taiichi Ohno 51

attaching it takes no more time than checking it afterwards, and it can Ishikawa Prefecture] cites wisdom, courage, and benevolence as the con-
save a lot of trouble. ditions for overcoming adversity. [That checkpoint was the scene of an
I taught myself a valuable lesson once when I needed to pick up some oft-cited but apocryphal incident in Japanese lore of the 12th century.
important visitors at Kyoto Station. I had gotten a call from our headquar- Minamoto no Yoshitsune had jointly led the overthrow of Japans ruling
ters secretarial division. Some transport officials from the government clan, the Tairas, with his older brother, Minamoto no Yoritomo. But he
were going to visit our Kyoto Plant in a couple of days, and the secretarial had angered Yoritomo with his subsequent conduct and was fleeing for
division wanted me to pick them up at 3 p.m. I wanted to make sure I his life, a flight that was to prove unsuccessful. Yoshitsune, disguised as a
didnt miss them, so I asked for the number of the train on which the monk, was traveling in the company of the wise monk Musashibo Benkei.
visitors would be arriving. They famously secured safe passage past the checkpoint, thanks to the
On the day of the visit, I double-checked the train number, and I benevolent assistance of its overseer, Togashi Yasuie.]
learned to my surprise that the scheduled arrival time was one oclock, The wisdom of Benkei and the courage of Yoshitsune would not have
not three. Fortunately, I had just enough time to get to the station before been enough in themselves to secure safe passage past the checkpoint.
the train arrived, and everything went smoothly in the end. I had just The benevolence displayed by Togashi was indispensable. Assistance from
happened to think to ask for the train number, and that had enabled me third parties can be essential in coping with challenges.
to avert a humiliating misconnection. The experience reminded me of
the importance of making sure that you have information to check things 9. Automation and Intelligent Automation
against and of making sure that you do the checking.
Contingency planning is also essential in ensuring that work gets done [The Japanese word for automation is jidoka. It comprises three kanji:
right. Simply assuming that things will go according to your original plan (ji), for self or auto; (do), for motion; and (ka), which corre-
is irresponsible. Youve got to prepare for unexpected events. sponds to the -ation suffix. The jidoka familiar to students of the Toyota
Production System shares the first and third kanji with its homonym, but
8. Mutual Assistance the middle kanji is slightly different: . Toyota has replaced the kanji for
mere motion with the kanji for work. The additional element on the left
You cant gauge peoples capabilities with perfect accuracy, so you in- side of the kanji () is, by itself (as ), the kanji for person.]
evitably end up with some imbalances in allocating work. To keep work Toyotas jidoka means investing conventional automated equipment
moving smoothly, the people in each process need to be prepared to help with capabilities ordinarily associated with human wisdom: the ability to
out in other processes. You need to provide multiprocess training so your check quality and the ability to stop when problems occur and to call at-
people can help out wherever help is needed. tention to the problems. When we install automated equipment, we need
Japanese these days seem to have lost the spirit of mutual assistance. to add the element of human wisdom and make it jidoka equipment [in
An inscription at the site of the historic Antaka no Seki checkpoint [in the Toyota sense]. And we need to provide equally wise linkage between
50 The Birth of Lean What I Learned from Taiichi Ohno 51

attaching it takes no more time than checking it afterwards, and it can Ishikawa Prefecture] cites wisdom, courage, and benevolence as the con-
save a lot of trouble. ditions for overcoming adversity. [That checkpoint was the scene of an
I taught myself a valuable lesson once when I needed to pick up some oft-cited but apocryphal incident in Japanese lore of the 12th century.
important visitors at Kyoto Station. I had gotten a call from our headquar- Minamoto no Yoshitsune had jointly led the overthrow of Japans ruling
ters secretarial division. Some transport officials from the government clan, the Tairas, with his older brother, Minamoto no Yoritomo. But he
were going to visit our Kyoto Plant in a couple of days, and the secretarial had angered Yoritomo with his subsequent conduct and was fleeing for
division wanted me to pick them up at 3 p.m. I wanted to make sure I his life, a flight that was to prove unsuccessful. Yoshitsune, disguised as a
didnt miss them, so I asked for the number of the train on which the monk, was traveling in the company of the wise monk Musashibo Benkei.
visitors would be arriving. They famously secured safe passage past the checkpoint, thanks to the
On the day of the visit, I double-checked the train number, and I benevolent assistance of its overseer, Togashi Yasuie.]
learned to my surprise that the scheduled arrival time was one oclock, The wisdom of Benkei and the courage of Yoshitsune would not have
not three. Fortunately, I had just enough time to get to the station before been enough in themselves to secure safe passage past the checkpoint.
the train arrived, and everything went smoothly in the end. I had just The benevolence displayed by Togashi was indispensable. Assistance from
happened to think to ask for the train number, and that had enabled me third parties can be essential in coping with challenges.
to avert a humiliating misconnection. The experience reminded me of
the importance of making sure that you have information to check things 9. Automation and Intelligent Automation
against and of making sure that you do the checking.
Contingency planning is also essential in ensuring that work gets done [The Japanese word for automation is jidoka. It comprises three kanji:
right. Simply assuming that things will go according to your original plan (ji), for self or auto; (do), for motion; and (ka), which corre-
is irresponsible. Youve got to prepare for unexpected events. sponds to the -ation suffix. The jidoka familiar to students of the Toyota
Production System shares the first and third kanji with its homonym, but
8. Mutual Assistance the middle kanji is slightly different: . Toyota has replaced the kanji for
mere motion with the kanji for work. The additional element on the left
You cant gauge peoples capabilities with perfect accuracy, so you in- side of the kanji () is, by itself (as ), the kanji for person.]
evitably end up with some imbalances in allocating work. To keep work Toyotas jidoka means investing conventional automated equipment
moving smoothly, the people in each process need to be prepared to help with capabilities ordinarily associated with human wisdom: the ability to
out in other processes. You need to provide multiprocess training so your check quality and the ability to stop when problems occur and to call at-
people can help out wherever help is needed. tention to the problems. When we install automated equipment, we need
Japanese these days seem to have lost the spirit of mutual assistance. to add the element of human wisdom and make it jidoka equipment [in
An inscription at the site of the historic Antaka no Seki checkpoint [in the Toyota sense]. And we need to provide equally wise linkage between
52 The Birth of Lean What I Learned from Taiichi Ohno 53

the machines. That means devising [pull] linkage that synchronizes the A workplace where rationalization has been done right doesnt look that
operation of the preceding machine with the operation of the following way to the untrained eye. Amateurs assume that a rationalized workplace
machine rather than [push] linkage that arbitrarily feeds items from one is one where you see lots of automated equipment and where everyone
machine to the next [regardless of the pace of work in the following looks really busy. Thats not true rationalization.
process]. [Ohno-san also warned us not to let automation detract from rational-
Jidoka linkage prevents absolute timing loss. Push linkage with a ization.] When you install automated equipment, you need to position it
conveyor causes problems. Volkswagen and other automakers would sta- so that fluctuations in production volumes dont result in awkward incre-
tion a person at conveyor connections [to deal with those problems]. ments of work. Automated machines tend to become bottlenecks when
Those problems and the timing loss that they entail are the result of using production volumes fluctuate. Lets say that a one-minute cycle becomes
push linkage. To prevent that loss, you need to use synchronized [pull] a two-minute cycle. If youve got one person working between two ma-
linkage. chines, you could end up with just a half-persons worth of work for that
Youve got to remember that the purpose of automation is to raise person to do. Youve got to position your equipment and your people to
profitability for the company, not to make things look pretty. The guys in avoid that kind of problem.
production engineering sometime automate stuff for the sake of appear- An increase in production volume shouldnt necessarily mean a de-
ances. Sometimes, they automate stuff just for the sake of automation. cline in unit costs any more than a decline in volume should mean an
The right way to automate is to start by doing thorough kaizen in the increase in unit costs. Those sorts of things happen as the result of ar-
processes as they are. Then you automate just enough to achieve what ranging things poorly.
you need above and beyond what the processes are capable of delivering
otherwise. 11. Other Ohnoisms

10. Rationalization Machines are there for people to use, not the other way around.
Some people love to make things complicated. The key is to make
Ohno-san would get angry when he saw workers running around and things simple.
working up a sweat. Hed say, Whats the big hurry? Mistakes happen A lot of people think that rationalization means turning out more
when people are rushing back and forth like that. Youre making a huge stuff. In fact, the essence of rationalization is turning out better stuff.
mistake if you think that a lot of running around means that people are Attaining a target doesnt mean that youve finished anything. Targets
doing a good job. Youve got to arrange things so that people can get their are just tools for tapping peoples potential. When youve attained a tar-
work done more easily. get, raise the bar.
Rationalization is a matter of arranging things so that your equipment Learning from mistakes is common sense. You also need to learn from
and your people can generate value-added continuously and efficiently. what youve done when youre successful and put it to work in tackling
52 The Birth of Lean What I Learned from Taiichi Ohno 53

the machines. That means devising [pull] linkage that synchronizes the A workplace where rationalization has been done right doesnt look that
operation of the preceding machine with the operation of the following way to the untrained eye. Amateurs assume that a rationalized workplace
machine rather than [push] linkage that arbitrarily feeds items from one is one where you see lots of automated equipment and where everyone
machine to the next [regardless of the pace of work in the following looks really busy. Thats not true rationalization.
process]. [Ohno-san also warned us not to let automation detract from rational-
Jidoka linkage prevents absolute timing loss. Push linkage with a ization.] When you install automated equipment, you need to position it
conveyor causes problems. Volkswagen and other automakers would sta- so that fluctuations in production volumes dont result in awkward incre-
tion a person at conveyor connections [to deal with those problems]. ments of work. Automated machines tend to become bottlenecks when
Those problems and the timing loss that they entail are the result of using production volumes fluctuate. Lets say that a one-minute cycle becomes
push linkage. To prevent that loss, you need to use synchronized [pull] a two-minute cycle. If youve got one person working between two ma-
linkage. chines, you could end up with just a half-persons worth of work for that
Youve got to remember that the purpose of automation is to raise person to do. Youve got to position your equipment and your people to
profitability for the company, not to make things look pretty. The guys in avoid that kind of problem.
production engineering sometime automate stuff for the sake of appear- An increase in production volume shouldnt necessarily mean a de-
ances. Sometimes, they automate stuff just for the sake of automation. cline in unit costs any more than a decline in volume should mean an
The right way to automate is to start by doing thorough kaizen in the increase in unit costs. Those sorts of things happen as the result of ar-
processes as they are. Then you automate just enough to achieve what ranging things poorly.
you need above and beyond what the processes are capable of delivering
otherwise. 11. Other Ohnoisms

10. Rationalization Machines are there for people to use, not the other way around.
Some people love to make things complicated. The key is to make
Ohno-san would get angry when he saw workers running around and things simple.
working up a sweat. Hed say, Whats the big hurry? Mistakes happen A lot of people think that rationalization means turning out more
when people are rushing back and forth like that. Youre making a huge stuff. In fact, the essence of rationalization is turning out better stuff.
mistake if you think that a lot of running around means that people are Attaining a target doesnt mean that youve finished anything. Targets
doing a good job. Youve got to arrange things so that people can get their are just tools for tapping peoples potential. When youve attained a tar-
work done more easily. get, raise the bar.
Rationalization is a matter of arranging things so that your equipment Learning from mistakes is common sense. You also need to learn from
and your people can generate value-added continuously and efficiently. what youve done when youre successful and put it to work in tackling
54 The Birth of Lean What I Learned from Taiichi Ohno 55

new challenges. When youve just attained a target, thats no time to pat scolded us, saying] You get defects because you set up a process like
yourself on the back and relax. that. If a defect occurs, stop the line. That way, everyone will do their best
Do things that no one else is doing. Your efforts might not come to [to prevent defects from occurring and, when they do occur, to determine
anything, but if they do, you need to learn from the process, too. the causes and take countermeasures]. You dont want to be setting up a
The way you evaluate people shapes their behavior. Production at the separate process to rework stuff. [Tanaka: People working hard on the
Takaoka Plant slumped one time [on account of weak demand], and the line dont necessarily notice defects naturally. So you need to stop the line
plant was operating only half days. At times like that, the people should when a defect occurs and show people what has happened and why. That
simply take the rest of the day off. But when I went to the workplace, I teaches them how to avoid creating defects. Its a lot better (than resign-
found the lights on and people sweeping up and getting ready for the next ing yourself to the occurrence of defects and letting a reworking process
shift. I noted that they were wasting electricity and asked what they were deal with the problems).]
doing. They answered that their evaluations would suffer if they werent Set things up so that production cannot continue when a defect has
doing something that looked like work all the time. When youve got idi- occurred. [The president of a company in Kyushu that made a certain
ots for managers, people in the workplace end up wasting money. product came to consult with Ohno-san. His company recovered unsold
The right approach to maintenance is to keep your machines and products and recycled them into new products. (The main reason for
equipment in perfect condition and make repairmen unnecessary. the unsold products was defects, and) the president was interested in
[Tanaka: The maintenance guys at Toyota would hang out in a room reducing the volume of returned products. He sought advice from Ohno-
during the day and play mahjong. Someone mentioned that to Ohno- san about how to proceed.] You cant reduce the volume of returned
san, and he responded] Its a good sign if your maintenance guys can products as long as you keep recycling them. Do you have a place at your
sit around and play mahjong. Youre in trouble if theyre busy running factory where you could dig a hole to bury the returned products? If you
around. [If your maintenance guys can sit around playing mahjong] that really throw away the stuff that comes back, your people will see what a
means youre doing a good job [of keeping your machines and equipment terrible waste it is. That sense of waste is crucial.
in the right condition]. Telling lies is bad, but being fooled by lies is worse. [Tanaka: Making
The ultimate criterion is cost. In deciding how to proceed, you make decisions on the basis of written materials can produce bad decisions. If
your decision on the basis of cost. youve got doubts about something, you need to go to the workplace and
If you think theres no alternative, youre just failing to see the other see for yourself. The president at a company came from an administrative
possibilities. If no one [disagrees with you and] comes forward with a dif- background, and he couldnt determine what was what when a technical
ferent idea, then come up with an alternative on your own. You need to issue arose at a board meeting. So he went to the workplace to see what
understand the alternatives before going ahead with anything. the problem was. He discovered that half of what a director responsible
You need to stop the line if a defect turns up. [Tanaka: We es- for production had said at a board meeting was untrue. The president
tablished a reworking process one time to deal with defects. Ohno-san started visiting the workplace occasionally. Word got around that he was
54 The Birth of Lean What I Learned from Taiichi Ohno 55

new challenges. When youve just attained a target, thats no time to pat scolded us, saying] You get defects because you set up a process like
yourself on the back and relax. that. If a defect occurs, stop the line. That way, everyone will do their best
Do things that no one else is doing. Your efforts might not come to [to prevent defects from occurring and, when they do occur, to determine
anything, but if they do, you need to learn from the process, too. the causes and take countermeasures]. You dont want to be setting up a
The way you evaluate people shapes their behavior. Production at the separate process to rework stuff. [Tanaka: People working hard on the
Takaoka Plant slumped one time [on account of weak demand], and the line dont necessarily notice defects naturally. So you need to stop the line
plant was operating only half days. At times like that, the people should when a defect occurs and show people what has happened and why. That
simply take the rest of the day off. But when I went to the workplace, I teaches them how to avoid creating defects. Its a lot better (than resign-
found the lights on and people sweeping up and getting ready for the next ing yourself to the occurrence of defects and letting a reworking process
shift. I noted that they were wasting electricity and asked what they were deal with the problems).]
doing. They answered that their evaluations would suffer if they werent Set things up so that production cannot continue when a defect has
doing something that looked like work all the time. When youve got idi- occurred. [The president of a company in Kyushu that made a certain
ots for managers, people in the workplace end up wasting money. product came to consult with Ohno-san. His company recovered unsold
The right approach to maintenance is to keep your machines and products and recycled them into new products. (The main reason for
equipment in perfect condition and make repairmen unnecessary. the unsold products was defects, and) the president was interested in
[Tanaka: The maintenance guys at Toyota would hang out in a room reducing the volume of returned products. He sought advice from Ohno-
during the day and play mahjong. Someone mentioned that to Ohno- san about how to proceed.] You cant reduce the volume of returned
san, and he responded] Its a good sign if your maintenance guys can products as long as you keep recycling them. Do you have a place at your
sit around and play mahjong. Youre in trouble if theyre busy running factory where you could dig a hole to bury the returned products? If you
around. [If your maintenance guys can sit around playing mahjong] that really throw away the stuff that comes back, your people will see what a
means youre doing a good job [of keeping your machines and equipment terrible waste it is. That sense of waste is crucial.
in the right condition]. Telling lies is bad, but being fooled by lies is worse. [Tanaka: Making
The ultimate criterion is cost. In deciding how to proceed, you make decisions on the basis of written materials can produce bad decisions. If
your decision on the basis of cost. youve got doubts about something, you need to go to the workplace and
If you think theres no alternative, youre just failing to see the other see for yourself. The president at a company came from an administrative
possibilities. If no one [disagrees with you and] comes forward with a dif- background, and he couldnt determine what was what when a technical
ferent idea, then come up with an alternative on your own. You need to issue arose at a board meeting. So he went to the workplace to see what
understand the alternatives before going ahead with anything. the problem was. He discovered that half of what a director responsible
You need to stop the line if a defect turns up. [Tanaka: We es- for production had said at a board meeting was untrue. The president
tablished a reworking process one time to deal with defects. Ohno-san started visiting the workplace occasionally. Word got around that he was
56 The Birth of Lean What I Learned from Taiichi Ohno 57

keeping an eye on things, and the directors stopped making false reports.] factories will naturally have different approaches. But what we need to
Managers and general managers are good liars. But directors are even do everywhere is create a sense of tension and to motivate people to get
better. things done.

Conclusion Questions and Answers

I urge all of you to maintain a sense of urgency. Ohno-san had a sense of Q: You say that you were dubious about the kanban at first? Why were
urgency, and thats why he came up with the idea for kanban after see- you doubtful?
ing a U.S. supermarket. Anyone can gain knowledge through study. But
wisdom is something else again. And what we need in the workplace is Tanaka: I just didnt understand it well enough. I couldnt see the connec-
wisdom. We need to foster people who possess wisdom. The only way to tion between reducing in-process stock and doing kaizen. Only after we
do that is to set our goals high and force people to accomplish more than tried it did I see how reducing in-process stock highlights problems. I had
they might have thought possible. figured that we could simply change the processes to make the necessary
Once people really resolve to do something, the necessary wisdom improvements. And Ohno-san never explained his reasons, so the only
arises. The people grow, and they assert new capabilities. The kanban way to learn was by doing. Nothing was clear to me at first, so I doubted
didnt arise from textbook learning. It arose from practical experience in that the kanban would really work.
the workplace, and the best way to learn about kanban is to use them. When I joined Daihatsu, I went straight to work in production engi-
Ohno-san told us, Books are appearing about kanban, but only someone neering without ever having worked on the plant floor. That was unfor-
who actually uses kanban can really understand how they work. You guys tunate. I should have gained some hands-on experience in production
have learned about kanban by using them, so you dont need to read my first. Then I could have been more useful to our production people when
book. So I never did read his book. I worked in production engineering.
Ohno-san was a man who defied the conventional wisdom. He devoted Anyway, my first job was in production engineering, where I partici-
his life to kaizen. He kept finding new things to improve and new ways to pated in planning a new plant. I went to work in production when the
do kaizen. You need to avoid thinking that the present way of doing things new plant opened. Only then did I realize that I had been a catalog en-
is the best way. You need to be eager to change things. Everything begins gineer. I had simply collected catalogs and other materials and looked
with trying something. Without that determination to try something, all at the pictures and decided that I wanted to make this or that. Of course,
the knowledge in the world is useless. some of what I did was useful, but it wasnt in tune with the expectations
If you got anything at all today from my comments about Ohno-san, of our production people. What they wanted was a working environment
then please try putting it to work. Different companies have different ways that made work easier to do. If I had been more aware of circumstances
of doing things, and no single system is the best for everyone. Different in the workplace, I could have come up with better layouts.
56 The Birth of Lean What I Learned from Taiichi Ohno 57

keeping an eye on things, and the directors stopped making false reports.] factories will naturally have different approaches. But what we need to
Managers and general managers are good liars. But directors are even do everywhere is create a sense of tension and to motivate people to get
better. things done.

Conclusion Questions and Answers

I urge all of you to maintain a sense of urgency. Ohno-san had a sense of Q: You say that you were dubious about the kanban at first? Why were
urgency, and thats why he came up with the idea for kanban after see- you doubtful?
ing a U.S. supermarket. Anyone can gain knowledge through study. But
wisdom is something else again. And what we need in the workplace is Tanaka: I just didnt understand it well enough. I couldnt see the connec-
wisdom. We need to foster people who possess wisdom. The only way to tion between reducing in-process stock and doing kaizen. Only after we
do that is to set our goals high and force people to accomplish more than tried it did I see how reducing in-process stock highlights problems. I had
they might have thought possible. figured that we could simply change the processes to make the necessary
Once people really resolve to do something, the necessary wisdom improvements. And Ohno-san never explained his reasons, so the only
arises. The people grow, and they assert new capabilities. The kanban way to learn was by doing. Nothing was clear to me at first, so I doubted
didnt arise from textbook learning. It arose from practical experience in that the kanban would really work.
the workplace, and the best way to learn about kanban is to use them. When I joined Daihatsu, I went straight to work in production engi-
Ohno-san told us, Books are appearing about kanban, but only someone neering without ever having worked on the plant floor. That was unfor-
who actually uses kanban can really understand how they work. You guys tunate. I should have gained some hands-on experience in production
have learned about kanban by using them, so you dont need to read my first. Then I could have been more useful to our production people when
book. So I never did read his book. I worked in production engineering.
Ohno-san was a man who defied the conventional wisdom. He devoted Anyway, my first job was in production engineering, where I partici-
his life to kaizen. He kept finding new things to improve and new ways to pated in planning a new plant. I went to work in production when the
do kaizen. You need to avoid thinking that the present way of doing things new plant opened. Only then did I realize that I had been a catalog en-
is the best way. You need to be eager to change things. Everything begins gineer. I had simply collected catalogs and other materials and looked
with trying something. Without that determination to try something, all at the pictures and decided that I wanted to make this or that. Of course,
the knowledge in the world is useless. some of what I did was useful, but it wasnt in tune with the expectations
If you got anything at all today from my comments about Ohno-san, of our production people. What they wanted was a working environment
then please try putting it to work. Different companies have different ways that made work easier to do. If I had been more aware of circumstances
of doing things, and no single system is the best for everyone. Different in the workplace, I could have come up with better layouts.
58 The Birth of Lean What I Learned from Taiichi Ohno 59

Eiji Toyoda was a person who truly enjoyed spending time in the work- Q: I prepared a collection of Soichiro Honda sayings in connection with
place. When he arrived at a plant, hed head straight for the shop floor. I the evolution of production engineering at Honda [Motor]. What he said
showed him the automated line at our new Shiga Plant when he visited resonates perfectly with what we have heard from you, and everything
one time. He said, You guys are just dragging me around to show off your makes perfect sense. A love for making things seems to be the common
automation. He saw right through us. thread.
Most corporate types who came to the plant would compliment us Soichiro Honda was originally infatuated with making tools for mak-
on our impressive new facility and on all the fancy equipment. But Eiji ing cars that would evoke [the beauty of] production engineering, and he
was looking carefully at the relationship between the equipment and the would make a beeline for the shop floor whenever he came to a plant.
people. He told us that the matching was lousy between our automated His passing has underlined the importance of conveying that spirit to the
machines and our people. He meant that we wouldnt be able to respond next generation, but imparting that spirit to new employees is hard. What
flexibly when production volumes fluctuated and that work loss would suggestions do you have for passing on the spirit that you have been
occur as a result. You cant afford to focus exclusively on your automated discussing?
equipment. A line of impressive-looking machines is not necessarily a
good thing. Tanaka: The example set by management is important. If management
sets a bad example, the people down below will let things slide. If youre
Q: Im responsible for a production line. I have been careful in deploying going to tackle the challenge of rationalization, someones got to take
people, and I have eliminated inventory buffers so that the line stops im- charge. People who achieve great things, including Honda-san, have some
mediately if a problem occurs. But we keep having problems with dumb important things in common. They tend to display a genchi gembutsu
mistakes. Im not making any progress in tackling this problem, and Im commitment to the workplace, and they tend to believe only what they
getting really frustrated. can confirm with their own eyes.
I remember watching the great film director Akira Kurosawa on a tele-
Tanaka: Humans are imperfect animals, so mistakes happen. Work is a vision show. He was describing what he had learned while working as an
combination of processing and checking. In crucial processes, you need assistant director under Kajiro Yamamoto. Kurosawa recalled walking out
to incorporate and enforce checks to avoid mistakes that would place the of the studio with Yamamoto and passing an actress dressed in a kimono
employees at fault. Workers naturally tend to forget things and to become and carrying a pouch. Yamamoto asked him what she was carrying. He
careless. I assume that you are already doing this, but you can help pre- wasnt sure and said something like, Isnt it a medicine pouch? That
vent mistakes by detailing important processing steps in the standardized earned a scolding from Yamamoto. Dont try to BS people. If you dont
work manual and by having your people check themselves against that know the answer, dont say anything until you can find out for sure.
sheet. Kurosawa then became a genchi gembutsu person [a person commit-
ted to seeing things firsthand as they really are]. His genchi gembutsu
58 The Birth of Lean What I Learned from Taiichi Ohno 59

Eiji Toyoda was a person who truly enjoyed spending time in the work- Q: I prepared a collection of Soichiro Honda sayings in connection with
place. When he arrived at a plant, hed head straight for the shop floor. I the evolution of production engineering at Honda [Motor]. What he said
showed him the automated line at our new Shiga Plant when he visited resonates perfectly with what we have heard from you, and everything
one time. He said, You guys are just dragging me around to show off your makes perfect sense. A love for making things seems to be the common
automation. He saw right through us. thread.
Most corporate types who came to the plant would compliment us Soichiro Honda was originally infatuated with making tools for mak-
on our impressive new facility and on all the fancy equipment. But Eiji ing cars that would evoke [the beauty of] production engineering, and he
was looking carefully at the relationship between the equipment and the would make a beeline for the shop floor whenever he came to a plant.
people. He told us that the matching was lousy between our automated His passing has underlined the importance of conveying that spirit to the
machines and our people. He meant that we wouldnt be able to respond next generation, but imparting that spirit to new employees is hard. What
flexibly when production volumes fluctuated and that work loss would suggestions do you have for passing on the spirit that you have been
occur as a result. You cant afford to focus exclusively on your automated discussing?
equipment. A line of impressive-looking machines is not necessarily a
good thing. Tanaka: The example set by management is important. If management
sets a bad example, the people down below will let things slide. If youre
Q: Im responsible for a production line. I have been careful in deploying going to tackle the challenge of rationalization, someones got to take
people, and I have eliminated inventory buffers so that the line stops im- charge. People who achieve great things, including Honda-san, have some
mediately if a problem occurs. But we keep having problems with dumb important things in common. They tend to display a genchi gembutsu
mistakes. Im not making any progress in tackling this problem, and Im commitment to the workplace, and they tend to believe only what they
getting really frustrated. can confirm with their own eyes.
I remember watching the great film director Akira Kurosawa on a tele-
Tanaka: Humans are imperfect animals, so mistakes happen. Work is a vision show. He was describing what he had learned while working as an
combination of processing and checking. In crucial processes, you need assistant director under Kajiro Yamamoto. Kurosawa recalled walking out
to incorporate and enforce checks to avoid mistakes that would place the of the studio with Yamamoto and passing an actress dressed in a kimono
employees at fault. Workers naturally tend to forget things and to become and carrying a pouch. Yamamoto asked him what she was carrying. He
careless. I assume that you are already doing this, but you can help pre- wasnt sure and said something like, Isnt it a medicine pouch? That
vent mistakes by detailing important processing steps in the standardized earned a scolding from Yamamoto. Dont try to BS people. If you dont
work manual and by having your people check themselves against that know the answer, dont say anything until you can find out for sure.
sheet. Kurosawa then became a genchi gembutsu person [a person commit-
ted to seeing things firsthand as they really are]. His genchi gembutsu
60 The Birth of Lean What I Learned from Taiichi Ohno 61

commitment is the same thing that we require in manufacturing. The theyre happy to see problems show up. Ordinary people tend to want to
most important thing for people in manufacturing is to keep one foot in hide problems. We shouldnt ever think badly of people who reveal one
the production workplace and take a good look at things there before problem after another. We should welcome situations where problems
making decisions. People who excel at anything tend to be people who become clear.
insist on seeing things for themselves. Thats because the facts are in the When Ohno-san gave guidance to companies, he always started with
things that we can actually see, and we can only get at the truth through the president. All the training in the world will come to nothing unless
the facts. Just thinking about things in your own head wont [lead you senior management displays a strong commitment. If you demonstrate the
to the truth]. right commitment, Ill provide your people with the training they need.
The way to pass this spirit on to the next generation is to go out into
the workplace and scold people. If someone screws up, take them into the Q: At [what is now the Toyota subsidiary] Kanto Auto Works, a lot of
workplace, show them exactly whats gone wrong, and give them a good the engineers were from Nakajima Aircraft [which was Japans premier
scolding. When someone gets a scolding in the workplace while looking manufacturer of aircraft and which was disbanded after the war]. That
at whats actually happened, they cant make any excuses. The scolding engineering tradition entailed a lot of conflict between the product engi-
presents the person with a higher standard to meet. neers and the production engineers. Im interested to know whether or
On the other hand, you cant be strict all the time. Ohno-san cautioned not the situation there was different from what youve discussed in your
me one time after Id been scolding people in the workplace. You need talk today.
to be careful not to discourage people who already have the right moti- So I have two questions. One, are the people you describe who love
vation. I asked him what he meant, and he replied, Motivated people to rationalize systems different from the people who simply love to make
want to do things, even when they think they cant. And some things re- things? I see that as a difference between Soichiro Honda and Taiichi
ally are impossible for some people. At times like that, motivated people Ohno. My second question is about those people who just love to work,
can get discouraged. So even if you say something strict, you also want to regardless of whats happening in regard to targets. When people like that
find an opportunity to extend a helping hand. clashed with Ohno-san, how did he set them right?
Extending a helping hand lets people know that you value their effort,
even if they were unsuccessful. [Managers] who never extend a helping Tanaka: I never received any guidance directly from Honda-san, so I cant
hand can never earn the trust of their subordinates. We need to accom- comment with confidence on the difference between him and Ohno-san.
pany strictness with a readiness to help. And to do that, we need to know My gut feeling is that Honda-san and Ohno-san had similarities but that
whats going on in the workplace. If you dont know whats happening in they were basically different. Honda-san participated directly in creating
the workplace, you cant do anything for the people there. products. Ohno-san was more interested in fostering human resources
Managers who are happy when problems stop showing up and operat- and in creating systems, but he devoted himself to the practical side of
ing rates rise are no good. Managers need to let their people know that those challenges, not to the theoretical side. As a result, a lot of people
60 The Birth of Lean What I Learned from Taiichi Ohno 61

commitment is the same thing that we require in manufacturing. The theyre happy to see problems show up. Ordinary people tend to want to
most important thing for people in manufacturing is to keep one foot in hide problems. We shouldnt ever think badly of people who reveal one
the production workplace and take a good look at things there before problem after another. We should welcome situations where problems
making decisions. People who excel at anything tend to be people who become clear.
insist on seeing things for themselves. Thats because the facts are in the When Ohno-san gave guidance to companies, he always started with
things that we can actually see, and we can only get at the truth through the president. All the training in the world will come to nothing unless
the facts. Just thinking about things in your own head wont [lead you senior management displays a strong commitment. If you demonstrate the
to the truth]. right commitment, Ill provide your people with the training they need.
The way to pass this spirit on to the next generation is to go out into
the workplace and scold people. If someone screws up, take them into the Q: At [what is now the Toyota subsidiary] Kanto Auto Works, a lot of
workplace, show them exactly whats gone wrong, and give them a good the engineers were from Nakajima Aircraft [which was Japans premier
scolding. When someone gets a scolding in the workplace while looking manufacturer of aircraft and which was disbanded after the war]. That
at whats actually happened, they cant make any excuses. The scolding engineering tradition entailed a lot of conflict between the product engi-
presents the person with a higher standard to meet. neers and the production engineers. Im interested to know whether or
On the other hand, you cant be strict all the time. Ohno-san cautioned not the situation there was different from what youve discussed in your
me one time after Id been scolding people in the workplace. You need talk today.
to be careful not to discourage people who already have the right moti- So I have two questions. One, are the people you describe who love
vation. I asked him what he meant, and he replied, Motivated people to rationalize systems different from the people who simply love to make
want to do things, even when they think they cant. And some things re- things? I see that as a difference between Soichiro Honda and Taiichi
ally are impossible for some people. At times like that, motivated people Ohno. My second question is about those people who just love to work,
can get discouraged. So even if you say something strict, you also want to regardless of whats happening in regard to targets. When people like that
find an opportunity to extend a helping hand. clashed with Ohno-san, how did he set them right?
Extending a helping hand lets people know that you value their effort,
even if they were unsuccessful. [Managers] who never extend a helping Tanaka: I never received any guidance directly from Honda-san, so I cant
hand can never earn the trust of their subordinates. We need to accom- comment with confidence on the difference between him and Ohno-san.
pany strictness with a readiness to help. And to do that, we need to know My gut feeling is that Honda-san and Ohno-san had similarities but that
whats going on in the workplace. If you dont know whats happening in they were basically different. Honda-san participated directly in creating
the workplace, you cant do anything for the people there. products. Ohno-san was more interested in fostering human resources
Managers who are happy when problems stop showing up and operat- and in creating systems, but he devoted himself to the practical side of
ing rates rise are no good. Managers need to let their people know that those challenges, not to the theoretical side. As a result, a lot of people
62 The Birth of Lean What I Learned from Taiichi Ohno 63

grew and developed through receiving guidance from Ohno-san. Their Ive been doing things this way for 20 years, and it works just fine. I
way of thinking came to resemble his way of thinking. answered like this: If youve been doing things that way for 20 years,
dont you think its time for a change? Cant you see that doing things
Q: I am studying that subject carefully, and I have obtained some perti- the same way for 20 years means that youre not making any progress?
nent materials from Honda [Motor]. Ive learned that [Soichiro] Honda Peoples own wisdom and experience dont necessarily highlight the need
also devoted a great deal of attention to fostering human resources. If you for change.
want to get any work done right, you need to spend a lot of time on that Another issue is differences in how people perceive the appropriate
task. Honda-san could never have achieved such impressive success if he goals. I was anti-kanban at first, and that was because I didnt understand
had ignored the task of fostering human resources. the aims of the kanban system. Circumstances later provided me with the
What emerges most clearly in the materials Ive obtained is [Soichiro opportunity to understand those aims, and I went to work [on putting
Hondas] emphasis on motivating people and on encouraging people to the kanban system in place and making it work]. Different perceptions of
tackle self-improvement. If those materials all became public, they would suitable goals can happen like that when people havent had the chance
highlight an important similarity between Honda-san and Ohno-san. I to come to terms with what youre trying to do.
think that we need to take another look at the two mens approach to
manufacturing. Q: You describe putting in place [what some people called] the New
The message in your talk that resonated with my experience was that Production System. I understand that you and others set up the system
nothing happens unless management demonstrates a strong commitment. at 37 or 38 companies. The guiding principle appears to have been to
I was at Kobe Steel, and I spent a year supervising [what should have rationalize plant operations without spending any money and to defer
been] a thorough rationalization of operations at the Saijo Plant, near any large-scale automation as much as possible. You determined what
Hiroshima. The plant manager was dead set against our efforts. resulted in the smoothest flow. And after you had simplified the flow as
I secured a strong show of support from the company president. He de- much as possible, you automated what you had at that point.
clared that he would fire anyone who stood in the way of our efforts, even Ive been listening without really understanding fully what you were
the plant manager. That changed everything. I went into that assignment saying. Id be interested to hear what you went through before arriving
without any relevant experience, and I learned a lot about the deep-rooted at that approach. Once you arrived at that approach and everyone un-
resistance you encounter on-site when you try to reform factory opera- derstood how things would proceed, I assume that you didnt have argu-
tions. Youve got to listen to people in the workplace, but youve also got ments about whether or not to automate things. Were you still operating
to push ahead with new ideas [and new ways of doing things]. in a kind of flux?

Tanaka: Youre absolutely right. You walk into an old plant and tell some- Tanaka: We definitely felt like we were proceeding in a state of flux
one that theyve got to change the way they do things. Theyll tell you, when we were first putting the system in place. An operating procedure
62 The Birth of Lean What I Learned from Taiichi Ohno 63

grew and developed through receiving guidance from Ohno-san. Their Ive been doing things this way for 20 years, and it works just fine. I
way of thinking came to resemble his way of thinking. answered like this: If youve been doing things that way for 20 years,
dont you think its time for a change? Cant you see that doing things
Q: I am studying that subject carefully, and I have obtained some perti- the same way for 20 years means that youre not making any progress?
nent materials from Honda [Motor]. Ive learned that [Soichiro] Honda Peoples own wisdom and experience dont necessarily highlight the need
also devoted a great deal of attention to fostering human resources. If you for change.
want to get any work done right, you need to spend a lot of time on that Another issue is differences in how people perceive the appropriate
task. Honda-san could never have achieved such impressive success if he goals. I was anti-kanban at first, and that was because I didnt understand
had ignored the task of fostering human resources. the aims of the kanban system. Circumstances later provided me with the
What emerges most clearly in the materials Ive obtained is [Soichiro opportunity to understand those aims, and I went to work [on putting
Hondas] emphasis on motivating people and on encouraging people to the kanban system in place and making it work]. Different perceptions of
tackle self-improvement. If those materials all became public, they would suitable goals can happen like that when people havent had the chance
highlight an important similarity between Honda-san and Ohno-san. I to come to terms with what youre trying to do.
think that we need to take another look at the two mens approach to
manufacturing. Q: You describe putting in place [what some people called] the New
The message in your talk that resonated with my experience was that Production System. I understand that you and others set up the system
nothing happens unless management demonstrates a strong commitment. at 37 or 38 companies. The guiding principle appears to have been to
I was at Kobe Steel, and I spent a year supervising [what should have rationalize plant operations without spending any money and to defer
been] a thorough rationalization of operations at the Saijo Plant, near any large-scale automation as much as possible. You determined what
Hiroshima. The plant manager was dead set against our efforts. resulted in the smoothest flow. And after you had simplified the flow as
I secured a strong show of support from the company president. He de- much as possible, you automated what you had at that point.
clared that he would fire anyone who stood in the way of our efforts, even Ive been listening without really understanding fully what you were
the plant manager. That changed everything. I went into that assignment saying. Id be interested to hear what you went through before arriving
without any relevant experience, and I learned a lot about the deep-rooted at that approach. Once you arrived at that approach and everyone un-
resistance you encounter on-site when you try to reform factory opera- derstood how things would proceed, I assume that you didnt have argu-
tions. Youve got to listen to people in the workplace, but youve also got ments about whether or not to automate things. Were you still operating
to push ahead with new ideas [and new ways of doing things]. in a kind of flux?

Tanaka: Youre absolutely right. You walk into an old plant and tell some- Tanaka: We definitely felt like we were proceeding in a state of flux
one that theyve got to change the way they do things. Theyll tell you, when we were first putting the system in place. An operating procedure
64 The Birth of Lean What I Learned from Taiichi Ohno 65

ultimately took shape, but that was maybe five years down the line. Clear wage big companies. The only thing left to differentiate a company is mo-
criteria for automation came even later. The mood of the times presented tivation. I think weve entered an era when [the people at] big companies
a lot of pressure to automate and to computerize, and our younger em- cant take anything for granted.
ployees were impatient. We lost some people then that I felt bad about
losing. Tanaka: Small companies that assert unique strengths have high profit-
ability. They do things that big companies arent doing. Their people oper-
Q: Tell us more about the initial resistance to the kanban system. ate outside the organization-man mentality. Niche strategies can work.

Tanaka: That was only natural. You cant understand the kanban system Q: I have a question about your story of Eiji Toyoda pointing out a mis-
until you give it a try. When you just walk in and tell people to start using match between people and automated equipment. We are in an era of
kanban, theyre bound to resist. Its something that you learn by doing. I violent fluctuations in demand. What kind of operating rate is reasonable
could easily have ended up on the outside looking in. I only stuck with it to aim for in matching people and automated equipment?
because I happened to get the chance to see how [kanban] could work. Some mismatching is inevitable, but the degree of the imbalance de-
I didnt think at the time that any particular method was the be-all and pends on your priorities. Has kaizen produced an ideal allocation of hu-
end-all, and I still dont think so. What matters is motivation. You need to man and mechanical resources at Daihatsu? And what is the logic behind
start by motivating people, by getting them excited about accomplishing the allocation that has resulted there?
something. Once you do that, theyll be happy to learn and use what-
ever method you propose. The kanban system is simple. But unmotivated Tanaka: If you were operating a line entirely with human labor [and with
people will not learn the system. The motivation has got to come first. no automated equipment], fluctuations in production volume wouldnt
affect your productivity a bit. If you install automated equipment and po-
Q: At Toshibas Omi Plant, they were making desktop computers on two sition individual workers between machines, you cant reduce the staffing
20-meter-long assembly lines until two years ago. They got rid of the con- [when the production volume declines]. Youve got to arrange things so
veyor lines and started having individuals assemble whole computers. I that one operator can [operate a broader or narrower range of equipment,
was amazed. Productivity doubled. Thats because a conveyor line ends depending on the production volume].
up flowing at the pace of the person who has the lowest productivity. A In general, installing highly automated equipment means an increase
veteran assembler can put together about 50 computers a day. And put- in unit costs when the production volume declines. A strong and inverse
ting individuals in charge of assembling complete computers reduced the relationship between unit costs and production volume indicates a bad
in-process stock dramatically. approach to manufacturing. Fancy equipment tends to raise unit costs.
I know of lots of similar examples. And that trend is narrowing the Toyoda Boshoku [now Toyota Boshoku (Toyota Spinning and Weaving)]
difference in productivity between low-wage small companies and high- once assembled vacuum bottles for [a consumer products company], and
64 The Birth of Lean What I Learned from Taiichi Ohno 65

ultimately took shape, but that was maybe five years down the line. Clear wage big companies. The only thing left to differentiate a company is mo-
criteria for automation came even later. The mood of the times presented tivation. I think weve entered an era when [the people at] big companies
a lot of pressure to automate and to computerize, and our younger em- cant take anything for granted.
ployees were impatient. We lost some people then that I felt bad about
losing. Tanaka: Small companies that assert unique strengths have high profit-
ability. They do things that big companies arent doing. Their people oper-
Q: Tell us more about the initial resistance to the kanban system. ate outside the organization-man mentality. Niche strategies can work.

Tanaka: That was only natural. You cant understand the kanban system Q: I have a question about your story of Eiji Toyoda pointing out a mis-
until you give it a try. When you just walk in and tell people to start using match between people and automated equipment. We are in an era of
kanban, theyre bound to resist. Its something that you learn by doing. I violent fluctuations in demand. What kind of operating rate is reasonable
could easily have ended up on the outside looking in. I only stuck with it to aim for in matching people and automated equipment?
because I happened to get the chance to see how [kanban] could work. Some mismatching is inevitable, but the degree of the imbalance de-
I didnt think at the time that any particular method was the be-all and pends on your priorities. Has kaizen produced an ideal allocation of hu-
end-all, and I still dont think so. What matters is motivation. You need to man and mechanical resources at Daihatsu? And what is the logic behind
start by motivating people, by getting them excited about accomplishing the allocation that has resulted there?
something. Once you do that, theyll be happy to learn and use what-
ever method you propose. The kanban system is simple. But unmotivated Tanaka: If you were operating a line entirely with human labor [and with
people will not learn the system. The motivation has got to come first. no automated equipment], fluctuations in production volume wouldnt
affect your productivity a bit. If you install automated equipment and po-
Q: At Toshibas Omi Plant, they were making desktop computers on two sition individual workers between machines, you cant reduce the staffing
20-meter-long assembly lines until two years ago. They got rid of the con- [when the production volume declines]. Youve got to arrange things so
veyor lines and started having individuals assemble whole computers. I that one operator can [operate a broader or narrower range of equipment,
was amazed. Productivity doubled. Thats because a conveyor line ends depending on the production volume].
up flowing at the pace of the person who has the lowest productivity. A In general, installing highly automated equipment means an increase
veteran assembler can put together about 50 computers a day. And put- in unit costs when the production volume declines. A strong and inverse
ting individuals in charge of assembling complete computers reduced the relationship between unit costs and production volume indicates a bad
in-process stock dramatically. approach to manufacturing. Fancy equipment tends to raise unit costs.
I know of lots of similar examples. And that trend is narrowing the Toyoda Boshoku [now Toyota Boshoku (Toyota Spinning and Weaving)]
difference in productivity between low-wage small companies and high- once assembled vacuum bottles for [a consumer products company], and
66 The Birth of Lean What I Learned from Taiichi Ohno 67

it wasnt making any money at all from that business. It was assembling Q: Product development engineers are showing up increasingly on the
the vacuum bottles on a conveyor line when Ohno-san became the chair- plant floor these days, along with the production engineering people. That
man there [after retiring from Toyota]. So youd have spells of waiting seems to be a trend, doesnt it?
between people on the line, and youd end up working at the pace of the
slowest person. Ohno-san got rid of the conveyor belt and had the people Tanaka: The development people also need to abide by the genchi gem-
do their work standing [alongside a workbench]. Productivity went up butsu principle of seeing for themselves in the workplace. They need to
30% or 40%, and Toyoda Boshoku finally started to turn a profit on the see for themselves if the things theyve designed are truly easy to as-
vacuum bottle business. semble and whether the quality [of the assembled products] is what they
Yes, the era of the conveyor as the be-all and end-all is over. We can envisioned. That kind of attention results in higher quality and lower
discard the assumption that mass production is synonymous with con- costs.
veyor lines. We say that providing management with information feedback is the
job of the production workplace. Conversely, management is responsible
Q: My question is about how the production engineering sector should for absorbing information from [the plant floor]. Amazing things result
support the kaizen efforts by people in the manufacturing workplace. when both ends of the flow fulfill their responsibility. Things get out
Youve mentioned progress in computer technology, and the production of whack in the workplace when a know-it-all comes along [and starts
engineering people are presumably supervising the creation of advanced spouting off].
systems. Meanwhile, the people on the shop floor are pushing ahead with
the [practical] ideas promoted by Ohno-san. How do those different ef- Q: Kanto Auto Works acquired the Toyota Production System in bits and
forts interact? pieces. At Toyota, the system extends all the way from sales to product
development, manufacturing, and purchasing. But at Kanto Auto Works,
Tanaka: Creating systems needs to be a matter of going out into the work- a new idea that took hold in the plants didnt have any effect on prod-
place, seeing the problems that are occurring there, and developing sys- uct development. Instead, product development would absorb some idea
tems [to address those real-world circumstances]. You wont get far in from Toyota. So even if the Toyota Production System was transform-
the workplace with systems based on ideas that youve simply dreamed ing operations in the plants, the basic approach to product development
up in your head. didnt change. You must have had a similar experience at Daihatsu. How
All [good] systems originate in the workplace. Ohno-san wasnt con- did things play out at your company?
sciously working on any system at first. He was simply [solving problems]
and ended up creating a system. A system that someone just dreams up Tanaka: Here is an example of something Ohno-san did to prevent that
[in an office or somewhere] wont work in the production workplace. If sort of problem. He instructed us to report the number of parts shortages
anything, itll trigger a backlash. that occurred [when the flow-based production line stopped because of a
66 The Birth of Lean What I Learned from Taiichi Ohno 67

it wasnt making any money at all from that business. It was assembling Q: Product development engineers are showing up increasingly on the
the vacuum bottles on a conveyor line when Ohno-san became the chair- plant floor these days, along with the production engineering people. That
man there [after retiring from Toyota]. So youd have spells of waiting seems to be a trend, doesnt it?
between people on the line, and youd end up working at the pace of the
slowest person. Ohno-san got rid of the conveyor belt and had the people Tanaka: The development people also need to abide by the genchi gem-
do their work standing [alongside a workbench]. Productivity went up butsu principle of seeing for themselves in the workplace. They need to
30% or 40%, and Toyoda Boshoku finally started to turn a profit on the see for themselves if the things theyve designed are truly easy to as-
vacuum bottle business. semble and whether the quality [of the assembled products] is what they
Yes, the era of the conveyor as the be-all and end-all is over. We can envisioned. That kind of attention results in higher quality and lower
discard the assumption that mass production is synonymous with con- costs.
veyor lines. We say that providing management with information feedback is the
job of the production workplace. Conversely, management is responsible
Q: My question is about how the production engineering sector should for absorbing information from [the plant floor]. Amazing things result
support the kaizen efforts by people in the manufacturing workplace. when both ends of the flow fulfill their responsibility. Things get out
Youve mentioned progress in computer technology, and the production of whack in the workplace when a know-it-all comes along [and starts
engineering people are presumably supervising the creation of advanced spouting off].
systems. Meanwhile, the people on the shop floor are pushing ahead with
the [practical] ideas promoted by Ohno-san. How do those different ef- Q: Kanto Auto Works acquired the Toyota Production System in bits and
forts interact? pieces. At Toyota, the system extends all the way from sales to product
development, manufacturing, and purchasing. But at Kanto Auto Works,
Tanaka: Creating systems needs to be a matter of going out into the work- a new idea that took hold in the plants didnt have any effect on prod-
place, seeing the problems that are occurring there, and developing sys- uct development. Instead, product development would absorb some idea
tems [to address those real-world circumstances]. You wont get far in from Toyota. So even if the Toyota Production System was transform-
the workplace with systems based on ideas that youve simply dreamed ing operations in the plants, the basic approach to product development
up in your head. didnt change. You must have had a similar experience at Daihatsu. How
All [good] systems originate in the workplace. Ohno-san wasnt con- did things play out at your company?
sciously working on any system at first. He was simply [solving problems]
and ended up creating a system. A system that someone just dreams up Tanaka: Here is an example of something Ohno-san did to prevent that
[in an office or somewhere] wont work in the production workplace. If sort of problem. He instructed us to report the number of parts shortages
anything, itll trigger a backlash. that occurred [when the flow-based production line stopped because of a
68 The Birth of Lean What I Learned from Taiichi Ohno 69

work delay in any process on the line]. Ohno-san told us to leave every- Nemoto-san observed that the Toyota Production System gets a lot of
thing else up to the people on the shop floor. The people in the production credit [for Toyotas success]. And he noted that people have forgotten
workplace got in trouble when parts shortages occurred, so they worked that TQC was indispensable, for example, in putting the kanban system in
hard on kaizen improvements to prevent shortages. place. What was the positioning of TQC in the guidance that you received
Ohno-san also told us to have the quality assurance people play a from Ohno-san?
more-active role in managing flows of information [among the processes
and among the different sectors of operations]. And he laid down a gen- Tanaka: Ohno-san always said, Kanban wont work right anywhere that
eral rule for everyone to follow: If you come out to the workplace with TQC isnt working right. Quality control is fundamental. The kanban sys-
nothing better to do than complain, then stay away. If you have a positive tem only works when youre making quality products.
suggestion about ways to maybe improve things, then come. The main difference [between Ohno-san and some of the proponents
In the relationship between sales and production, Ohno-san told the of TQC] was his dislike of written materials. He warned us not to waste
production people to make more stuff because things were selling well. time producing useless documentation. He insisted that we could convey
And he told the salespeople to sell more. But he knew what our produc- information better by showing people the workplace than by turning out
tion capacity was, and he never insisted on pushing production to an documents.
unsound level just to keep up with strong sales. He knew that putting Ohno-san said, Supervisors and managers should go read the situ-
unreasonable pressure on the workplace would simply cause problems, ation in the workplace when the line stops. They shouldnt waste their
and he cautioned us, Youve got to maintain quality. Making unreason- time gathering data. When a defect occurs, stop the line and go see whats
able demands causes quality to deteriorate. happened. Thats the way to discover the causes of problems. What good
Ohno-san carefully managed any discrepancies between the number is preparing a bunch of data?
of vehicles that the salespeople were demanding and the number of ve- He also said, If you deal with problems on the spot when they occur,
hicles that we could reasonably produce. That earned him the absolute the person responsible for the problem will understand what he or she
confidence of the people in manufacturing. They accepted anything he has done wrong. If you simply gather data and pass it upstairs, no one
said as the truth. will feel any sense of personal responsibility when the report comes out.
Youve got to make people feel responsible for their mistakes. You need
Q: At our previous gathering, we heard from [Masao] Nemoto [a former to maintain a healthy sense of tension [in regard to preventing defects].
senior managing director at Toyota (see chapter 5)]. He led the intro-
duction of TQC at Toyota, and he told us that the Toyota Production
System and TQC complemented each other [and had both been essential
to Toyotas progress in raising productivity, ensuring quality, and lower-
ing costs].
68 The Birth of Lean What I Learned from Taiichi Ohno 69

work delay in any process on the line]. Ohno-san told us to leave every- Nemoto-san observed that the Toyota Production System gets a lot of
thing else up to the people on the shop floor. The people in the production credit [for Toyotas success]. And he noted that people have forgotten
workplace got in trouble when parts shortages occurred, so they worked that TQC was indispensable, for example, in putting the kanban system in
hard on kaizen improvements to prevent shortages. place. What was the positioning of TQC in the guidance that you received
Ohno-san also told us to have the quality assurance people play a from Ohno-san?
more-active role in managing flows of information [among the processes
and among the different sectors of operations]. And he laid down a gen- Tanaka: Ohno-san always said, Kanban wont work right anywhere that
eral rule for everyone to follow: If you come out to the workplace with TQC isnt working right. Quality control is fundamental. The kanban sys-
nothing better to do than complain, then stay away. If you have a positive tem only works when youre making quality products.
suggestion about ways to maybe improve things, then come. The main difference [between Ohno-san and some of the proponents
In the relationship between sales and production, Ohno-san told the of TQC] was his dislike of written materials. He warned us not to waste
production people to make more stuff because things were selling well. time producing useless documentation. He insisted that we could convey
And he told the salespeople to sell more. But he knew what our produc- information better by showing people the workplace than by turning out
tion capacity was, and he never insisted on pushing production to an documents.
unsound level just to keep up with strong sales. He knew that putting Ohno-san said, Supervisors and managers should go read the situ-
unreasonable pressure on the workplace would simply cause problems, ation in the workplace when the line stops. They shouldnt waste their
and he cautioned us, Youve got to maintain quality. Making unreason- time gathering data. When a defect occurs, stop the line and go see whats
able demands causes quality to deteriorate. happened. Thats the way to discover the causes of problems. What good
Ohno-san carefully managed any discrepancies between the number is preparing a bunch of data?
of vehicles that the salespeople were demanding and the number of ve- He also said, If you deal with problems on the spot when they occur,
hicles that we could reasonably produce. That earned him the absolute the person responsible for the problem will understand what he or she
confidence of the people in manufacturing. They accepted anything he has done wrong. If you simply gather data and pass it upstairs, no one
said as the truth. will feel any sense of personal responsibility when the report comes out.
Youve got to make people feel responsible for their mistakes. You need
Q: At our previous gathering, we heard from [Masao] Nemoto [a former to maintain a healthy sense of tension [in regard to preventing defects].
senior managing director at Toyota (see chapter 5)]. He led the intro-
duction of TQC at Toyota, and he told us that the Toyota Production
System and TQC complemented each other [and had both been essential
to Toyotas progress in raising productivity, ensuring quality, and lower-
ing costs].