‘At Toyota, every leader is a coach who teaches new ways of thinking at the gemba’ (Liker, in The Toyota Way, 2021)
When there is a deviation from standard, Toyota tries to get to the root cause and they tend to anticipate and reduce future problems.
Liker’s updated Toyota Way book’s main update was to emphasize systems thinking and to put problem solving principle at the heart of developing scientific thinking mindset.
The 4 Ps of The Toyota Way are:
- Philosophy,
- Process,
- People
- Problem solving
At the core of Toyota’s philosophy is self reliance and learning by doing. They fix what needs to be fixed and build in quality at the source. The objective is to produce product without interruption and without rework.
When you have a future state map, you will likely need to take a set of experiments to try your ideas and learn your way to the future state.
Toyota have a continuous desire for challenge and endless PDCA cycles.
Lean or lean six sigma is a philosophy and a system of interconnected processes and people who are working to continuously improve how they work and deliver value to customers.
Toyota had limited space, low cash, low demand, and needed to be efficient to survive.
The idea of Jidoka is to not let defects escape an operator’s station. It’s important to solve problems as they occur. Only those at the gemba can understand the problems fast enough to react quickly
Taichi Ohno was a proponent of scientific thinking to gather data and facts, test ideas, examine results and reflect on learnings. Toyota culture is based on growth mindset, servant leadership, development of work groups, and daily coaching.
Are you interested in getting started or reflecting on where problem solving is currently in your organisation with a view to imrove?
