There is no doubt that Toyota is one of the most successful manufacturing companies in the world. In fact lean manufacturing is derived from the management and manufacturing practices of the Toyota Corporation.

The manufacturing techniques and way of thinking at Toyota have been well documented. In essence the focus at this carmaker is the absolute elimination of waste. The result is a constant improvement in the flow of material from raw material to finished product. With every tiny improvement, costs of manufacturing are reduced and efficiency improved. The result is higher profits all the time. The Toyota way is all about attention to detail right from the ordering of raw
materials, which is done according to the needs of the day. This virtually eliminates the need to keep large stocks of raw material which end up reducing costs.

Still, there is one element in the whole lean manufacturing process that is usually not given enough prominence and at times is ignored altogether by corporate concerns seeking to implement lean
manufacturing. This is the element that is the real secret behind the amazing success of Toyota as an automobile manufacturer.

The element I am referring to here is of course people. In fact people are the most valuable resource in any company. The constant improvements and lean-manufacturing principals that are the foundation
of Toyota are heavily dependant on the staff. It is the workers' flow of information and ideas that ensures constant and consistent improvement. Bluntly put, without the human resource element, a lean
enterprise will just not happen.

In a lean organization it is absolutely critical that people grow with the system so as to be able to take extra responsibilities and become more productive. Workers usually grow and improve on their
productivity much more quickly where they are highly motivated and in a position where they can regularly suggest and implement ideas for improvements and elimination of waste in the manufacturing process.

Copyright © 2005 Chuck Yorke - All Rights Reserved

Chuck Yorke is an organizational development and performance improvement specialist, trainer, consultant and speaker. He is co-author of "All You Gotta Do Is Ask," a book which explains how to promote large numbers of ideas from employees. Chuck may be reached at chuck@peoplekaizen.com
http://www.peoplekaizen.com/