The Toyota Production System (TPS) is an early form of lean manufacturing created by auto-manufacturer Toyota. Created by the Toyota Motor Corporation in the 1940s and 50s, the Toyota Production System seeks to manufacture vehicles ordered by customers most quickly and efficiently possible.
Understanding the Toyota Production System
The TPS is based on underlying principles called the Toyota Way:
Continuous improvement
Challenge
Or the courage and creativity to meet challenges and realize their long-term vision.
Kaizen

Or the continuous improvement of business operations.
Genchi Genbutsu
Which advocates going to the source to fact-find and make informed decisions.
Respect for people.
Respect
Every effort is made to respect and understand each other.
This means taking ownership of personal work and building mutual trust.
Teamwork
Employees must be stimulated to achieve personal and professional growth.
Opportunities for such growth should be shared throughout the organization to maximize performance.
The two core concepts of the Toyota Production System
Toyota bases its philosophy on two concepts:
Jidoka

A Japanese word loosely translated to “automation with a human touch”.
For Toyota, this means that automated systems (machines) must be built and improved by hand until they are reliable and safe.
Machines built by hand to very high standards become simpler to use and less expensive to run.
This results in simple, slim, flexible, and lean manufacturing processes that are adaptable to fluctuating production volume.
Within Jidoka, there are various quality control methods, such as Andon, also defined as “intelligent automation” or “automation with a human touch”.

Just-in-time (JIT)
where each part of the manufacturing process produces what is needed for the next process to facilitate continuous flow and improve productivity.
Toyota describes the JIT concept as making only “what is needed, when it is needed, and in the amount needed.”
The three categories of waste products in the Toyota Production System
In the introduction, we noted that the elimination of waste was integral to lean manufacturing at Toyota.
Waste that can potentially hinder process improvement is divided into three categories.
“Mura”
Mura is translated as unevenness, non-uniformity, and irregularity.
When a production line work station has a higher capacity than other stations, waste in the form of overproduction and delay-causing bottlenecks occur.
Muri can be mitigated by using Kanban or Just-In-Time manufacturing to limit the accumulation of excess inventory.
“Muri”
Muri encompasses overburden, excessiveness, unreasonableness, or something that is beyond one’s power.
Muri is evident when machines or human operators are forced to work beyond their capacity.
Machines inevitably fail, causing delays and costing money.
Overworked employees cause a lack of productivity owing to illness and absenteeism.
“Muda”
Muda is defined as wastefulness, uselessness, and anything that hinders the creation of value that the customer is willing to pay for.
Muda Type 1 processes do not add value directly but are required by law – such as the passing of safety tests and emissions standards.
However, Muda Type 2 processes are non-value-adding activities that are also unnecessary.
These activities are further categorized into seven types of waste:
Transport
Or wastage resulting from the excess or unnecessary movement of people, tools, equipment, or products.
Inventory
Excess inventory can lead to an inefficient allocation of capital or occupy valuable space that could be better utilized elsewhere.
Large amounts of stock sitting idle is also prone to damage or spoilage.
Here, defects are also more difficult to detect and address.
Motion
This is wastage that results from walking, lifting, reaching, double-handling, and so forth.
Motion should be limited or redesigned to increase occupational health and safety and improve productivity.
Waiting
This includes people waiting for materials or equipment.
It also includes equipment waiting because of input delays caused by uneven production.
Overproduction
Or the manufacturing of a product or component before it has been asked for, required, or ordered.
This results in excess inventory and increases lead-time.
Over-processing
Defined as doing more work or adding more product features or steps than is necessary.
In manufacturing, this might encompass the over-engineering of a solution or adjusting a component after it has been installed.
Defects
Or products not fit for use that must be scrapped or reworked.
Both outcomes require an extra allocation of resources which reduces productivity and profit margins.
Toyota Production System vs. Six Sigma

The Toyota Production System focuses on continuous improvement via just-in-time, thus becoming a holistic approach to business improvement.
Six Sigma looks and focuses primarily on reducing defects in the manufacturing process via a process of:
And the following implementation roles:
Toyota Production System vs. Lean Methodology

The lean methodology is definitely a method derived from the Toyota Production System.
Yet while the Toyota Production System is primarily skewed toward manufacturing, the lean methodology has been successfully adapted to software development via a process of lean thinking which moves along:
Continuous Innovation and Lean Startup
The whole lean manufacturing method, derived from the Toyota Production System, also led to an incredible wave of new theories around software development.
This led to lean methodology and agile.
In short, the software development industry borrowed many concepts from the lean manufacturing process, creating a framework that today is quite popular among startups.
This also led to an approach, which combines the lean and agile software development mindset with entrepreneurship, and that can be defined as continuous innovation.

Continuous innovation is one of the main distinguishing elements between a startup and a traditional corporation.

Key takeaways
- The Toyota Production System is a pioneering form of lean manufacturing developed by the Toyota Motor Corporation.
- The Toyota Production System is based on continuous improvement and respect for people. In manufacturing, it favors just-in-time (JIT) production and automation with a human touch.
- The Toyota Production System categorizes waste into three categories: Muri, Muda, and Mura. Each category is defined by specific adjectives that clarify potential sources of process inefficiency.
What are the three principles of Toyota Production System?
What are the seven types of waste in the Toyota Production System?
The seven types of waste within the Toyota Production System comprise:
What are the founding concepts of the Toyota Production System?
The two founding concepts of the Toyota Production System are:
What does kaizen stand for?
Kaizen is a process developed by the auto industry, and it is a hybridization of two Japanese words, “kai,” meaning “change,” and “zen,” meaning “good.” Two of the basic tenets of Kaizen involve making small incremental changes – or a 1% improvement every day – and the full participation of everyone.
What is Gemba work?
A Gemba Walk describes the personal observation of work to learn more about it. Gemba is a Japanese word that loosely translates as “the real place” or, in business, “the place where value is created.” The concept was created by Taiichi Ohno, the father of the Toyota Production System of lean manufacturing.
Read Also: Continuous Innovation, Agile Methodology, Lean Startup, Business Model Innovation, Project Management.
Read Next: Agile Methodology, Lean Methodology, Agile Project Management, Scrum, Kanban, Six Sigma.
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