Chapter 9
Back to the Abacus?
“Lean is antitechnology.” “Those lean bigots are always bad-mouthing IT.” “If
it were up to the lean dreamers we would scrap all our computers and even our
pens are too high tech—they want pencil and paper.” These are examples of
statements we often hear, particularly from frustrated IT professionals who are
being blocked by the lean folks from implementing the technologies they had
planned. The impression is that Toyota does not believe in advanced technology
of any kind. They seem to imagine Toyota as a company where everyone carries
an abacus on their belts.
Let’s get this myth off the table immediately. The reality is that Toyota is a
technology-based company. In fact, they are among the most sophisticated users
of advanced technology in the world. We have not measured technology use in
Toyota versus the competition, but we can tell you that they use it, and use lots of
it—robots, supercomputers, desktop computers, RF scanning technology, SAP,
lights-out factories, and so on. Consider the technology in Toyota products—i the
first company to make a mass production hybrid vehicle filled with computer
chips galore—and Toyotas in Japan are filled with GPS systems for navigation.
The point of confusion is simple. It’s not that Toyota avoids advanced tech-
nology, but that Toyota views technology differently. When lean experts advise
a company to stop using the MRP (Material Requirements Planning) system as
it is being used, or to shut down the automated storage and retrieval system, or
to stop investing in that high-technology paint booth, they are not saying stop
using technology but saying stop using technology in a way that produces
waste. Stop using technology as a substitute for thinking.Make Technology Fit with
People and Lean Processes
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