Why Toyota is Eliminating the Andon Cord from its Factories
If you clicked on my intentionally attention grabbing headline (or what might be a parody of those)... no, Toyota…
Andon Cords at the Toyota Takaota Plant – It Doesn’t Come Naturally?
Yesterday, I was able to visit Toyota City as part of the Kaizen Institute tour I am a part of. Now, we weren't…
Toyota Was Helped, not Hampered, by TPS During the Pandemic
A culture of learning makes the difference, not "low inventory"
Last year, I wrote a post that criticized…
At Toyota: Mistakes are OK, as Long as We Learn; Culture and Psychological Safety
The book that I'm writing on learning from mistakes is not an academic research-driven project. My "field…
Ken Pilone, the Author of Lean Leadership on a Napkin; Toyota Says…
Scroll down for how to subscribe, transcript, and more
My guest for Episode #455 of the Lean…
Hide Oba Discusses His Legendary Father, Toyota’s Hajime Oba
Joining me for Episode #397 is Hide Oba. His father was the late Hajime Oba, famous for his work at Toyota and the…
Remembering Hajime Oba of Toyota and TSSC (1945-2020)
I've seen a number of people post on LinkedIn about the passing of the legendary "Mr. Oba" of Toyota (sometimes…
Inside Toyota’s Takaoka #2 Line – Flexibility and Kaizen
This is an interesting article:
Inside Toyota's Takaoka #2 Line: The Most Flexible Line In The World
I…
How Checklists and the “Andon Cord” Concept Can Help With Webinars
For years, Dr. Greg Jacobson and I have used checklists when prepping for and running our various webinars via…
Toyota as a “People Development Company”
When I had the chance to go back to Japan last October with Honsha, there was a big focus on what the former…
Podcast #314 – Skip Steward & Brandon Brown, on TWI & Kata in…
Today I have two guests joining me for Episode #314 of the podcast. They are Skip Steward, the Chief Improvement…
The Academy Awards Add an Inspector, Practice “Andon Cord Pulls,”…
Tomorrow, my post will be about headlines that scream about ratings for The Oscars being "down from last year" or…
Podcast #300 – Tracey & Ernie Richardson, The Toyota Engagement…
My guests for Episode #300 of the podcast are Tracey and Ernie Richardson, authors of the excellent book titled:…
The WSJ Overgeneralizes about The “Japanese Model,” Not All Companies…
Not all Japanese companies are the same. "Lean isn't easy" if you're a Japanese company. Toyota has created…
Toyota is Admired for Good Reason… But About Those Rotating Job…
There's much to admire about Toyota and even regular readers of this blog might throw the "fanboy" label at me. …
What We’re Looking Forward to Learning at the Toyota Plant Tour
Tomorrow, with the entire KaiNexus team, I'm going to visit the Toyota truck plant in San Antonio, the plant…
Did Toyota’s #Lean Mindsets & Practices Really Leave the (Now) Tesla…
Tesla builds cars in what used to be the NUMMI factory, a joint venture between Toyota and GM (which meant it was…
A Lesson From Toyota: Thanking Employees for Pointing Out Problems
Thanks to Lean Frontiers for sharing a story from Mike Hoseus on LinkedIn. Mike is, of course, co-author of the…