Efficiency is the key

I have read a great deal on the Toyota Production System for my both essay and project and I believe this system could be the key to going GREEN.

Back in the 70's, after the oil crisis, a man named Taiichi Ohno began developing a production system that would be both efficient and profitable in a slow-growth economy.
The previous production system, based largely on Fordism,had to be changed if Toyota were to reach their goal: "catch up with America", as Ford's system did not work during these slow-growth economy periods.

Taiichi Ohno focused on how to achieve efficiency in the production system, the emphasis being on the system rather than the workers (Fordism focused more on the workers - division of labour). He believed that if the system was the most efficient it could be, then the productivity of the workers would then increase.

The ultimate goal of the Toyota Production System is "the absolute elimination of waste". Taiichi Ohno proved that by removing all the waste previously produced in the production of automobiles, that the system was more efficient and the productivity of the workers using the system increased also.

The "Just-In-Time" theory was one of the major measures developed to increase efficiency of the system. The idea was if all the components required in the production arrived where they were needed in the assembly at the time they were needed and in the quantity they were needed then Toyota would not require to store all the waiting components in store rooms, saving space and money.

Another system development was "Autonomation", or "Automation, with a human touch". This essentially meant that all production machines were fitted or redesigned to include the ability to stop production if a fault occured. For example if a foreign piece of material fell into a stamping machine, the unrequired object would be detected and the machine would stop until a worker could clear the obstruction. This would prevent any imperfect units, i.e. waste, being produced.

Both these systems allowed one worker to attend to several machines at the same time, thus increasing the productivity of the workforce, all achieved by the increased efficiency of the production system.



The Toyota Production System has today been developed for use in the office. 'Systems thinking' is a discipline that aims to increase the efficiency of the company. Like Toyota's system, this is achieved not by changing the workers or by focusing on the workers alone, but by placing emphasis on the system the workers are subject to. Develop the system to be most efficient and the productivity of the workers will follow.