Don’t Let the Door Hit You in the Ass

I am new to the Lean world but have also been surprised by the cries of despair or doubt from many of the sites I visit. I also have no doubt the Toyota Corporation will come back stronger than before.

The abandonment of this or any helpful process is simply evidence that the process was not completely understood.

LOL – I’m glad there are others out there who feel the way I do. We had friends over to watch the basketball game last night (Go Cavs!) and started on this subject. My point of view silenced the room and no one wanted to talk anymore. My friend actually asked if I was “Anti-American” – how ridiculous! Of course I am Pro-American but I want a quality product. IMHO Toyota should be congratulated for shutting down production, for true root cause investigation and for taking responsibility… seems like we could use some of that in America.

I agree completely. Toyota never was perfect. Toyota is still a very well managed company. They have experienced problems that sure seem to indicate systemic failures that they need to address. But I believe they will do so. Maybe I am wrong, but I still have more confidence in their management than almost anywhere else.

Completely agreed. Likewise, all of the politicians crawling over one another for the best seat in front of a microphone and a television camera so that they may bask in the warm glow that comes from chastising those greedy Toyota executives for the benefit of those who find gratification in the tearing down of an icon makes for great theater. The heightened scrutiny on Toyota today will run its course – as it did for Bridgestone, Tylenol, and any number of high profile examples that have been splayed across the headlines for a time and subsequently forgotten.

This time is different however, because the subject is Toyota. This is all too juicy for our remarkably inept and uneducated media and politicians. My goodness, Toyota is – after all – Japanese, and Number One. They were supposed to be The Benchmark of excellence and efficiency. It is far too easy for the critics wielding 20/20 hindsight to stab the wounded after the war, and for the echo chamber to radiate their criticisms for all the world to hear: Toyota Failed! One can almost hear the ozone-crackling glee in the air.

Obviously these egregious failures must surely mean that the entire Toyota Production System is a sham; that Lean is a dead-end path to financial ruin and the clear-cut cause that drove an executive management team to put dollars ahead of sense. What is a constant among these many masters of popular opinion however is an incredible lack of curiosity and understanding. When all the smoke clears, what is inherently obvious (and likely allowing Team Toyota a knowing smile amongst themselves) is that these very failures are illustrative of what happens when TPS/Lean takes a nap.

Lean – defined simply as the elimination of waste and the improvement of flow – is exactly what is needed here. Lean doesn’t cut corners. (That type of activity is often best identified as “value engineering.”) At the end of the day, Toyota will turn to its roots, go directly to Gemba, identify with painstaking precision the true causes for these errors, and eliminate them. To their credit, if that means slowing growth to better ensure precise execution of their strategy, they will do so. Even scrutiny as to failures to pull the Andon cord and react sooner qualify as waste-elimination projects. Toyota knows these things intrinsically and they will address them systematically. Toyota – a human enterprise – made mistakes. Perhaps all those lining up to throw stones are themselves infallible, but I tend to think instead that it just makes them feel better – even if only temporarily. All together now: lean eliminates waste – not value – and defects are waste.