TPS House

This simple house was used to visually describe the Toyota Production System. All other components were inherit to the system. Ex: Safety, Customer First, Heijunka (Leveled production), etc. All other versions of the TPS house should be used to clarify your understanding. Based on our experience we have added details, which you might find useful.

Continuing with the symbolism of the house we have 5 components of the house.
I. Foundational
II. Jidoka Walls
III. JIT Walls
IV. Customer Satisfaction Roof
V. People

The order of the building represents the sequence of construction but TPS always starts with the people.

Foundational

The foundation of the TPS house is the most overlooked component of TPS / Lean Management. Just like a real house the foundation needs to be large enough to support the walls and roof. The invested efforts on the foundation will assist in the sustainability of your system.

We have made the foundation much thicker than the original to capture the implied understandings. The foundation consists of:
1. Customer First – A company exists because somebody is willing to pay for a service or product. Only the customer can determine the value of the product or service.
2. Respect for Humanity – Creating work environments that are safe and promote job enrichment. Utilize the full talents of all Associates.
3. Gemba - Actual worksite or workplace where the value is created.
4. Genchi Genbutsu – Actual place, actual thing also translated as “go and see.” Spend time observing the process versus hearing about it.
5. Stability - Refers to reliable machines, workforce and material. Kaizen is not a substitution for maintenance.
6. Standards – Agreed upon quality levels and ways of working or work instructions.
7. Heijunka – Leveled production based on the market and capacity of the company.
8. Safety – Always considered in each process

Jidoka

The first pillar of the TPS house was created by Sakiichi Toyoda. His philosophy was quality should be built in not inspected in. Autonomation or automation with a human touch means automatic equipment should not continue to run while making defects.

Jidoka also helps to create a sense of urgency and drive immediate countermeasures. Components of jidoka are:
1. Poka yoke – A device which prevents mistakes from happening. Referred to as full proofing or bullet proofing. The goal is to prevent defects from being passed on. This will eliminate reworked or scraping products or services.
2. Andon – A warning system to tell others of a problem. A light, sound or pull cord system to call attention to problems. The purpose is to prevent defects from being passed on by visually seeing where problems are coming from, how often and request     help.
3. 5S – Seiri (Sort out), Seiton (Set in place, arrange), Seiso (Sweep, wash, cleaning), Seiketsu (Sanitize) and Shitsuke (Sustain, discipline). 5S has effects on safety, quality and productivity.
4. A3 Reports– Process of writing proposals and problem solving in both A3 and A4 sized papers. Ensures fundamentals are not skipped.
5. 5 Why’s – Process of getting to the root cause of a problem by asking why enough times until the reason is out of your control.
6. Visual Control – Any tools such as production boards that tell you the normal from abnormal conditions.

JIT

The second pillar of the TPS house was created by Kiichiro Toyoda and expanded on by Taiichi Ohno. Due to limited capital JIT was created to produce vehicles on an as needed basis. Producing what you need, in the quantity needed and when you need it. Tools of JIT are:
1. Kanban – Direct translation is a sign board. It now represents a communication system to tell the previous process what, when and how many to make. It can be a simple square on the ground or a system of cards to communicate production or parts     information.
2. Eliminating waste (muda, muri, mura)
3. Muda – 7 forms of waste: Overproduction, Inventory, Waiting, Motion, Transportation, Defects and Over-processing.
4. Muri – Over burden. Processes that are not reasonable to do on a continuous basis. Ex: Heavy lifting, excellent eye hand coordination and reaction time, special touch
5. Mura – Uneven or unleveled work load, quality and delivery level. Creating periods of stress or periods of waiting
6. TAKT time – Pace at which customers are buying the product or service. TAKT time is a requirement of standardized work.
7. Quick Changeovers – SMED activities
8. VSM – Value Stream Mapping is a tool to examine the way your business flows material and information.

Customer Satisfaction

The roof of the house represents what the customer wants. In Toyota it was “Highest Quality, at the Lowest Cost, in the Shortest Lead-time” Safety was implied and later added to clear up ambiguity.

When you look at a house the first impression is the size. The eyes are naturally drawn to the roof line. What are your customers looking at when they see your house?
1. Measure of success – repeat customers and referrals
2. Internally measured success was Defects per Unit (DPU), Scrap, Efficiency
3. Control Boards – Feedback from both internal and external customer processes.
4. Benchmarking – Comparing to both within and outside of industry standards

The People

The purpose of any house is to provide shelter. The people on the inside are both the stake holders and share holders. The mutual benefit of job security and profitability is possible through efforts in:
1. Kaizen – Process of making continuous improvements in both your personal and work life. The direct translation is kai = change and zen = good. Ideas are implemented on the floor but supported by Top and Middle Management.
2. Hoshin Kanri – Setting company and personal goals, reviewing and reflecting regularly to determine action needed. Also known and Strategy deployment or OGSM.
3. Providing Associate development. Allowing Associates to manage their jobs and make improvements.
4. Not eliminating people due to a kaizen activities.
5. Complete trust from Top Management, Middle Management and Line Associates.