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.
Toyota fears U.S. backlash over gains (Detroit Free Press article) I tend to fall on the side of those who think the “Detroit Three” are indeed scapegoating Toyota and that Detroit’s past and present horrible management mistakes are to blame,…
Business Report – Toyota’s gold standard status at top of quality pile takes a knock on 500 000 recalls: Here’s an article that examines if Toyota’s quality is slipping or not. This detail was interesting for some perspective on Toyota’s…
Press-Telegram – Toyota’s Long Beach roots: Here’s an article about Toyota’s first U.S. plant, where they finished trucks in California: “Back in the early 1970s, the company’s Japanese executives were wary of American production capabilities. The plant here served as…
Lean Six Sigma Academy Blog: The Toyota Way Here is s news story that Ron, at the Lean Six Sigma Academy Blog, found on YouTube. The video is below and I had a few comments. First off, the reporter says…
AP Wire | 01/20/2007 | Toyota narrows choice for plant to two, newspaper reports Toyota is down to two choices, Arkansas, and Tennessee, supposedly. Looking back a few weeks, is Toyota fearful of a political backlash or are they charging…
This is my version of a Toyota diagram (click on it for a larger view) showing the “integrated system” of the Toyota Production System. Notice how “Human Development” is put in the middle, no surprise there. The three balancing sides…
Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog » In-house Health Clinics Tip of the hat to John for finding this article about companies bringing some doctor clinic functions in-house (or at least on site) as a way of reducing medical expenses. The…
Thanks to Pete for findng this and sending it my way. This link takes you to an animation thats apparently produced for Toyota Sweden. Here is the animation with English subtitles (you can view this with or without sound). The…
Teaming up may aid Ford, Toyota Another article about potential collaboration between Ford and Toyota. One tidbit: The grapevine buzz has it that the former Boeing leader is prompting his managers to read books on the Toyota Production System, the…
Peter Abilla’s Shmula Blog Peter pointed me to this example he posted a while back, he says “it’s an authentic artifact from Toyota. I participated in this when I spent 1.5 weeks in the Hebron, KY supply parts distribution facility.”…
Mulally Pans `Paranoid’ Ford, Pushes Toyota-Style Production I criticized Alan Mulally earlier, via my criticism of Boeing. To be clear: I respect Mulally. I am really rooting for Alan Mulally. Mulally is such an outspoken promoter of the Toyota Production…
Lots of Toyota news with the new Tundra and the Detroit Auto Show going on:Toyota Enters the Auto Show With a Swagger (NY Times)From the article: No longer does Toyota fear the reaction it faced as recently as the 1990s,…