The Toyota Way: 14 Management Principles from the World's Greatest Manufacturer

by Jeffrey K. Liker

Connected processes force all team members to strive for perfection. Ohno taught that lowering the “water level” of inventory exposes problems (like rocks in the water), and you are forced to deal with the problems. Coupling steps in the process so that there is little material or time buffer lowers the water level and exposes inefficiencies that demand immediate solutions. Everyone concerned is motivated to fix the problems and inefficiencies because the process will shut down if they aren’t fixed. As Ohno disciple Mr. Minoura explained: When they run one-piece production, they can’t have the quantity that they want so everybody gets frustrated and doesn’t know what to do. But then, within that, they have to find ways to think: what is the way to get the quantity? That is the true essence of TPS and, in that sense, we create confusion so we have to do something different in approaching this problem.