Toyota Way Fieldbook : A Practical Guide for Implementing Toyota's 4Ps

Contrast this with the lean automation process shown in Figure 9-2. Yet
again the philosophy is that overall waste reduction should be the focus. The
vision for any new technology is always based in TPS and viewed as a human-
machine system. Equipment must support the people doing kaizen and a lean
process. Any new technology must meet a specific need and fit within the total
TPS system. Often that means beginning by working to improve and refine the
simpler, more manual system. See what you can get out of that system before
jumping into a major technology investment. Automating a non-lean system
may appear to produce local cost savings but will often add waste and reduce
the motivation to create a leaner system, producing more waste in the long
term. When you have squeezed what you can out of the manual system, then

206 THETOYOTAWAYFIELDBOOK

Philosophy

Low labor cost

Performance measures

Labor costs; equipment

utilization

Principle

Eliminate labor cost

through automation

Strategy

Evaluate labor

savings job by job

Reason

Replace variable labor

cost with fixed capital

cost; reduce labor

uncertainty

Effect

Narrow focus on

labor; job insecurity

Controls

Labor budget,

equipment utilization

Results

Equipment failures, labor-

management conflict,

increased waste and

indirect labor cost =

higher total system cost

Method

One-for-one cost-

benefit analysis

Tools

ROI analysis;

Outsourced

automation

Figure 9-1. Traditional automation process