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

for doing work conform to the business processes implied by the IT. The sup-
posed “business processes” improved by IT are mostly aimed at getting the right
data into the IT system (e.g., scanning in inventory every time it is moved).
The result is often a narrow focus on improving the IT business processes
without closely examining the actual work process. The people become
dependent on the system, which is vulnerable to failures. The people stop think-
ing and start following the dictates of the system. This results in less kaizen and
more waste.
The Toyota Wayrelated a story of supply chain visibility software. The soft-
ware was designed to make inventory visible. When the supply chain group led

Chapter 9. Make Technology Fit 209

Philosophy

Increase information &

analysis

Performance measures

Business process

performance, labor

productivity

Principle

Use IT for top-down

planning and control

Strategy

Replace human

judgment with IT

Reason

More, better, faster

information; better and

faster decisions

Effect

Narrow focus on IT

business processes

Controls

Computer monitoring

of workers + process

Results

System failures,

unthinking people,

increased waste, higher

total system cost

Method

Automate business

processes

Tools

Process modeling;

Outsourced IT

Figure 9-3. Traditional IT system design