Go and See
Genchi genbutsuis a central Toyota Way principle that means
the actual place, the actual part. The principle is to go and see
the actual place and understand the real situation through
direct observation. We could not bring you to real-life cases, so
we bring some real-life case studies to you.Reflection
A key to learning in Toyota is reflection. It is the driver of
kaizen.In all chapters, we pause to ask reflection questions to
help you apply the lessons to your organization.Overview of the Toyota Way Principles
While we did not organize the book around these principles exactly in this way,
it is worth reviewing the principles as background for the The Toyota Way
Fieldbook.
I. Philosophy as the Foundation
- Base your management decisions on a long-term philosophy,
even at the expense of short-term financial goals.
Cost reduction has been a passion since Taiichi Ohno created the famous Toyota
Production System on the shop floor. Yet cost reduction is not what drives
Toyota. There is a philosophical sense of purpose that supercedes any short-
term decision making. Toyota executives understand their place in the history
of the company and are working to bring the company to the next level. The
sense of purpose is like that of an organism working to grow and developing
itself and its offspring. In this day and age of cynicism about the morals and
ethics of corporate officers and the place of large capitalistic corporations in civ-
ilized society, Toyota gives us a glimpse of an alternative, provides a model of
what happens when tens of thousands of people are aligned toward a common
purpose that is bigger than making money.
Toyota always starts with the goal of generating value for the customer,
society, and the economy. This principle should always be the starting point, not
just for product/service design efforts, but for every function in the company.
An important subtext for this mission orientation is that Toyota sees itself as
responsible. Leaders must all take responsibility. This goes back to the begin-
ning of the auto company, when Kiichiro Toyoda resigned from the company he
founded because economic conditions forced him to lay off many associates.
This strong philosophical mission orientation has defined Toyota from their
beginnings as a manufacturing company, and often separated them from