Overview

Today, there is a set of new manufacturing principles that are key to eliminating wastes and achieving and maintaining global manufacturing competitiveness. Toyota, seen as the father of these manufacturing principles, adheres to three key principles, which serve as the foundation for its Toyota Production System (TPS). These are:

1. Takt time

2. One-piece flow

3. Pull production

Waste-free manufacturing (WFM) uses four principles or what I refer to as drivers to help companies become world class manufacturers in a very rapid manner. But before outlining these I want to make a flat statement that may astound many who are currently working in the field:

Although the principles of the TPS were unquestionably effective for the time frame, approach, and culture under which they were developed and utilized, they are far too complex and much too difficult for most U.S.-based manufacturers to adopt and implement in a relatively short period of time.

If there is any truth whatsoever to the preceding statement, this leaves two clear choices. One is to accept the major difficulties (and length of time) required to follow the principles of the TPS to become a world class manufacturer. The other is to devise a way of moving more rapidly to world class manufacturing.

I am convinced that U.S. manufacturers have no other choice but to do the latter and the key lies in understanding that the issue is not whether a plant installs one-piece flow, takt time, and pull production we know these are important it is knowing