Some Early Toyota History
AICHI VOICE (CUTTING EDGE): Ford and GM started plants in Japan in the 1920’s and many Japanese thought that it was a “fantasy” to think of building their own cars. “‘It’s not just a matter of making automobiles. We must…
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.
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Thomas L. Friedman: Save us, O Toyota
International Herald Tribune Thomas L. Friedman starts a recent column with a provocative question: “If I am rooting for General Motors to go bankrupt and be bought out by Toyota, does that make me a bad person? It’s not that…
A Very Misguided Article on Toyota
Tri-County Times – Columnists – 05/31/2005 – If I were king 5/26/05 It’s fitting that this columnist (from north of Detroit) doesn’t show his face in the picture that accompanies his column. He’s a bomb-throwing coward, unlike most columnists who…
Toyota boss fears backlash if GM, Ford fall
ABC News It seems like Chairman Okuda and President Cho keep going back and forth on this in the media. Okuda has said twice now that Toyota should consider increasing prices to help GM and Ford, while Cho said basically…
At Least Toyota & Hyundai Are Creating Jobs
GM Plans to Cut 25,000 U.S. Jobs by 2008 – Yahoo! News I’m starting to get sick of beating up on GM. I hate to say it, as a former GM employee, but I agree with the UAW on this…
New Toyota Plant Lean and Green
MySA.com: Business: An article about the upcoming San Antonio plant emphasizes the environmentally friendly aspects of lean manufacturing. “‘We seek to eliminate waste in everything we do,’ said Toyota spokesman Mike Goss. ‘Whether it’s trash or an extra motion in…
Toyota Triumphs
Newsweek: International Editions – MSNBC.com Last week, I asked about Toyota’s CEO Fujio Cho — is he not a “business superstar” ala Jack Welch and other “cover boy” CEO’s? This week’s Newsweek international edition features Toyota on the cover, and…
Toyota Won’t Raise Prices to Help Rivals
Toyota Won’t Raise Prices to Help Rivals There was a surprising headline yesterday that said Toyota *was* considering raising prices to “help” Ford and GM. Here is a link to an Auto Blog discussion of that. According to the Wall…
Subtle Shifts in the 7 Wastes of Lean
Gemba Research – Blog A new article from the excellent blog at Gemba Research’s web site, talking about the Toyota 7 (8? 9? 10?) Wastes. I’ve heard some people at my company talk about an 8th waste, not fully utilizing…
How Toyota Turns Workers Into Problem Solvers – Differences between Toyota and GM
HBS Working Knowledge: Steven Spear is asked what makes a good TPS-style manager, he says it all comes down to problem solving. “The team leader and group leader were capable of teaching these [problem solving] skills in a directed, learn-by-doing…
Toyota Kentucky (TMMK) President Gary Convis On "The Human Side of Lean"
Quality Digest Magazine Many lean practictioners have read The Toyota Way, Jeffrey Liker’s book on the management system and management principles of Toyota. How many of us see the implementation of tools (like 5S or kanban) without recognizing the need…
Toyota’s Fujio Cho: Act. Improve. Repeat.
Business 2.0 – Magazine Article Improve. This was in a magazine that hit my mailbox yesterday, an interview with Toyota’s CEO. The company was named “Smartest Company of 2004” by the magazine. If you click on the link, there are…
