Geoffrey Liker

The success of Toyota has been of constant interest to managers and businessmen around the world for many decades. The reliability of Toyota cars has become a benchmark for the global automotive industry, so everyone who is interested in improving the quality of goods and services, one way or another, gets acquainted with the experience of this corporation.

The book's author, Professor Jeffrey Liker, takes readers through the roots of Toyota's success by analyzing the company's Tao, its unique business philosophy based on the 14 core principles he discovered. The fundamental basis of the Toyota Way is a unique approach to personnel, which consists in education, training and development. It is the staff - qualified, hardworking, responsible - the key to the success of any company.

The book is aimed at managers and entrepreneurs, as well as students and teachers of economic universities.

Geoffrey Liker

The Tao of Toyota: 14 Management Principles for the World's Leading Company

Scientific editors A. Baranov, E. Bashkardin, S. Turko

Editor N. Baranovskaya

Technical editor N. Lisitsyna

Proofreader E. Chudinova

Computer layout K. Svishchev, Yu. Yusupova

Cover artist S. Prokofiev

Copyright © 2004 McGraw-Hill.

© Edition in Russian, translation, design. Alpina Publisher LLC, 2012

© Electronic edition. Alpina Publisher LLC, 2012

All rights reserved. No part of the electronic copy of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, including posting on the Internet and corporate networks, for private and public use, without the written permission of the copyright owner.

Dedicated to Deb, Emma, ​​Jessie and our amazing journey of a lifetime

From science editors

Why do we need this Tao?

You may not change.

Survival is not an obligation.

Edward Deming

You have opened a unique and very valuable book. With the right use of the knowledge gained from it, you will noticeably bring your company closer to reliable and long-term success. It's kind of the bible of business leadership.

It just so happened in Russia: “we will go our own way”, we will spend a lot of time searching for it and “laying the ski track”. And so in everything - from the construction of fences to experiments with social organization. And time is the only resource that cannot be replenished. Why not use the time-tested path that will lead from ruin to prosperity?

For the first time in 20 post-reform years in Russia, a mass circulation edition is published in which the author conceptually, substantively and succinctly reveals the nature of the long-term success of Toyota Motor Corporation, a symbol of world industrial leadership. We have already had the opportunity to read through books with success stories and newfangled management concepts of many companies. Moreover, as a rule, Western, a little less often - domestic. However, in recent years, in matters of business management, we have not always consciously, but increasingly began to turn to the experience of the East. There are reasons for this, and the first of them is practice (the criterion of truth!).

And the practice is such that today Toyota is not only the largest corporation, the number three company in the world car manufacturing market (according to analysts, the company will come in second place already in 2005). It is more important for us to realize the following facts that have been traditional for Toyota for many years:

profit volume, and market capitalization companies outperform the respective combined performance of all closest competitors (GM + Ford + Chrysler);

The rate of profit growth exceeds the sales growth by an average of two times (there is a systematic increase in profitability);

Toyota's sales growth significantly exceeds the dynamics of its main competitors.

Simultaneously following these three traditions for many years seems like a fantasy for domestic enterprises. Impressive results! Is it worth studying their nature in order to use them to build your success? Undoubtedly. But then there are the myths...

Myth 1: Russia is not Japan

We have a completely different country, a different scale, different people, a different government ...

Toyota now manufactures more than 45% of its products at its 46 factories located outside of Japan, in virtually every part of the world, including Africa. Moreover, the share of foreign production in the company has doubled over the past 10 years, demonstrating rapid growth. At all factories abroad, mainly local personnel are used, with the involvement of Japanese managers in key positions in the management at the first stages. Without exception, all factories have a developed system of continuous training TPS (Toyota Production System, Toyota Production System, the source of the concept of Lean Production, lean production that arose later in the United States), which not a single employee can pass. So Kenya, and Venezuela, and Pakistan, the same USA is also not Japan, but Toyota manages to maintain its culture everywhere. Why is it impossible in Russia? As you can see, “the devastation is not in the entrance, but in the heads,” and, first of all, in the heads of the managers. And this book is designed to help overcome such "devastation".

Russia now vitally needs a breakthrough in the economy. We need to literally create a “Russian economic miracle” in order to regain the status of a truly great power. To be able to compete and confidently win in the global market. To become not only a strong, but also a rich country. Studying only Western experience is not enough for this.

We still associate the concept of “economic miracle” primarily with such countries as Japan, China, South Korea ... And here it is interesting next aspect, a kind of deja vu. Studying the practice of successful eastern companies and the experience of the "southeastern tigers" in general, we are surprised to find a lot of familiar, albeit significantly revised, but often undeservedly forgotten management approaches that were actively used in the USSR. First of all, this concerns social solutions that contribute to the involvement of all employees in continuous improvement. Or, as they say now, achieving the maximum return on key intangible assets.

Let us recall such concepts as the spirit of collectivism, respect for the working man, the movement for efficiency and quality, rationalization, NOT, brigade contracting, the Shchekin method ... Similar elements from our past, in their best sense, turn out to be successfully and widely used in market conditions. economy, and mainly in the East. Moreover, it will be easier for us to understand and accept the methods successful management with oriental roots. Many of these tools are indeed actively returning to life in a new capacity, after an adequate modification - already without postscripts, shaft, formalism and other "isms" inherent in the previous system.

Myth 2: This is impossible in my production

We do not manufacture cars. We do not have mass production. In metallurgy (energy, oil production, heavy engineering, banking ...) this does not work.

The basic principles and methods of TPS are abstracted from industry specifics. After reading the book, you will understand why. And it's not just Ford, representing discrete batch production, that has built its production system around TPS.

Alcoa, steel company number one in the world in the production of aluminum, is a process type of production. In the late 1990s, the company developed the Alcoa Business System (ABS) based on - what do you think!? – TPS. As a result of the implementation of ABS, the company has saved at least $1 billion annually over five years. And there are many such examples in metallurgy, including already in Russia, including our practice.

Let's take another "pole" - a single (custom) production. And there are plenty of examples here: companies such as Boeing, General Electric, Caterpillar have been actively and for a long time using Lean. TPS methods are widely promoted and disseminated in the US through specialized industry associations for the development of Lean in a specific industry, including shipbuilding, aerospace, construction and many others. The examples given in the book on the use of TPS principles in engineering developments (projects Prius, Lexus) are another argument against this myth.

Diligence, frugality, the desire for continuous improvement - the right views allow you to build not only yourself, but also an enterprise that can conquer the world.

and company history Toyota proof of that. How a single family succeeded in following its philosophy to create one of the most successful companies, and how to apply the experience Toyota to improve any process related to the business, including sales, product development, marketing, logistics and management, tells Geoffrey Liker which you can listen to live March 27 in Moscow, all the details in the book "Tao Toyota: 14 principles of management of the world's leading company" .

Unconditional achievement Toyota is its production system (Toyota Production System, TPS).

This system is subsequently, it formed the basis of the concept of Lean Production that arose in the United States, lean manufacturing- works in factories Toyota Worldwide. TPS are actively studied and implemented by large companies.

At the same time, the leaders of Western enterprises tend to act on the principle of "press the button - you get the result." Meanwhile TPS— not a set of elementary rules, but the embodiment of philosophy and industrial culture Toyota.

The methods and tools of this system and the management of the company as a whole are based on 14 Key Tao Principles Toyota formulated on the basis of numerous studies.

These principles fall into four categories:

— philosophy;

- process;

— employees and partners;

- problem solving.

Philosophy of the long term

Principle 1. Make managerial decisions with a long-term perspective, even if this is detrimental to short-term financial goals.

A conceptual understanding of one's purpose is the foundation of all other principles. That is why it is so important for each employee to realize their place in the history of the company and try to bring it to a higher level.

To do this, it is necessary to improve and rebuild the organization, moving towards the main goal, which is more important than profit, which is to create value for the consumer, society and the economy.

At the same time, employees should believe in their own strengths and abilities and take responsibility for their actions. It is important to maintain and develop useful skills, and use a systematic and strategic approach when setting work goals.

The right process produces the right results

Principle 2: A continuous flow process helps identify problems.

The workflow should function as a continuous flow, and the time during which work in progress is not in motion should be reduced to a minimum.

The flow of products or information, as well as the links between processes and people, must be established in such a way that any problem is identified immediately. Such a flow should become part of the organizational culture, understandable to all. This is the key to continuous improvement and development of people.

Principle 3: Use a pull system to avoid overproduction.

The most efficient way is to work according to the system "just in time", in which the stock of products is replenished only as they are consumed. WIP and stockpiling should be kept to a minimum. And in order to avoid losses from the accumulation of excess inventory, you need to monitor the daily fluctuations in consumer demand.

Principle 4. Distribute the amount of work evenly.

Eliminating overload of people and equipment and smoothing out uneven production schedules are just as important as eliminating waste. It is necessary to strive for an even distribution of the load in all processes related to production and service. Obviously, this is better than alternating emergency work and downtime.

Principle 5. Make stopping production to solve problems part of the production culture if quality requires it.

The quality of the manufactured product must always be high, and all available modern methods should be used to maintain it.

Do not forget about the support system, and you need to be ready to quickly resolve problems and take corrective actions. In production, you need equipment that can independently recognize problems and stop when they are detected.

Stopping or slowing down the process to get High Quality"first time" should become an integral part of the company's production culture. This will increase the productivity of processes in the long run.

Principle 6. Standard tasks are the basis for continuous improvement and delegation of authority to employees.

The use of stable, reproducible methods in the work allows you to make the result more predictable, increases the coherence of work and makes the output of products more uniform.

Any knowledge about the process must be recorded, and best practices- to standardize. Then the experience gained by one employee can be transferred to the one who will replace him.

Principle 7. Use visual control so that no problem goes unnoticed.

Vision systems in the workplace, to quickly determine whether a product meets the standard, must be simple and yet not distract employees. It is better to reduce the volume of any reports, even the most important ones, to one sheet.

Principle 8. Use only reliable, proven technology.

No technology will replace people. However, if additional equipment or new technologies are required, it is worth implementing only those that are standardized, tested and improve the flow, do not go against your culture and do not compromise the stability, reliability and predictability of the production process.

Increasing the value of the organization through the development of employees and partners

Principle 9. Develop leaders who know their business thoroughly, who profess the philosophy of the company and can teach it to others.

It is always better to educate your leaders than to "buy" them outside the company. Cultivated leaders thoroughly know how the work of each employee is performed, accept and implement the company's philosophy, which means they set a personal example of attitude to business.

Principle 10: Raise extraordinary people and form teams that follow the philosophy of the company.

Strong, stable work culture with enduring value
orientations and beliefs that are shared and accepted by all employees of the company, allows you to achieve exceptional results. Working as a team with a common goal of improving quality and productivity, and improving flow by solving complex technical problems.

Principle 11: Respect your partners and suppliers, challenge them and help them improve.

The key to productive cooperation is the attitude to partners as equal participants in the common cause, as well as the creation of conditions that stimulate their growth and development.

Continually solving fundamental problems stimulates the continuous learning of the organization

Principle 12. To understand the situation, you need to see everything with your own eyes.

True understanding of the situation and the optimal solution to the problem are possible only if the representatives of the top management of the company and heads of departments see the problem with their own eyes and work with personally verified data. Reasoning based on personal reports or electronic reports of subordinates is superficial.

Principle 13. Make a decision slowly, on the basis of consensus, weighing all possible options; implementing it, do not hesitate.

All employees should participate in the discussion of problems and ways to solve them. To take the right step, you need to collect the maximum number of ideas and develop a common opinion about the way forward. This process is quite time-consuming, but helps to carry out a larger search for solutions, weigh all the alternatives and prepare the conditions for the rapid implementation of the decision.

Principle 14: Become a learning structure through relentless introspection and continuous improvement.

1. As soon as the process can be stabilized, the root causes of inefficient work should be identified and recorded.

2. A process that requires almost no inventory makes waste obvious
time and resources, and then they can be eliminated in the course of continuous improvement.

3. Knowledge about how a company works must be carefully guarded. To do this, staff turnover should be avoided, staff should be promoted gradually and lessons learned should be preserved.

4. Completing the main stages of the work and the work as a whole, it is worth analyzing its shortcomings and discussing them openly. This will help to develop measures that will prevent the repetition of mistakes.

5. Standardizing best practices and methods will prevent you from reinventing the wheel every time you need to do new work or when a new leader appears.

I want to live in Russia. I want to be proud of this big and beautiful country. And not only her past, but her present and future. Russia must become a powerful and strong country. The strength of any country is determined by its people. Economic power is created by small and medium business, based not on the squandering of natural resources and not on resale imported goods but in the production of their product. This product must be valuable to its consumer. This value is the quality of the product. Under the quality of the product, we understand the totality of the properties and characteristics of the product that meets the specified requirements. In order for the consumer to constantly buy our products, the quality Russian goods must be greater than or equal to the imported counterpart. Quality is created by all employees of companies. And this requires from them not only high qualifications, but also an interest in work, and a desire to constantly learn and develop their professional level, and an understanding of their role in the development of their country.

We can create an economic miracle. We must create an economic miracle. And for this we need to learn and learn from those who have already passed a similar path - from the people of the land of the rising sun. Behind Lately four remarkable books have been published that accumulate the experience of Japanese corporations: Lean Manufacturing by Wumeck and Jones, Tao of Toyota by Liker, Toyota Production System by Taiichi Ono and Kaizen by Masaaki Imai. I recommend reading it in that order. Then it will be possible to “eat” all this P. Senge “The Fifth Discipline”. Those who own the machine complex, look for Nakajima's old 1993 book "TPM Know How". Read with your team. Read with a pencil and notepad, immediately considering how you can apply it to yourself.

To begin with, we offer the philosophy of the Toyota team, the corporate code, if you like, the rules of corporate conduct, etc. I, by the nature of my work, have seen a lot of such documents in different companies, but I have never seen such a clear, thoughtful, concise and holistic one. At the same time, only with minor changes, additions or denominations, each company can make such a code its own.

Brief Description of the 14 Principles of TOYOTA DAO

Principle 1. Make managerial decisions with a long-term perspective, even if this is detrimental to short-term financial goals.

· Use a systematic and strategic approach when setting goals, and all operational decisions must be subordinated to this approach. Realize your place in the history of the company and try to bring it to a higher level. Work on the organization, improve and rebuild it, moving towards the main goal, which is more important than making a profit. A conceptual understanding of one's purpose is the foundation of all other principles.

· Your main task is to create value for the consumer, society and economy. When evaluating any type of activity in a company, consider whether it solves this problem.

· Be responsible. Strive to control your destiny. Believe in your strengths and abilities. Take responsibility for what you do, maintain and improve the skills that allow you to produce added value.

Principle 2: A continuous flow process helps identify problems.

· Redesign the workflow to create a continuous flow that effectively adds value. Minimize the time that unfinished work is without movement.

· Create a product or information flow and establish links between processes and people so that any problem is identified immediately.

· This flow should become part of the organizational culture, understandable to all. This is the key to continuous improvement and development of people.

Principle 3: Use a pull system to avoid overproduction.

· Make sure that the internal consumer who accepts your work gets what he needs, at the right time and in the right amount. The basic principle is that under a just-in-time system, items should only be replenished as they are consumed.

· Minimize WIP and stockpiling. Keep a small number of items in stock and replenish these stocks as they are taken by the customer.

· Be sensitive to daily fluctuations in consumer demand, which provide more information than computer systems and graphs. This will help to avoid losses due to the accumulation of excess stocks.

Principle 4. Distribute the amount of work evenly (heijunka): work like a turtle, not like a hare.

Elimination of waste is only one of the three conditions for the success of lean manufacturing. Eliminating overload of people and equipment and smoothing out uneven production schedules are equally important. This is often not understood in companies that are trying to apply the principles of lean manufacturing.

· Work on even distribution of the load in all processes related to production and service. This is an alternative to the alternation of rush and downtime that is typical for mass production.

Principle 5. Make stopping production to solve problems part of the production culture if quality requires it.

· Quality to the consumer determines your value proposition.

· Use all available modern methods of quality assurance.

· Build equipment that can recognize problems on its own and stop when they are detected. Develop a visual system for notifying the team leader and team members when a machine or process needs their attention. Jidoka (machines with elements of human intelligence) - the foundation for "embedding" quality.

· Ensure that the organization has a support system in place to quickly resolve problems and take corrective action.

· The principle of stopping or slowing down the process should ensure that the required quality is obtained "first time" and become an integral part of the company's production culture. This will increase the productivity of processes in the long run.

Principle 6. Standard tasks are the basis for continuous improvement and delegation of authority to employees.

· Use stable, reproducible methods of work, this will make the result more predictable, increase the coherence of the work, and the output will be more uniform. This is the basis of flow and pull.

· Capture accumulated process knowledge by standardizing current best practices. Do not hinder creative expression aimed at raising the standard; consolidate what has been achieved with a new standard. Then the experience gained by one employee can be transferred to the one who will replace him.

Principle 7. Use visual control so that no problem goes unnoticed.

· Use simple visual aids to help employees quickly identify where they are meeting the standard and where they have deviated from it.

· Do not use a computer monitor if it distracts the worker from the work area.

· Establish simple visual control systems in the workplace to help maintain flow and pull.

· If possible, reduce the volume of reports to one sheet, even when it comes to major financial decisions.

Principle 8. Use only reliable, proven technology.

Technology is designed to help people, not replace them. It is often worth doing the process manually first before introducing additional hardware.

· New technologies are often unreliable and difficult to standardize, jeopardizing the flow. Instead of untested technology, it is better to use a well-known, proven process.

· Real-world testing should be carried out before new technology and equipment are introduced.

· Reject or change technology that goes against your culture, that may break stability, reliability, or predictability.

· Still, encourage your people to keep up with new technologies when it comes to finding new ways. Quickly implement proven technologies that have been tested and improve the flow.

Principle 9. Develop leaders who know their business thoroughly, who profess the philosophy of the company and can teach it to others.

· It is better to test your leaders than to buy them outside the company.

· The leader must not only perform the tasks assigned to him and have the skills to communicate with people. He must profess the philosophy of the company and set a personal example of attitude.

· A good leader must know the daily work like the back of his hand, only then he can become a real teacher of the company's philosophy.

Principle 10: Raise extraordinary people and form teams that follow the philosophy of the company.

· Build a strong, sustainable work culture with enduring values ​​and beliefs that are shared and accepted by all.

· Train exceptional people and work teams to act in accordance with a corporate philosophy that allows them to achieve exceptional results. Work tirelessly to strengthen the production culture.

· Form cross-functional teams to improve quality and productivity and improve flow by solving complex technical problems. Equip people with the tools to improve the company.

Train people tirelessly to work as a team for a common goal. Everyone should learn to work in a team.

Principle 11: Respect your partners and suppliers, challenge them and help them improve.

· Respect your partners and suppliers, treat them as equal participants in the common cause.

· Create conditions for partners that stimulate their growth and development. Then they will understand that they are valued. Give them challenging tasks and help them solve them.

Principle 12. To understand the situation, you need to see everything with your own eyes (genchi genbutsu).

· When solving problems and improving processes, you should see what is happening with your own eyes and personally verify the data, and not theorize by listening to other people or looking at a computer monitor.

· Your thoughts and reasoning should be based on data that you yourself have verified.

· Even representatives of the top management of the company and heads of departments must see the problem with their own eyes, only then the understanding of the situation will be genuine, not superficial.

Principle 13. Make a decision slowly, on the basis of consensus, weighing all possible options; when implementing it, do not delay (nemawashi).

· Don't make an unequivocal decision about the course of action until you have weighed all the alternatives. When you have decided where to go, follow the chosen path without delay, but be careful.

· Nemawashi is a process of collaborative discussion of problems and potential solutions in which everyone participates. His task is to collect all the ideas and develop a consensus on where to go next. Although such a process takes quite a long time, it helps to carry out a broader search for solutions and prepare the conditions for the prompt implementation of the decision.

Principle 14: Become a learning structure through relentless introspection (hansei) and continuous improvement (kaizen).

· Once the process has stabilized, use continuous improvement tools to identify the root causes of inefficiencies and take action.

· Create a process that requires almost no inventory. This will identify wasted time and resources. When losses are obvious to everyone, they can be eliminated through continuous improvement (kaizen).

· Protect the knowledge base about the organization of your company, do not allow staff turnover, follow the gradual promotion of employees in the service and the preservation of accumulated experience.

· At the completion of the main stages and the end of all work, make an analysis (hansei) of its shortcomings and speak openly about them. Develop measures to prevent the repetition of mistakes.

· Instead of reinventing the wheel when you start a new job or when a new manager comes along, learn to standardize on best practices and practices.

The quintessential work culture behind TPS

Since the founding of Toyota, our guiding principle has been to contribute to society by delivering high quality products and services. Doing business around this principle has shaped the values, beliefs and practices that have enabled us to achieve competitive advantage. The combination of these methods of work and value orientations management and represents the Toyota approach.
Fujio Te, President of Toyota (The Toyota Way, 2001)

Toyota's approach is not only tools and technologies

And so, you have introduced a kanban system. (Kanban is Japanese for “tag”, “card”, “receipt”, or “signal”. This is the name of the tool for controlling the flow and production of products in the “pull” system adopted by Toyota.) You have connected an andon device for visual control of the production area , which warns workers of defects, equipment malfunctions or other problems using light, sound and similar signals. Now your jobs look like they're at a Toyota plant, but slowly things are back to normal and work is back to normal. You call in a Toyota Production System consultant who shakes his head in disapproval, What's the matter?

In fact, the main work on the implementation of lean manufacturing is just beginning. Your workers have no idea about the work culture behind TPS. They are not ready to work tirelessly to improve the system and engage in self-improvement. The Toyota Way exists primarily thanks to people who work, communicate with each other, make decisions and develop, improving each other and themselves. If you look at the successful Japanese companies that work according to the lean manufacturing system, you can immediately see how actively the workers make suggestions for improvement. But the Toyota approach is not limited to this, and this approach encourages, supports and requires the participation of all.

The more I studied TPS and understood the Toyota way, the more I understood that it is a system that provides people with the tools to continuously improve their work. The Tao of Toyota is trust in people. This is a kind of culture, and not a set of techniques and methods for improving and increasing efficiency. To reduce the volume of stocks, to identify and solve hidden problems is possible only with the help of workers. If they are not responsible enough, do not understand the task ahead of them and do not know how to work in a team, downtime and stockpiling will begin. Every day, engineers, skilled workers, quality specialists, suppliers, team leaders and, most importantly, operators are constantly solving problems, and this allows everyone to learn how to solve them.

One Lean tool that teaches teamwork is called 5S (Sort, Organize, Clean, Standardize, Improve; more on that in Chapter 13). We are talking about a set of measures to eliminate losses that lead to errors, defects and injuries. The most difficult component of 5S is, perhaps, the fifth - “improve” (stimulate, maintain self-discipline. - Approx. scientific ed.). It is this point that is the decisive condition for the success of the other four. Maintenance is unthinkable without proper education and training, and workers must be encouraged to follow the rules of operation and improve working methods and their workplace. The conditions for success in achieving the goals are the commitment of management to these approaches, appropriate training and work culture. Only then will maintenance and improvement become habitual for everyone, from shop workers to management.

This chapter provides a brief overview of the 14 principles that make up the Toyota Way. The principles are grouped into four categories:

1. philosophy of the long term;
2. the right process produces the right results (we are talking about using a number of TPS tools);
3. add value to the organization by developing your employees and partners;
4. Continuously solving fundamental problems stimulates continuous learning.

The second part of the book is also structured around these four categories, which together form the four-prong model of the Toyota Way presented in Chapter 1. In the next two chapters, I will show how these 14 principles worked to create the Lexus and Prius. If you would like to jump ahead and review the 14 principles in detail, you can skip ahead to Chapter 7 right now. However, I strongly recommend that you read the following first.

Summary of the 14 Toyota Tao Principles

Section I: Philosophy of the long term.

Principle 1. Make management decisions with a long-term perspective, even if it hurts short-term financial goals.

* Use a systematic and strategic approach when setting goals, and all operational decisions should be subject to this approach. Realize your place in the history of the company and try to bring it to a higher level. Work on the organization, improve and rebuild it, moving towards the main goal, which is more important than making a profit. A conceptual understanding of one's purpose is the foundation of all other principles.

Your main task is to create value for the consumer, society and economy. When evaluating any type of activity in a company, consider whether it solves this problem.

Be responsible. Strive to control your destiny. Believe in your strengths and abilities. Take responsibility for what you do, maintain and improve the skills that allow you to produce added value.

Section II. The right process produces the right results

principle 2. A continuous flow process helps identify problems.

Redesign the process to create a continuous flow that effectively adds value. Minimize the time that unfinished work is without movement.

Create a flow of products or information and build connections between processes and people so that any problem is identified immediately.

This flow should become part of the organizational culture, understandable to all. This is the key to continuous improvement and development of people,

Principle 3. Use the pull system to avoid overproduction.

Make sure that the internal consumer who accepts your work gets what he needs, at the right time and in the right amount. The basic principle is that under a just-in-time system, items should only be replenished as they are consumed. Minimize WIP and stockpiling. Keep a small number of items in stock and replenish these stocks as they are taken by the customer.

Be receptive to daily fluctuations in consumer demand, which provide more information than computer systems and charts. This will help to avoid losses due to the accumulation of excess stocks.

Principle 4. Distribute the amount of work evenly (heijunsh): work like a turtle, not like a hare.

Eliminating waste is only one of the three conditions for the success of lean manufacturing. Eliminating overload of people and equipment and smoothing out uneven production schedules are equally important. This is often not understood in companies that are trying to apply the principles of lean manufacturing. Work on even distribution of the load in all processes related to production and service. This is an alternative to the alternation of rush and downtime that is typical for mass production.

Principle 5. Make stopping production to solve problems part of the production culture if quality requires it.

Quality to the consumer determines your value proposition. Use all available modern methods of quality assurance.

Build equipment that can recognize problems on its own and stop when they are detected. Develop a visual system for notifying the team leader and team members when a machine or process needs their attention. Jidoka (machines with elements of human intelligence) is the foundation for “embedding” quality.

Ensure that the organization has a support system in place to quickly resolve problems and take corrective action. The principle of stopping or slowing down the process should ensure that the required quality is obtained “first time” and become an integral part of the company's production culture. This will increase the productivity of processes in the long run.

Principle 6. Standard tasks are the basis for continuous improvement and delegation of authority to employees”

Use stable, reproducible methods of work, this will make the result more predictable, increase the coherence of the work, and the output will be more uniform. This is the basis of flow and pull.

Fix the accumulated knowledge about the process by standardizing the best methods at the moment. Do not hinder creative expression aimed at raising the standard; consolidate what has been achieved with a new standard. Then the experience gained by one employee can be transferred to the one who will replace him.