Toyota Production System

The Toyota Production System (TPS) is the philosophy which organizes manufacturing and logistics at Toyota, including the interaction with suppliers and customers. The TPS is a major part of the more generic "Lean manufacturing". It was largely created by the founder of Toyota, Sakichi Toyoda, his son Kiichiro Toyoda, and the engineer Taiichi Ohno; they drew heavily on the work of W. Edwards Deming and the writings of Henry Ford. When these men came to the United States to observe the assembly line and mass production that had made Ford rich, they were unimpressed. While shopping in a supermarket they observed the simple idea of an automatic drink resupplier; when the customer wants a drink, he takes one, and another replaces it. The main goals of the TPS are to design out overburden (muri), smooth production (mura) and eliminate waste (muda). There are 7 kinds of muda targeted in the TPS:over-productionmotion (of operator or machine)waiting (of operator or machine)conveyanceprocessing itselfinventory (raw material)correction (rework and scrap)
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