Chapter 8
WE ARE FREQUENTLYasked, “What is it about the way Toyota does things
that makes their quality consistently better than other car companies?” While
there is no one simple answer to this question, it can be said that a large part is
due to the principle of building in quality and the decision to stop and fix prob-
lems as they occur rather than pushing them down the line to be resolved later.
On the surface, this idea seems logical. If you have a problem, it‘s better to stop
and take care of it. Correct it, prevent its recurrence, and make things better in
the long run. In reality, when people are faced with the demand to “make the
numbers,” the primary focus becomes short-term results—hitting the produc-
tion target every day at any cost. The focus in mass manufacturing is in getting
the mass. In lean the focus is on eliminating waste.
Not that Toyota wantsthe line to stop. Excessive line stoppage would
severely reduce production and profitability, so if you stop the line often the
results will be terrible. If you commit to the concept of stopping the line, you
will either continue to have terrible results or you’ll work diligently to elimi-
nate the problems. This commitment takes real courage and understanding of
the long-term objective. Over the years, Toyota has built a system that pro-
vides the long-term benefits of stopping the line, and minimizes the negative
effect by building a support structure to quickly identify, respond, and correct
problems.Build a Culture That
Stops to Fix Problems
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