The one reality of the Toyota Way is that there is alwaysmore than one way
to achieve the desired result. The important thing is to learn, to think about what
you have learned, to apply it, and to reflect on the process and continuously
improve in such a way as to strengthen your organization for the long term.
You may think that we have left out or completely missed some important
aspects of the Toyota Way. There is no question that this is the case. An entire
book could easily be written about any topic covered here. We have attempted
to distill the information to those things that are most critical and often over-
looked elsewhere. We are fully aware that we ourselves might have overlooked
some key items, and we would love to hear from you so those items may be
considered for future work.
How the Book Is Organized
The starting point for this book is the 4P model developed in The Toyota Way.The
four Ps are Philosophy, Process, People/Partners, and Problem Solving (all right,
there are kind of five Ps). In this book we have also used the 4P structure, but
we did not exactly stick to the original principles. We found a somewhat different
list, one more amenable to teaching others how to apply the principles.
We still stuck with the high-level organization of the 4P model. Here’s a brief
description of the 4Ps and what makes them somewhat unique to Toyota:
◆ Philosophy.At the most fundamental level, Toyota’s leaders see the com-
pany as a vehicle for adding value to customers, society, the community,
and its associates. This is not naive political mumbo jumbo. It’s real. It goes
back to the founder, Sakichi Toyoda, and his desire to invent power looms
to make life simpler for women in the farming community in which he
grew up. It continued when Sakichi asked his son Kiichiro Toyoda to
make his own contribution to the world by starting an automobile com-
pany. It is imprinted in all of Toyota’s leaders today. It sets the foundation
for all the other principles.
◆ Process. Toyota leaders have learned through mentorship and experi-
ence that when they follow the right process, they get the right results.
While some of the things you should do in the name of the Toyota Way
bring immediate dollars to the bottom line, such as shedding inventory or
eliminating wasted human motion in jobs, others are investments that in
the long term enable cost reduction and quality improvement. It is the
long-term investments that are the most difficult. Some are quantifiable in
a clear cause and effect way, while in other cases you have to believe they
will pay off. For example, bringing parts to an assembly line every hour
can seem wasteful, yet it supports the principle of creating flow. Spending
time on developing consensus and getting input from those affected can