Toyota Production System

A production system which is steeped in the philosophy of “the complete elimination of all waste”, imbuing all aspects of production in pursuits of the most efficient methods.

Toyota Motor Corporation’s vehicle production system is a way of “making things” that is sometimes referred to as a “lean manufacturing system” or a “just in time (JIT) system”, and has come to be well known and studied worldwide.

This production control system has been established based on many years of continuous improvements, with the objective of “making the vehicles ordered by customers in the quickest and most efficient way, in order to deliver the vehicles as quickly as possible”.

The Toyota Production System (TPS) was established based on two concepts: the first is called “jidoka” (which can be loosely translated as “automation with a human touch”) which means that when a problem occurs, the equipment stops immediately, preventing defective products from being produced. The second is the concept of “Just in Time”, in which each process produces only what is needed by the next process in a continuous flow.

Based on the basic philosophies of jidoka and just in time, the TPS can efficiently and quickly produce vehicles of sound quality, one at a time, that fully satisfy customer requirements.