Example Of Toyota Production System Essay

The Toyota Production System is a technique that is used by mainly Toyota and some other manufacturing companies. TPS is most commonly referred to as Lean Manufacturing in the Unites States and various other countries. This system of production is based on the philosophy of eliminating all the waste from the work area with the aim of acquiring the most efficient working environment. The Toyota Production System (TPS) is often referred to as lean manufacturing or just-in-time system by the experts of the field of production. This system has become well-known worldwide and has been taught in a number of institutes. The TPS has been formulated on the basis of decades of continual improvement in the production systems. The aim of the continual improvement included delivering the ordered vehicle to the customer in the fastest and most efficient manner. The aim included cutting down costs of various wasteful processes or materials including workplace environment.
The Toyota Production System (TPS) has two major components that form the basis of its implementation. The first and foremost component is known as Jidoka which is a word of Chinese. Its translation can be loosely stated as automation of something with the help of human touch. This translation simply means that the equipment is automated and only stops when there is some problem which results in prevention from producing further defective products. The second component of TPS is Just-in-Time which simply means that each and every process in the production line should produce only that many products as needed by the next step or process. The TPS results in quick and efficient production of vehicles with sound quality one by one with the aim to completely satisfy the customer’s needs .
Toyota implemented the lean manufacturing system known as the Toyota Production System (TPS) which played an important role in enabling Toyota to compete with European and American competitors. The TPS inspired a number of people in the West and as a result many people visited Japan to grasp the main idea of this system. Among these people was Mr. Norman Bodek who was a consultant, author, teacher, publisher and founder of Productivity Press. He is presently the President of PCS Press. Bodek personally met with Deming, Philip B. Crosby, Joseph M Juran, and Kaoru Ishikawa. He also studied their publications in order to develop better understanding of various concepts.
Norman Bodek published the major works of Taiichi Ohno who was the founder of Toyota Production System (TPS). In this manner he became the first person to introduce TPS in United States. He also published more than 100 books in English that pertain to Japanese Management Systems. He teaches various practices and systems of Japanese production and management systems in a University at Portland State. His major life’s work is based on the concepts of the significance of formulating and executing a system of continuous improvement .
It was Norman Bodek’s personal fascination with the manufacturing that resulted in his visits to Japan. His interest in the manufacturing processes mainly resulted in involving him into exploring various techniques used by Japanese experts in the field of manufacturing that enabled them to produce more quickly and efficiently at lower cost. This production was not only based on increasing the speed of processes, reducing the cost & time of delivery, and efficient utilization of resources but also improving the quality of product.
For around three decades till the year 2012, Norman Bodek himself visited Japan for around 80 times. He visited in excess of 250 production plants of various manufacturing companies. His visits to Japan enabled him to write more than 250 books related to production management. According to Norman Bodek, he was able to found the techniques, new ideas, and tools related to production management that played an important role in revolutionizing the way of manufacturing throughout the rest of the world especially United States. United States is the primary country to benefit from Norman Bodek’s publications and ideas brought by him to the country from Japan.
During his visits to Japan and various other countries, Norman Bodek was able to meet various famous figures in the field of management. These included Dr. Joseph Juran, Dr. Kaoru Ishikawa, Dr. W. Edwards Deming, Phil Crosby, Dr. Shigeo Shingo, Mr. Taiichi Ohno, Dr. Dr. Yoji Akao, and a number of other famous management & manufacturing experts. He also translated and published a number of books written by these experts. Norman Bodek claims that he learnt a new perspective and viewpoint from each expert he met with during his visits to Japan. The main idea that he grasped from his learning was continuous improvement. He got better understanding of Toyota Production System (TPS) in each of the visits. He himself felt deeply attracted by the ideas of TPS and various functional areas that it covers. He realized the value of lean manufacturing from his visits to Japan which he reflected in his publications. He also studied and published books on the concept of Kaizen which related to acquiring continuous improvement and good quality.
Norman Bodek’s visits to Japan were not all by himself. He led around 25 missions for studying Japanese management systems. These study missions resulted in publications of a number of books as well as training material on the topics of 5S, Value Stream Mapping, SMED, Quality Control Circles, CEDAC, Kaizen, Cell Design Kaizen Blitz, Andon, Kanban, Hoshin Kinri, and Poka-Yoke. These concepts were successfully implemented by various manufacturing companies of United States. His publication also included concepts related Total Quality Management (TQM) which is a strong tool of management in the field of manufacturing. The Toyota Production System (TPS) is based on most of these concepts hence he was the man behind introducing TPS to United States. TPS is commonly known as Lean Manufacturing in United States. Norman Bodek even wrote a book on Lean Accounting techniques .
Norman Bodek’s publications were behind introduction of Lean Manufacturing in America which is a variant of Toyota Production System (TPS). He made it possible for the experts of production in US to understand the importance of Lean Manufacturing. He was awarded with the Shingo Prize due to his efforts in the field of production management. Owing to his efforts in the field, he is commonly called as the Godfather of Lean. He also put lots of efforts in holding conferences through US as well as Europe and Asia in order to make the production experts understand and realize the importance of Lean Manufacturing based on Toyota Production System (TPS) .

Works Cited

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Siegler, D. (n.d.). Norman Bodek. Retrieved from http://www.pdx.edu: http://www.pdx.edu/sba/norman-bodek
TOYOTA. (n.d.). Toyota Production System. Retrieved from http://www.toyota-global.com: http://www.toyota-global.com/company/vision_philosophy/toyota_production_system/