Tag: Toyota

Toyota Thinking: Leadership, Systems, and Continuous Improvement

Toyota is often cited as the inspiration for Lean, but its success is rooted in leadership behaviors, management systems, and a deep commitment to learning—not tools or slogans. This archive brings together blog posts, podcasts, and reflections on Toyota’s approach to quality, continuous improvement, psychological safety, and respect for people. Many of these posts explore what leaders outside Toyota often misunderstand—and what truly matters if they hope to learn from Toyota rather than copy it.

Part 2: More from the Original 1984 NUMMI Team Member Handbook...

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Here's Part 2 of a post about the original NUMMI Team Member Handbook from 1984 (see Part 1 here). This, and other documents I'll be...

Giving Thanks for Giving Back: Toyota Helps Another Food Bank

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Yesterday was the Thanksgiving holiday in the U.S., so I hope you enjoyed the day if you're here and celebrating the holiday. I saw this...

Lean People Don’t Say Things Like “Idiot Proofing”

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TL;DR: Lean isn't about "idiot-proofing" work--it's about respecting people. True Lean focuses on improving systems (through mistake-proofing and better design), not blaming or deceiving...

Highlights from the Original 1984 NUMMI Team Member Handbook (Part 1)

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I recently wrote about my exploration of the collected papers of the late Don Ephlin, a UAW senior leader and a professor of mine at...

Real Productivity Improvement vs. Pressuring Workers; Easier vs. Suboptimizing

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When I was in England on vacation recently, I saw this column in the Financial Times: Listen to your employees and so increase their productivity And...

The One Where @TheNerdyNurse Talks About the Power of #Lean in...

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It's one thing to hear Lean professionals or specialists talking about the power of this methodology to improve healthcare. To me, it's not just theory, it's...

Steve Bera, Reflections On Working at NUMMI And Lean, Part 2

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Today's episode #259 is Part 2 of a discussion I started with Steve Bera in episode #256. Steve was one of the original 16 "NUMMI...

Deming (Past) and Toyota (Today) Recognize Employees Are Unique Individuals

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I'm always happy to hear current-day Toyota leaders (like Jamie Bonini) or recent  Toyota leaders (like Gary Convis) share perspectives on leadership. It's not that...

Steve Bera on NUMMI: Leadership Lessons From Toyota and the Birth...

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I'm really excited to have Steve Bera as my guest for episode #256 of the podcast. I read about him as he was featured...

GM Spent $90 Billion on Automation — Toyota’s Advantage Was Management

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TL;DR: In the 1980s and '90s, GM spent roughly $90 billion trying to automate its way to competitiveness. Toyota took a different path--focusing on...

Why Lean Hospitals Should Learn from Toyota About Staffing and Layoffs

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I've written before about the subject of hospitals "flexing" nurses and employees. I've criticized flexing (or the practice of sending employees home early because patient census is low) and I've pointed out that it's not keeping with "Lean" principles to "save money" by sending people home early.

Podcast #251 – Jim Huntzinger & Russ Scaffede on Lean Leadership

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Episode #251 is a bit different in that it's audio shared by the good folks at Lean Frontiers. They recently hosted a webinar where...
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