Tab Article

The Toyota Product Development System : Integrating People, Process, and Technology

The ability to bring new and innovative products to market rapidly is the prime critical competence for any successful consumer-driven company. All industries, especially automotive, are slashing product development lead times in the current hyper-competitive marketplace. This book is the first to thoroughly examine and analyze the truly effective product development methodology that has made Toyota the most forward-thinking company in the automotive industry.

In The Toyota Product Development System: Integrating People, Process, and Technology, James Morgan and Jeffrey Liker compare and contrast the world-class product development process of Toyota with that of a U.S. competitor. They use extensive examples from Toyota and the U.S. competitor to demonstrate value stream mapping as an extraordinarily powerful tool for continuous improvement.

Through examples and case studies, this book illustrates specific techniques and proven practices for dealing with challenges associated with product development, such as synchronizing multiple disciplines, multiple function workload leveling, compound process variation, effective technology integration, and knowledge management.

Toyota Production System : An Integrated Approach to Just-In-Time, 4th Edition

A bestseller for almost three decades, Toyota Production System : An Integrated Approach to Just-In-Time supplies in-depth coverage of Toyota's production practices, including theoretical underpinnings and methods for implementation. Exploring the latest developments in the Toyota Production System (TPS) framework at Toyota, this new edition updates the classic with new material on e-kanban, mini-profit centers, computer-based information systems, and innovative solutions to common obstacles in TPS implementation.

Yasuhiro Monden, instrumental in introducing the JIT production system to the United States, explains the logic and methodologies of the TPS. Extending the humanized aspect of production introduced in the third edition, Toyota Production System: An Integrated Approach to Just-In-Time, Fourth Edition explains how to cultivate the culture and way of thinking needed to establish the TPS holistically across your organization. Exploring the link between kaizen methods and calculation methods in TPS, this edition includes new chapters on:

The goal of TPS
One-piece production in practice
Kaizen costing
Material handling in an assembly plant
Smoothing kanban collection
Determination of the number of kanban
New developments in e-kanban
Cultivating the spontaneous kaizen mind

Following in the footsteps of its bestselling predecessors, the fourth edition provides easy-to-follow guidance for implementing the TPS in your organization. It explains how Toyota has adapted and reacted to recent fluctuations in demand, quality problems, and recalls. It also includes an appendix that considers the recent tsunami in Japan and investigates how to reinforce the JIT system to ensure supply chain flow during sudden stoppages at individual locations within the chain.