“Stability.” When we ask a manager, “how are you approaching stability?” the most likely answer will be that they check the KPIs,...

“Stability.” If the processes were stable, we could do a lot more things. The barrier created by not having a steady process is more...

It’s been a year since my father, Hajime Oba has passed away. One of the most surprising comments I heard this year was that Hajime Oba...

In his book, "Workplace management," Taiichi Ohno mentioned that "Illusions reduce efficiencies." (The English translation used the word,...

Every time there is a problem in Toyota’s supply chain, there is an article about why Just In Time doesn’t work. Or Toyota took...

In my last post, I collected some episodes from pull system implementations. Episodes of "Pull System" implementations...

I collected some episodes of "Pull System" implementations. Once a "pull system" was implemented. The following month, when my father...

Heijyun-ka. Levelization. One of the core concepts of TPS. The objective of this concept is to even the workload. Something bothers me...

If someone wants to pretend that they understood TPS, all you have to say is one by one is better than batch. I was not smart enough to...

5S is a commonly used Japanese management concept in operations. However, we seem to emphasize preserving the initial “S” more than its...

There are some common misunderstandings about Andon. The operators do not have the authority to stop the line. A red light andon stops...

In the last chapter of "Workplace management," Taichi Ohno wrote that the standard time should be the shortest time. Typical industrial...

“Flow.” One of the core concepts of the Toyota Production System. Today, I would like to try some analysis on this. In a dictionary,...

Why do we batch and push memorizing the seven types of Muda? Do you enjoy being pressured to memorize a list? I have a son who is...

In my previous post, I wrote about the background of Kaizen. This blog is about when Kaizen was translated, some words or concepts that...

“Kaizen”. One of the most popular Japanese word that is known inside operations management. Usually, it is translated as “Continuous...

Toyota is a mechanical engineering company. If so, what is the connection between mechanical engineering and the Toyota production...

Today, our lives are becoming much easier because the user interface to technologies is improving rapidly. But what about the user...

Today, many flow racks are supposed to help operations. Sadly, similar-shaped racks and devices exist elsewhere, yet the “soul” differs....

“Human work is most important.” This is the core philosophy of TPS. If so, what is the most important "Point" of human work? This is the...