Chapter 7
The Leveling Paradox
The Toyota Way is full of paradoxes, and one of the most counterintuitive is the
leveling paradox: that slow and steady can beat fast and jerky, like the parable of
the tortoise and the hare [which the older Toyota Production System (TPS) masters
often cite]. The tortoise lumbers along slow and determined while the hare sprints,
runs out of breath, and takes a nap. We see a similar trend all the time in the way
people work. Work, work, work to meet a deadline, and then coast for a while.
Toyota would always prefer a slow and consistent pace of work.
The other side of leveling, besides a steady quantity of work, is a steady mix
of work. In some ways this is even more difficult to rationalize. In manufactur-
ing, if you’re making more than one type of part, say 50-50 production between
Part A and Part B, it is natural to try to get the most production possible by
building large batches of A followed by large batches of B. This is particularly
attractive if it takes time to set up the process to switch between A and B. Ye t
Toyota would prefer to make A, B, A, B... This leveled mix is closer to a true
one-piece flow.
These days, “build to order” is all the rage. Companies like Dell Computer
have led the way building just what the customer orders over the Internet and
virtually eliminating finished goods inventory. Unfortunately, what is good for
the assembler is not always good for the supplier. Dell expects suppliers to keep
a considerable amount of inventory that the supplier is paying for in warehouses
near Dell’s assembly plant. From the Toyota Way viewpoint, Dell has not solvedLeveling: Be More Like the
Tortoise Than the Hare
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