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.

All (6519)3 Strategies (5)30 Rock (5)3P (10)5 Whys (18)5 Whys Survey (10)5S (134)A Lean Guy Reads (13)A.I. (1)A3 (47)A3 management process (1)A3 Open Mic (1)A3 thinking (2)Access (1)Accountability (4)Accounting (13)Ackoff (2)Adam_Zak (8)Admin (1)Adult Education (1)Adult Learning (1)Aerospace (1)Africa (2)Agile (15)AI (38)AI Lean Coach (14)Alaska (3)Alcoa (7)Alfie Kohn (2)Alternate History (1)Amazon (30)AME (6)American Airlines (7)Andon (43)Ankit_Patel (3)Apple (30)April Fool (12)Artificial Intelligence (3)ASQ (8)Auction (2)Audio (196)Audiobook (2)Australia (3)Authentic Conversations (1)Auto Industry (1)Autoliv (1)Automation (6)Automotive (15)Aviation (121)Backlog (10)Bad Systems in the News (8)Bahri (4)Baker (1)Baldrige (7)Balle (9)Banking (3)Bar (2)Bar Rescue (2)Baran (7)Barnas (3)Barnes Jewish (5)Baseball (26)Basketball (3)Batching (2)Batz Foundation (5)Beer Game (1)Being_The_Change (1)Benchmarking (4)Berwick (24)BIDMC (3)Billion Dollar Company (1)biofuels (1)Birth of Lean (2)Blame (160)Bliss (8)Blog Admin (88)Blog_Admin (2)blur (1)BMW (3)Board (1)Bob Emiliani (4)Bodek (76)Boeing (51)Bonini (9)Books (281)Boston (7)Brain (1)Brazil (5)Brophy (1)Buck (2)Burnout (7)business (1)Business Leadership (1)Bussell (1)Byrne (2)C-Suite Leadership (1)Cable (1)Calendar (1)Call Centers (2)Canada (101)Cancer (1)Capacity (1)Cardinal Health (13)Careers (36)Carnival (16)Carrie Schurman (9)Cartoon (7)Castle (5)Catalysis (22)Catchball (2)Cath Lab (1)Cats (1)CEO (184)Certification (1)CFO (1)Challenge (1)Change (57)Change Management (72)Changeover (1)ChangeThis (3)Charity (1)Charts (3)Charts and Graphs (3)ChatGPT (10)Checklist (14)Checklists (60)chemicals (1)Chick-fil-A (3)China (75)China Trip 2016 (6)Chrysler (33)Cincinnati (1)Cleveland Clinic (21)Clinic (1)CMS (1)CNN (1)Coaches (1)Coaching (101)Coffee (7)Collaboration (1)Comedy (5)Command and Control (12)Comments of the Week (1)Communication (2)Communications (8)Community (1)compassion (1)Compliance (1)Condo (4)Conference (1)Conner (1)Construction (6)Consulting (6)Contest (23)Continuous Deployment (1)Continuous Improvement (58)Convis (17)Cooking (3)Corrections (4)Cost (34)cost reduction (1)Costco (1)Countermeasures (1)Covey (7)Covid-19 (54)Covid-19 Pandemic (2)Creative Safety Supply (1)Creative Thinkers (1)Creativity (2)Crisis (1)Critical Strategic Decisions (1)Cross Training (2)Culbert (1)Culture (436)Culture Clash (1)Culture Of Improvement (1)Cunningham (6)Customer (1)Customer Experience (5)Customer Focus (59)Customer Satisfaction (8)Customer Service (12)Cycle Time (1)Dager (2)Daily Management System (5)Dallas (4)Dan Pink (12)Dan_Jones (8)Dan_Pink (13)Danaher (14)Data (1)DC Lean Tour (5)Defect (4)Defects (11)DEI (4)Dell (43)Delphi (13)Demand (1)Deming (490)Denmark (1)Dentist (1)Denver (6)Denver Health (3)Design (11)Design Thinking (5)Detroit (3)Detroit 3 (1)Detroit Three (27)developing solutions (1)DFW (1)Digital (1)DirecTV (3)DMAIC (3)Doctor (180)Don Wheeler (49)Doofus (5)dr (1)Dr. Muda (6)Drucker (2)Dynamic Environment (1)Earthquake (1)Ebola (5)Economics (1)Edmondson (21)Education (34)Efficiency (4)Electric Car (1)Elon Musk (4)Email (2)Emergency (29)Emergency Dept (61)Emil (1)Emiliani (23)Emoji (1)empathy (1)Employee Engagement (17)Employee Voice (1)Empowerment (2)EMR (9)Enabling Bureaucracy (1)Energy (3)Engagement (2)Engand (1)England (47)Entrepreneurship (5)Ephlin (12)Equity (1)Ergonomics (3)Eric Ries (40)Errors (7)Events (6)Everyday Lean (108)Evidence-Based Medicine (1)Excuses (1)Exercise (3)ExperienceChange (7)Experiment (3)Experimentation (3)Eytan (1)Facebook (2)Factory Physics (2)Facts (1)Fail (3)Failure (18)Family (1)Family Guy (1)FastCap (8)Fear (28)Fearless Organization (1)Finland (1)Fire Fighting (5)Fitness (1)Flashback (5)Flexing (2)Flinchbaugh (187)Flow (27)FMEA (4)Fol (1)Food (6)Football (10)Forces Of Destruction (1)Ford (102)Fort Worth (1)FORTUNE (3)Fox News (2)Franciscan (46)Franciscan Videos (8)Fujio Cho (3)Fun (2)Funny (75)Futility (4)Galsworth (10)Gaming the Numbers (43)Garrison Brothers (3)Gas Station (1)Gawande (31)Geisinger (1)Gem (1)Gemba (167)Gemba Academy (8)Genchi Genbutsu (4)General Electric (76)General Motors (10)Germany (3)Gert (2)Gets it Wrong (4)Gilbreth (6)Glover (3)GM (180)Go To Market (1)Goals (1)good jobs (1)Good Jobs Strategy (1)Google (10)Government (139)Green (37)Grey's Anatomy (3)Grocery (2)Group Health (8)Growth Mindset (1)Grunden (16)Gruner (9)Guest (106)Guest Post (29)Guthridge (7)Habit (4)Hajek (1)Hamel (1)Hamilton (3)Hand Hygiene (7)Hanover (7)Hansei (8)Harada (2)Hawaii (1)HBR (2)Health (3)Healthcare (2015)Healthcare Kaien (1)Healthcare Kaizen (99)Healthcare Reform (1)Healthcare Value Network (1)Hebert (1)Heijunka (17)Henry Ford (5)Heparin (3)Hershfield (1)HIMSS (2)hiring (1)Hoeft (1)Honda (6)Honesty (1)Honeywell (2)Honsha Trip (5)Hopkins (1)Hoshin (15)Hoshin Kanri (4)Hospitalist (2)Hotel (5)HP (1)Huddle (13)Huddles (1)Human Error (7)Human Resources (1)Humane (1)Humility (23)Hunmtz (1)Huntzinger (4)Hyundai (1)IBM (2)ICU (1)If Japan Can (3)IHI (6)IIE Blog (1)IKEA (1)Imai (34)Improvement (5)Incentives (7)India (3)Industrial Engineering (1)Industry Week (7)Infections (12)Innovation (46)Inspection (7)Intel (1)Interview Process (1)Interviews (5)Inventory (45)investing in employees (1)Iowa (17)iPad (1)Ireland (2)Irony (1)Israel (1)IT (7)Italy (1)Jaben (4)Jackson (1)Jacobson (5)James (2)Japan (118)Japan Tour (62)Japanese (1)Jidoka (8)Jimmerson (1)Jobs Bank (11)Joiner (2)Joint Commission (3)Jon Miller (5)Jones (2)JPS (4)Just Culture (11)Just in Time (2)Just-In-Time (68)Kach (11)Kaikaku (1)KaiNexus (242)Kaizen (721)Kaizen Event (20)Kaizen Kickoff (1)Kaizen Live (12)Kanban (52)Kaplan (6)Karen Martin (10)Karyn Ross (7)Kata (28)Katie Anderson (26)kind leadership (2)Kindle (2)Kindness (6)Kitchen Nightmares (4)Knowledge Management (1)Kodak (1)Krafcik (2)L.A.M.E. (6)Lab (10)Laboratory (55)Laedership (1)LAME (109)Larry Culp (29)LaSorda (6)Law (4)Layoffs (92)Layout (12)Leader Standard Work (4)Leadershihp (1)Leadership (912)leadership lessons (1)leading with humility (1)Leadreship (1)Leadrship (2)Lean (22)Lean Accounting (1)Lean and Mean (9)Lean Coffee Talk (10)lean community (1)Lean Daily Management (14)Lean Dentist (34)Lean Design (37)Lean Edge (1)Lean Enterprise Institute (1)Lean Hospitals (82)lean leadership (2)Lean Management (14)Lean Management System (4)Lean Memes (6)Lean Mindset (8)Lean Nation (1)Lean Office (3)Lean Pathways (2)Lean Principles (1)lean production (1)Lean Sigma (18)Lean Six Sigma (11)Lean Solutions (15)Lean Startup (89)lean startup principles (1)Lean Startup Week (10)Lean thinking (2)Lean Thoughts (2)Lean toolbox (1)Lean transformation (2)Lean UX (1)Lean Whiskey (61)LeanBuzz Poll (1)LeanPub (10)LeanStartupWeek (1)Leantoon (1)Leape (7)Learning (2)LEI (103)Length of Stay (1)Lessons Learned (1)Levy (1)Library (1)Lifehacker (1)Like Lean (29)Liker (51)Linked (1)LinkedIn (29)Lippold (1)Listening (1)Livonia (9)Locher (1)Logistics (1)Lopez (18)Lucid (1)Management (9)Management by Emoji (1)Management System (1)Manufacturing (215)Manufacturing Business (1)Marketing (2)Markovitz (41)Mary Greeley (6)Materials (2)Matt_May (17)Maurer (3)MBA (1)McDuffee (13)McMahon (1)Measures of Success (75)Medical Mistakes (5)Medicare (1)Medium (11)Meier (26)Meijer (1)Memoriam (8)Menlo Innovations (1)Mental Healthcare (1)Mentoring (1)MEP (7)Merck (2)Metrics (57)Mexico (7)Meyer (2)Michigan (16)Micklewright (10)Microsoft (1)Military (46)Mindset (1)Mistake (4)Mistake-Proofing (185)Mistakes (148)MIT (13)MIxtape (183)Model Cell (1)Model Line (1)Moneyball (1)Montreal (1)Moral Injury (1)Morale (3)Motion (4)Motivation (1)Motivational Interviewing (28)Motorola (1)Move (25)Movies (1)Moving (2)MRI (1)MRP (1)Muda (3)Multitasking (1)Mura (1)Muri (3)Music (6)MVP (1)My Favorite Mistake (35)NASA (1)negative bias (1)Nervous System (1)Netflix (1)Netherlands (13)New Zealand (12)NGO (1)NHS (7)NICU (3)Nissan (8)Noble (2)Non-Profit (2)Nonprofit (1)Norval (2)NPR (13)NUMMI (75)NUMMI Tour (6)Nursing (98)NYT (2)NYTimes (85)O.R. (1)Office (8)Ohba (1)Ohio (1)Oil (1)OKRs (2)ONeill (57)Ontario (2)Operating Room (32)operations management (1)Operations Science (1)Organization Building (1)Organizational Behavior (2)organizational development (1)Oscars (6)Outpatient (1)Overburden (3)Overprocessing (14)Overproduction (20)Packaging (2)Par (1)Park Nicollet (14)Parodies (2)Parody (14)Parry (1)Pascal Dennis (16)Patient (5)patient care (1)Patient Experience (4)Patient Flow (79)Patient Focus (4)Patient Safety (392)Patient Satisfaction (10)Patients First Culture (1)Patrick_Anderson (5)Paul Akers (6)PBC Case Studies (38)PBC-Compare (4)PDCA (22)PDSA (71)People Development (1)Perfection (1)performance driver (1)Performance Measures (5)Performance Review (1)Performance Reviews (6)Pharmacy (41)Phlebotomy (1)Phoenix (1)Physician (17)Physicians (1)pink (1)Pittsburgh (2)Pivot (1)Pizza (4)Pod (1)Podcast (536)Podcast - Bodek (15)Podcast - CEO (45)Podcast - Deming (17)Podcast - Docs (45)Podcast - Healthcare (149)Podcast - Kaizen (12)Podcast - Lean Startup (14)Podcast - LEI (15)Podcast - Toyota (23)Podcast - Womack (6)Podcast 20 Years (5)Poka Yoke (5)Politics (2)Poll (2)Porsche (3)Power Of Kata (1)Practice (2)Practicing (1)Practicing Lean (25)Preventative (1)Primary (1)Primary Care (3)Prius (5)Private Equity (1)Problem (1)Problem Solving (175)Problem-Solving Approach (1)Problems (4)Process (4)Process Behavior Charts (116)Process Design (2)Process Improvement (5)Product Development (7)Product Market Fit (1)Productivity (10)Profit = Price - Cost (40)profitability (1)Pronovost (10)Psychological Safety (116)Psychology (2)Publishing (10)Pull (5)Punishment (3)Quaid (11)Quailty (1)Quality (337)Quality Circle (5)Quality Digest (20)Quebec (1)Quick Hits (1)Quotes (1)Radio (8)Radiology (10)Rapid Improvement Event (4)Reader Questions (55)Reading (23)Recruiting (3)Red Bead (16)Red-Green (6)Reflection (2)Remote Work (1)Research (1)Resilience (1)Resistance (7)resp (1)Respect (6)Respect for Business (1)Respect for People (280)Restaurant (55)Results (1)Retail (34)Retaurant (1)Review (3)Rewards (1)Rhode Island (1)Richardson (1)Rivian (1)ROI (3)Root Cause (4)Root Cause Analysis (3)RootCauseRacism (16)Rother (11)Russia (4)Safe Environment (1)Safety (177)Sales (4)San Antonio (1)Saskatchewan (9)Sayer (2)Scholtes (3)Scientific Thinking (1)Scotland (2)Scott & White (2)Searching (4)Seasonality (1)Seattle (25)Seddon (4)Senge (1)Sensei (3)Servant Leadership (2)Service (4)Services (3)Seth Godin (2)Shannon (7)Shewhart (2)Shingo (58)Shingujitsu (5)Shipping (1)Shook (62)SHS (18)Signs (14)Simmer (1)Simpsons (3)Sin (1)Siren Song (14)Six Sigma (102)Small Tests of Change (1)SMED (10)Software (77)Southwest (3)Soviet (2)Space (4)SpaceX (1)Spaghetti Diagrams (1)Spain (1)Spanish (1)SPC (29)Speaking (10)Spear (36)Spearman (1)Sports (179)SQDC (4)Standardization (2)Standardized Work (221)Starbucks (57)Startup (2)Startups (30)Statistics (2)Strategy (19)Strategy Deployment (32)Strong America (2)Struggles (4)Studer (20)Stuff (1)Stupid (2)Suggestion (2)Suggestion Box (29)Suggestions (7)Supervision (1)Supply Chain (55)Surgeon (3)Surgery (6)Sushi (1)sustainability (1)Sustainable Workplace (1)Sutton (1)Swartz (13)Sweden (8)System Dynamics (2)Tacky Advertising (1)Taiichi Ohno (70)Takt (5)Targets (1)Taylor (5)Taylorism (33)Teaching (1)Team (1)Team Building (1)Teamwork (4)Tech Support (3)Technology (10)TechSolve (2)Telecom (1)Tesla (15)Tetreault (1)Texas (5)The Jerk (1)The Mistakes That Make Us (58)The Office (4)The Resident (1)ThedaCare (205)ThedaCare Center (9)Thelen (5)Throwback (59)Tiered Daily Huddles (1)Time (3)TMMTX (3)Toast (6)Tom Peters (12)Toronto (1)Toussaint (127)Toyota (647)Toyota 1992 Booklet (6)Toyota culture (4)Toyota Kata (19)Toyota leadership (1)Toyota management (3)Toyota mentality (2)Toyota Production System (6)Toyota system (1)Toyota Way (2)Toyotas (1)TQM (10)Training (11)Training Within Industry (66)Transformation (3)Transparency (2)Transportation (2)Trash (1)Travel (62)True North (1)Trump (3)Trust (5)TSSC (8)Turgeon (13)Twitter (19)UAW (1)Uber (3)Understanding Variation (4)Unicorn (1)Union (3)Unions (3)United Technologies (1)UPS (8)USA Today (15)User Experience (1)User Interface (1)VA (15)Vaccination (12)Value (29)Value Capture (31)Value Steam (1)Value Stream (9)Value Stream Mapping (39)ValuMetrix (2)Van Dongen (5)Variation (10)Veterinary (7)VetMed (7)VIBCO (21)Video (262)Virginia Mason (114)Virtual (2)Vision (1)Visual Displays (3)Visual Management (52)Voice of the Customer (3)Volkswagen (1)Wachter (5)Wagner (21)Waiting (7)Walgreens (3)Walmart (12)Walters (5)Warning (6)Washington (2)Waste (149)waste elimination (1)Water (2)Webinar (96)Website (1)Weekend (3)Weekend Fun (21)Weight (1)Welch (7)Wellman (4)Wells Fargo (2)Wetzel (1)Wheeler (1)Whiskey (28)Whisky (3)Whole Foods (3)Wine (12)Wiremold (5)Wisconsin (23)Womack (107)women leaders (1)work culture (2)Work Design (1)Workaround (8)Workarounds (1)WorkOut (1)Workplace Culture (2)Workshop (6)Workshops (1)Wrye (3)WSJ (203)Yahoo (1)Yokoten (1)Zappos (1)Zarbo (1)Zero Defects (1)Zero Harm (6)Zoom (2)

Toyota Video Online

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…

Toyota’s New Plant?

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…

People in the Middle

toyota-triangle

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…

Toyota’s Factory Medical Center

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…

What’s On Toyota’s Mind?

toyota-brain

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…

Ford Folks Finally Reading TPS Books?

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…

5S Example from Toyota

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: Toyota Good (Once Again)

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…

Toyota Roundup

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,…

Lean Blog Homework – CNBC CEO Videos

I can’t get the videos to play on my PC. CNBC did interviews today with the Big 3 big wigs, a big mullet, and a Toyota leader. I heard the Mulally interview on XM Radio, but didn’t hear the others.…

GM Goes Big with Inventory

WSJ: At GM, Curbing Inventories Calls For Juggling Act From the article: At the end of December, GM had more than one million vehicles in stock in the U.S. That’s equivalent to about 41,000 vehicles for every point of its…