“By the time problems became statistics, it’s a crisis.” One of my coach's quotes. His message is, why are we waiting for the statistics...

Balance table. Or the Yamazumi chart. This tool is intended to see the balance of work according to the takt time. My coach introduced a...

“Time is life.” -Eiji Toyoda “Time is money.” A famous quote by Benjamin Franklyn. It is widely popular and being phrased by many. Eiji...

“Let the material memorize the standardized work.” A quote from my coach. When standardized work gets complicated, we push the people to...

Since it’s “Labor Day” in the USA, this post is about “Work.” “Work” in Japanese is ‘働.’ This symbol was made in Japan. This symbol is...

Genba. It is often translated as “shop floor,” but the meaning is much broader. It means actual location. It could mean production,...

When Toyota Motor opened its first factory at Koromo in 1938, Kiichiro Toyoda created a vision for the factory. Yes, the vision for the...

規矩作法 守り尽くして破るとも離るるとても本を忘るな. “Standards (Regulations) and manners. You follow them【守】, break them【破】, and depart【離】 from them, but never...

In Japan, together with the technical know-how of SMED, there is an episode we talk about. The historical episode is the Nobunaga’s gun...

Setsuo Mito has interviewed Taiichi Ohno a lot and published those interviewed. There was a conversation between Ohno and Masatoshi Ito,...

The final person I had to mention as potential books Ohno read to develop Standardized Work and Toyota Production System, I have to...

In searching for the book that Taiichi Ohno read to start the Toyota Production System implementation journey, I ran into an author. His...

Taiichi Ohno started his Toyota Production System implementation by reading books in 1938-39. What were those books? Are there written...

What is “Standardized Work” in TPS? It is often described as the “rule of production (operations).” If the rule of production is...

Empowerment creates a positive culture. There have been many empowerments to promote more continuous improvement. Some successes, some...

Work Standards and Standardized Work. Both play foundational roles inside Toyota Production System. My understanding is the following;...

Do you pay attention to the ♢ diamond mark inside a standardized work? This mark represents “Quality check.” It is essential to build...

When implementing standardized work, we learn about the three elements, takt time, sequence, and work-in-process stocks. But most likely,...

Pathology is a medical discipline in which they study “the essential nature of diseases and especially of the structural and functional...

Over Production. The most significant waste of the seven wastes. In the Japanese version, Ohno used the Hiragana to describe...